athletics ni coaching conference- alan richardson

Alan Richardson

Alan Richardson

• British Athletics Event Group Lead• Team Leader Great Britain under 20’s• Coached PV at Lboro since 2004• Former National Event Coach(UKA) and National Coach Mentor(EA)• IAAF Level 5 Coach and Academy Member

Long Term Development of Jumpers

• Athletics is a late development sport

• So no need to rush

Long Term Planning

• It takes a minimum of seven years to develop an elite pole vaulter (Vitali Petrov)

• 10,000 hour rule• Construction of a balanced athlete

– Long Term health

– Long term variety of skill base

– Develop Skills needed throughout the junior development pathway

– Develop Skills needed for long term senior success

– Can add speed and power to a strong, stable and robust base

– Young athletes are not mini adults and should follow and appropriate pathway

Developing Technique That Lasts

A Movement Based Approach

RUN JUMP

THROW

Why Planning for the Long Term

• Athlete First • The Sport of Athletics• FMS – “the ability to perform a precise action without any superfluous

or supporting movements”• Build a solid movement base • Run, Jump, Throw • Variety and motivation• Continuous skill progression rather than travelling backwards to fix• Long Term motivation- early specialisation and long term success

– World Youth medallists/ ESAA medallists

– Why? Does this have to be the case

The need to get it right

• Because…• 85% of all that we do is Autonomous, its automatic and requires little

no thought process.

• We are what we practise!

Skill learning phases:

• Cognitive – Identify component part forming mental picture

• Associative – Practise linking the part into a smooth action

• Autonomous- Developing the skills until they become automatic and require little or no conscious effort

Jumping phases…

The Approach Run

The Take Off

The Flight

The Landing

Commonality…

The Approach Run – All 4 events have an approach run, Including an acceleration, alignment and attack phase

The Take Off – All 4 events have a take off made up of an eccentric loading, amortization and concentric re-action

Flight Phase – Resistance of potentially negative rotational forces, while maximising the effects of positive directional forces created

The Approach

Fundamental movementGood postureEffective force productionSpeed developmentOptimum speed

The Skill of ‘Taking off’

The ability to overcome huge forces at great speed, maintain posture and produce effective reaction forces”

Resisting Eccentric Forces

TransitionEqual Forces Applied

ConcentricVertical Acceleration

First and Foremost the sport is called ATHLETICS

• We coach athletes not events• Called athletics for a reason• Develop all round athletic skills to create great senior performances• Simple skills done continuously better• Higher level athletes/ coaches do not need to get overly complex

Presentation prepared by Alan Richardson

The Training Diet

• Based on development of bio motor abilities that do not change whatever the level/ stage of development of athlete

• It just how we development/ prioritise that change• The 5 S’s • Skill (technique)• Speed• Strength• Stamina - Work Capacity –

– “ability to cope with the training and event load”

• Suppleness

Skill

• Event Specific Skills– PV/HJ/ LJ/TJ

• FMS– Ability to perform movement without superfluous extra and unwanted

movements

– Posture, Foot Contact

• Speed Skill– Acceleration, Maximal Speed, Speed Endurance

Strength

• To resist force

• To apply force

Stamina

• Work capacity “ability to cope with the training and event load”

• How many jumps to become proficient?

• Can we recover and train again?

• Can we stay injury free

Suppleness

• Minimise injury risk

• Complete technique effectively

• Does not reduce strength (if all in balance)

Long/ Triple Jump

High Jump

Pole Vault

Fundamental Movement

• The ability to perform movements in the most efficient way possible• Ability to perform movement without superfluous extra and unwanted

movements• Develop to provide a solid movement base that event specific skill

can be built on• Apply force most effectively• Underpins all Athletics• Jumps-

– Run- posture

– Take off – control forces eccentric/ apply forces – concentric• Maintaining body positions where required

– Co-ordination –to perform movement at speed

Skill Learning

• Practise does not make perfect• Practise makes permanent• Perfect practise makes perfect permanent

• Skill - Proficiency, facility, or dexterity that is acquired or developed through training or experience

• Drills- A drill is an opportunity to teach, a drill is not a teacher

Developing Posture

•Theraband Holds•Theraband Hops•Stand A Hold•A Hold With Floor Touch

Developing Control

• Hop and Stop• Bound and Stop• Speed Skaters• High Knee with Stop

Developing Movement

• Need Multidirectional Control• A Walk/ A Skip and Variants (barbell/ plate/ DB)• Lateral Skip• Backward Skip• Mini Hops• Mini Bounds• Speed Skater Continuous

Developing Co-Ordination

• Run Jump – left and right• Run jump - Every other left and right• LL/RR• 1/1/3/5/3/1/1

Core

• All force flows through here• Strength for control

• Dish• Superman• Plank- Front, Side, Face Ups• Planks with knee lifts

Questions?

Thank You

• arichardson@britishathletics.org.uk• 07824 302921