20 Drills & Techniques for Teaching the High Jump

There is a simple principle in the high jump - whenever the athlete starts wrong, they will ultimately finish wrong. Modern athletes struggle with maintaining posture, spatial awareness and multi-planar body control. Therefore, greater amounts of time must be given to work on approach progressions and developing multi-planar movement patterns.

Jeremy Fischer, head coach and lead instructor at the United States Olympic Training Center, outlines the importance of setting up an effective approach for the high jump. He also creates a step-by-step progression, complete with various drills and coaching cues, to help coaches teach athletes how to run smooth curves and maximize their power at takeoff.

Setting up the Approach

The high jump approach is unique to each individual athlete, with a variety of factors to consider. Coach Fisher helps to alleviate the guesswork by establishing guidelines on how to measure the approach and create a radius that will allow each athlete to run smoother and turn effectively. He breakdowns the specifics on how to determine proper start marks and jump marks.

Drills and Cues for More Effective Curve Running

Maintaining speed while keeping a proper curve radius is one of the most difficult challenges facing all high jumpers. Coach Fischer demonstrates drills and provides unique coaching cues to help athletes run the curve more effectively. This includes tips such as running flat footed on the curve, which enables the athlete to use full surface of their foot to gain better leverage and traction on the curve, and in turn, better lean.

Developing the Takeoff

Coach Fischer lays out a simple step-by-step progression for teaching the takeoff. He shows the DiPena take off drills from standing, to walking, before linking them together with the full length approach to blend all aspects of the event together.

Top of the Bar Mechanics

You will learn a drill that trains athletes how to relax while being inverted to prevent premature chin and butt drop while going over the bar.

Outside Factors

Coach Fischer covers the importance of rest recovery, nutrition and prehabilitation. The best athletes in the world tend to maintain weight and strength levels year round, not just during their competitive seasons.

Coach Fisher delivers a straightforward teaching tool for knowledge-hungry coaches who want to build more competitive high jumpers.

59 minutes. 2016.