This document discusses the long-term development of jumpers in athletics. It emphasizes that athletics is a late development sport that requires at least 7 years to develop an elite pole vaulter. It recommends taking a long-term approach focused on constructing a balanced athlete by developing a variety of skills throughout their junior career. These skills include those needed for their event as well as a strong base in fundamental movement, speed, strength, stamina and suppleness to support long-term senior success and injury prevention. The document outlines a movement-based approach and phases of skill learning to develop technique that will last.

1. Alan Richardson

2. 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

3. Long Term Development of Jumpers
• Athletics is a late
development sport
• So no need to rush

4. 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

5. Developing Technique That Lasts

7. A Movement Based Approach
RUN JUMP
THROW

8. 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

9. 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!

10. 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

11. Jumping phases…
The Approach Run
The Take
Off
The Flight
The Landing

12. 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

13. The Approach
Fundamental movement
Good posture
Effective force production
Speed development
Optimum speed

14. The Skill of ‘Taking off’
The ability to overcome huge
forces at great speed, maintain
posture and produce effective
reaction forces”

15. Resisting
Eccentric
Forces
Transition
Equal Forces
Applied
Concentric
Vertical Acceleration

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. Strength
• To resist force
• To apply force

20. 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

21. Suppleness
• Minimise injury risk
• Complete technique effectively
• Does not reduce strength (if all in balance)

22. Long/ Triple Jump

23. High Jump

24. Pole Vault

25. 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

26. 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

27. Developing Posture
•Theraband Holds
•Theraband Hops
•Stand A Hold
•A Hold With Floor Touch

28. Developing Control
• Hop and Stop
• Bound and Stop
• Speed Skaters
• High Knee with Stop

29. 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

30. Developing Co-Ordination
• Run Jump – left and right
• Run jump - Every other left and right
• LL/RR
• 1/1/3/5/3/1/1

31. Core
• All force flows through here
• Strength for control
• Dish
• Superman
• Plank- Front, Side, Face Ups
• Planks with knee lifts

32. Questions?

33. Thank You
• arichardson@britishathletics.org.uk
• 07824 302921