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Featured course:
Sprints and Relays Tips and Techniques featuring Coach Erik Jenkins
https://tinyurl.com/SprintRelaysTips
Sprinting
and relay events are usually decided by a fraction of a second. It is
imperative to maximize technique and training methods to be successful.
In this course, Coach Erik Jenkins shares several unique training tips,
techniques and race strategies.
https://tinyurl.com/SprintRelaysTips
Video credit:
Kalen Walker 4.15 40 Yard Dash Sprint Mechanics Breakdown
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Four Essential Tips For Coaching Track Relays and Sprints
Coaching track relays can be quite challenging
for several reasons. First of all, coordinating the handoffs between
runners in a relay requires precise timing and technique. This means
that as a coach, you need to ensure that each runner understands their
role and the specific timing of the handoff to the next runner.
Additionally,
managing the different strengths and abilities of each runner in the
relay team can be a complex task. Understanding each athlete's strengths
and weaknesses and finding the right combination of runners to form a
competitive relay team requires careful observation and assessment.
Furthermore, motivating and inspiring the relay team to work
together and perform at their best can be a demanding aspect of coaching
track relays. As a coach, you must foster a sense of teamwork and unity
among the relay runners, while also addressing individual concerns and
maintaining a positive team dynamic.
Lastly, the pressure
of ensuring that the relay team performs well in high-stakes
competitions adds another layer of difficulty to coaching track relays.
The coach must prepare the team both physically and mentally for the
challenges they will face during the race.
Coaching track
relays requires a combination of technical expertise, interpersonal
skills, and strategic thinking, making it a difficult but rewarding
endeavor. But with a few tips from an elite coach like Erik Jenkins, any
relay coach can get their team winning races in no time.
Erik Jenkins is entering his fifth season as the head coach of
the USF track and field and cross country program. The Bulls have
collected 23 individual and relay event conference championships, the
program’s first men’s team conference championship, and two individual
event national championships under Jenkins’ leadership.
Jenkins
arrived in Tampa after serving 11 seasons as the head coach at Western
Kentucky. During his time as head coach of the Hilltoppers, Jenkins led
Western Kentucky to 30 Sun Belt and Conference USA championships, was
tabbed conference coach of the year 21 times between outdoor and indoor
nominations, and was selected as the USFTCCA Southeast Region Coach of
the Year five times.
Coach Jenkins’ ‘Sprints and Relays Tips and Techniques featuring Coach Erik Jenkins’
course, shares several unique training tips, techniques, and race
strategies that make it a must-have resource for coaches and sprinters
at any competitive level.
Sprinting Mechanics
While a great sprinter can come from any body type or background, Coach Jenkins noted that everyone must encompass three commonalities: the ability to push early, maintain, and decelerate efficiently.
When instilling these crucial components of sprinting success in your athletes, coaches
will want to start by ensuring the sprinter’s head is up, and they’re
looking forward during the acceleration to the maintenance phase.
In addition, the sprinter should understand that their hips need to be
slightly behind where their shoulders should be while trying to push at
the sprint's beginning.
When it comes to moving the legs, the
mechanics should make it so the runner’s knees are headed directly
upwards with each motion before their foot goes to dorsiflexion.
What sprinters don’t want to be doing is for their calf to bow out
while running, which wastes energy and facilitates unnecessary movement
which can be the difference between winning and losing a race.
A
great way to commit these techniques to memory is by standing in front
of a runner and holding their shoulders in place while they’re slightly
leaned over in the same way they’d be running during a race. From there,
you can help train them to execute their leg revolutions correctly. And
if there are multiple players on a relay team that you’re trying to
teach at once, have them do this with their hands against a wall.
Starting Blocks
Coach Jenkins explains that there’s no
cookie-cutter approach to setting blocks and that each athlete is going
to have their own preference.
Coach Jenkins likes to have
his athletes set their blocks in practice along the lane lines, so he
has a clear visual to be able to evaluate and teach from as they
practice their starts.
When it comes to the actual start, the coach wants to make sure their athletes’ hands are completely behind the line, that
their weight is shifted right on top of the hands around their shoulder
blades, and that the head is in a neutral position with the spine.
All of that should remain the same once the athlete’s bottom comes up
right before the race begins, aside from where their weight is shifted
(it will shift backward to the core/legs).
The Finish
Coach Jenkins believes that the most important
aspect of developing a sprinter is developing the way they finish races.
And the first and foremost aspect of this is ensuring that the sprinter is moving through the finish line rather than moving or running to the finish line.
In a fast race where the winner and loser can be decided
between hundredths of a second, there can be no cruising through the
finish line. Instead, the sprinter must be committed to the finish line
and run through it.
A great way to coach this is by having
a focus point that is past the finish line. For example, a 100 m sprint
or relay runner should be actually thinking they’re running a 105 m
race because that extra 5 m should be completed with the same intensity to make sure the runner doesn’t let up on the gas.
