Coaching and Care of Athletes

i-IU:RDLfNd tensing of muscles not in use. This applies particularly to the abdominal muscles in the early stage of clearance action. He must guard against inflexibility of the hip-joints, stiffness in the lumbar region, and lack of sufficient strength in certain muscles, causing a dragging action of the legs, which has to be compensated for by a wastefully wide swinging of the arms. I am opposed to ,teaching a standardized arm action, beyond the thrust forward and slightly down of the arm which is opposite to the leading leg, the one hand not going back beyond the hip as the other shoots forward. In clearance the arms act mainly as balancers, and should m~rely exaggerate the normal sprinting action. The coach should satisfy himself that a pupil can hold the necessary positions on the ground before asking him to perform them in hurdle clearance. He should ensure that the follow-up stride after landing is produced by correct action of the reaT leg, combined with a proper body-lean. He must stop the athlete from jerking his body upright on landing, and must not allow him to bring the foot of the rear leg too quickly to the ground. Never tell a hurdler to make a vicious chop-down, clawing for the ground with the leading foot. Balance this action by telling him to put more synchronized snap into the downward movement of the front leg and the simultaneous upward and sideways lift of the rear knee. Final faults to watch for are that the athlete: (I) S'trides tOO far at the Start, making his cadence too slow, and has to overstride to reach the take-off. (2) Deviates just before the take-off. (3) Inverts or everts his foot in taking off and/or on landing. (4) Does not fully straighten his take-off leg, completing the . action with a rock-up movement from ball to toe of his take-off foot. (5) Restricts the upward lift by using body-dip prematurely. (6) Does not use enough body-dip, causing difficulty in lift .of rear knee and also a jarring landing. (7) Loses time by spreading the arms to the sides and sailing over the hurdle. · (8) Uses sideways swing of his leading leg. (g) Does not relax when clearing the hurdle. (I o) Fails to whip his rear knee through, and so hits his ankle– bone. 295