By Seth Mischke Head Track and Field Coach Black Hills State University

 Consistency can be helped by good sprint mechanics  Strong cycling action, hitting ground tall and rigid, in front of body and attacking with leg action  Consistent push out effort (check mark/s?)  Counting, breaking approach up into parts (4-2-2, 4-3, 3-3-2)  Stay away from getting too fast too early, it only leads to slowing down and increases chances of a foul  Smooth, fluid, and strong looking approach is what we are looking for

 When nearing the board, maintain ability to sprint throughout  Typical point of deceleration  Being able to adjust step while maintaining horizontal velocity is a key component, often times more a natural ability, but it can be a learned skill (newspaper drill, short approach jumps making sure each step is faster than the previous one)

 Know the jumper (super ball or skipping rock)  Take-off leg is a spring not a board  Rolling foot strikes with penultimate and take-off (jumping off the second part of the foot)  Take-off leg and drive knee should be heading in the opposite direction as aggressively as possible  Focus on taking speed out into the pit (easy to hound height off the board, not always going to produce biggest efforts)  Bullets – pure and simple…….accelerate off the board horizontally into the pit  Skipping a rock – same concept, but add a hint of vertical impulse  Un-loading the spring – normal jumping effort, but still focus on carrying speed into the pit over height

 Basically comes down to a true “hang” style or some form of a “hitch-kick/hang” style option  No real winner or loser here, must find what works best for the athlete and have them technically sound in that style  Regardless of style chosen the flight phase should be a patient, fluid, vertically stretched motion which allows the athlete to ride the jump out as far as possible  Keep the head level to slightly elevated as long as possible allowing the legs to get into an attacking extension position  Stay away from reaching towards the feet early with the hands and upper torso (typically pushes feet down early), bring knees/legs up and push them out

 A good finish to the jump is virtually impossible without coming into this phase in the proper position(over-rotation, reaching early with hands and torso for the feet, etc…..)  Inches are lost or gained here, and work in this phase can have a huge impact on the final result  Angle of decent, horizontal speed of jumper, and aggressiveness through the landing have their role  As the jumper flows into this position, they are lifting and pushing their legs out in front of their body reaching with the heels  Heels make contact first and simultaneously begin a pulling effort down and back, bringing the backside of the jumper forward to the left or right of the heels, but hopefully in the end, at the same mark in the sand

 Roll walking, Roll skipping, Roll jumping  L-L, R-R, Together (left footed jumper)  Springboard, boxes for take-off, flight phase, and landing  Bungee’s for landings  Seated landing drill  Reach drill  Hitch drill