Coaching and Care of Athletes

HURDLING race the first man's stride average between flights will be a fraction under 7 ft., and that of the other man almost exactly 6 ft. The ideal plan, as I have said, is to train the intermediate hurdler to stick to fifteen strides between flights right through the race, but this only the elect among athletes can do. Many coaches feel that they are begging the question by allowing even the lesser lights to adopt the seventeen-stride method. They prefer, and there is a good deal to be said for their preference, to instruct their athletes to hold the fifteen-stride rhythm as long as possible, substituting the seventeen strides only when a tendency to falter or a short clearance makes the addition of the two extra strides an imperative necessity. Other coaches instruct their pupils to hold fifteen strides for a set number ofhurdles, and then to carry on for the rest of the race with seventeen strides. This method should not be used unless the coach is definitely determined to train the athlete ultimately to carry the fifteen-stride cadence right through the race. In the case of novices it is permissible to allow fifteen strides for four hurdles, seventeen for the next three, and nineteen for the last three flights. The main things for the coach to aim at inculcating are a regular stride and a steady pace. The 440 yds. flat runner's initial sprint for position and fast relaxed coast on the back stretch should be eliminated. The intermediate hurdler should secure his muscular relaxation for a fraction of a second in effecting each clearance. Style is important, of course, to the intermediate hurdler, and the form he uses may be said to be just about half-way between the technique of the high and low hurdlers. First and last, how– ever, provided the athlete will learn to 'step' his hurdles properly, pace judgment and a just distribution of effort are the factors that count most. That is why a good coach trains the intermediate hurdler to travel a little within his powers in training and in per– haps as many as 95 per cent. of his races. Nine-tenths effort in the approach run leaves a man in good shape to take the first hurdle, and he is taught not to go quite flat out between flights, because something must be held back for the concentrated effort of taking off to effect clearance. This concentrated effort must be compen– sated for by brief, but complete, relaxation while the athlete is off the ground and clearing the hurdle. Although it is slow work to do this, the coach must train his men to steady, even striding. Bursts of speed and intervals of coasting 3 1 3