James Thomas' Championship Jumps: Long Jump

with James Thomas,
University of Oklahoma Head Track & Field/Cross Country Coach;
University of Georgia Associate Head Coach - Men's & Women's Jumps & Combined Events from 2022 to 2023;
University of Georgia Assistant Coach - Men's & Women's Jumps & Combined Events from 2021 to 2022;
Texas Tech Associate Head Coach from 2012 through 2021 - Men's & Women's Jumps & Combined Events;
2019 NCAA Division I Champions - Men's Outdoor Track & Field;
at Texas Tech, was part of Five Big XII Team Championships, Eight Top 10 Team Finishes and Four Top 5 Team finishes;
USTFCCCA Masters Endorsement Instructor;
USATF Level II Certification- Jumps;
At Texas Tech, coached one Olympian, eight NCAA Champions, 91 All-Americans and 29 Individual Big XII Champions;
10x USTFCCCA Mountain Region Assistant Coach of the Year

In this video featuring 2019 NCAA Championship Coach James Thomas, you'll learn his "unapologetically simplistic" approach to long jump training. Coach Thomas takes a complex event and is able to show you how to improve performance with his part-to-whole breakdown. The drills shown build on each other and can be taught to any level of athlete, which makes this video an important addition to any coach's video library.

Keys to a Successful Long Jump

Thomas starts at the beginning and breaks down the approach to the long jump. He shares a key to his methods when he explains why his athletes perform run-offs at the end of each drill. You'll learn:

• Why rhythm is often the most overlooked aspect of many jump training programs and how to train for it.
• Why the transfer of speed to power is key.
• How the skill of landing is heavily based on mental timing, plus how to teach it in parts that equal a successful whole!

Zone Drills

Finally, Coach Thomas' application of zone drills in jump training show a way to train for a maximum effort, high intensity event without the physical and mental stress of performing full approach jumps.

Coach Thomas gives you all you need to know about long jump training for the beginner or experienced athlete, and teaches it in a way that's easily understandable for the novice or veteran coach. His emphasis on simple basics in a progressive approach makes application of the techniques shown applicable to all. You'll be sure to find yourself watching this video course time and time again, mining it for the valuable insight into a national champion coach's programming for success.

40 Minutes. 2021.