COACHING PRACTICE

© by IAAF Approaches to technique 24:3; 31-34, 2009 and technical training in the high jump

By Wolfgang Ritzdorf

ABSTRACT AUTHOR The coach’s approach to technique and Wolfgang Ritzdorf, PhD, is the Director of technical preparation are critical for the IAAF World High Jump Centre and a his/her athlete’s success. All coaches lecturer at the German Sport University in face this challenge, regardless of the Cologne. He is a former German national athlete’s level of ability or performance. women’s coach for the high jump and has The author, who has coached two worked with two Olympic champions – Olympic champions as well as a number Ulrike Meyfarth and Heike Henkel. Cur- of other top-class high jumpers and is rently he coaches two 2.34m high currently the Director of the IAAF World jumpers: Kabelo Kgosiemang (BOT) and High Jump Centre in Cologne, Germany, Eike Onnen (GER). starts with a discussion of the impor- tance of understanding the technical model in his event. He then describes the key elements of the approach he has Introduction developed while working with athletes who are normally quite talented but oaching for the so-called technical may be under-developed from a train- events, including the high jump, ing or technical point of view. It C must include great attention to the includes two strategies for technique elements of technique and technical prepara- development: a) checking whether the tion. At the IAAF World High Jump Centre athlete’s personal style contributes to (WHJC) in Cologne, the athletes that we nor- performance or hinders the achieve- mally work with tend to be quite talented from ment of key technical elements and b) the point of view of biomotor abilities but developing the athlete’s technical when they arrive at the centre they have dif- model based on an assessment of ferent training ages and vastly different stages his/her reactive strength, which is the of development, both physically and techni- most important factor affecting the cally. This creates a specific challenge. take-off in the high jump. He then gives a brief description of the four elements Of course, all high jump coaches will face a of the technical preparation programme similar challenge, even if the initial perform- he uses: a) development of general ance level of their athletes might be lower. The qualities, b) development of specific purpose of this article is to share our experi- qualities, c) development of specific ence by giving a brief outline of our approach skills and d) technical training. as the basis for further discussion and devel- opment.

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Technique Thomas of the Bahamas) do so. If you violate these elements it is definitely a technical fault. All daily coaching advice needs a technical model as a reference. Comments that coach- Some relevant key elements are: es make, like “too deep”, “too slow”, “too • increasing stride frequency in the approach, long”, “pretty good”, etc., are the result of a • decreasing flight times at the end of the comparison of what we believe we observe approach, and the technical model we have in mind. • inward lean, Consequently, both observation and the tech- • acceleration of the hip before the touch- nical model become critical. down for take-off, • backward lean (body straight) at the For a start, observation is difficult as move- touchdown for take-off, ments in athletics are quite fast and technical • full body extension at toe-off, deviations, at least in top athletes, are small. • arching or rotating over the bar. To be good at this calls for permanent prac- tice and a double check of the coaches’ eye. Once these are understood, our job is to If the observation is wrong, the feedback check whether the athlete’s personal style given will be wrong as well. contributes to performance or hinders the achievement of these key elements. Then we have to think of the technical model. Technical models might come from the Note that half of the elements listed concern observation and biomechanical analysis of top- the approach. My experience shows that level performers. As is the case for the other coaches in the high jump tend to underesti- events, there is a lot of biomechanical data mate the importance of a proper approach run. available for the high jump. But, due to its spe- As there is no maximum speed and no take-off cific characteristics, the high jump allows more board, they might consider it less important technical variations than the other jumps. The than in the long jump or triple jump. But, as in length and speed of the approach, the curve of these other jumps, an effective take-off is not the approach run, the take-off time, the take- possible without a proper preparation. off angle and the rotations around the three axes are some of the specific points where In this context the penultimate ground con- variations in the model are possible. tact is of major importance. The penultimate stride creates the pre-conditions for the take- As is the case for all coaches starting work off. Some relevant criteria are: with a new athlete, the technical model we • deepest CM position is during amortisa- are presented with is an important considera- tion of the penultimate stride and not dur- tion when we begin with athletes at the ing the take-off, WHJC. With respect to this consideration, we • at full sole contact, the knees are almost follow two strategies in the area of technical parallel, analysis and correction. • at full sole contact, the shin of support leg is vertical. Strategy 1 Our first strategy is to identify the key ele- Looking closer at the last of these criteria, ments in the high jump. The meaning of the we can say that the shin angle at the time of term “key element” is: an aspect of the tech- the penultimate contact is an expression of nique that must be done correctly. All suc- the body’s orientation in the preparation for cessful jumps show these elements and there take-off. An angle of less than 90° is linked is no alternative to getting them right. Even with a moderate forward lean, which compli- athletes with extreme technical variations (for cates reaching the proper body position at example, the 2007 World Champion Donald the touchdown for take-off (see Figure 1).

32 New Studies in Athletics • no. 3/2009 Approaches to technique and technical training in the high jump

Figure 1: Comparison of the shin angle of the same athlete in two competitions (2.34 m clearan- ce and 2.27m foul jump)

Strategy 2 will select and develop. The central question Our second strategy is to start the individ- is: Do the elements fit to and are they in ual technical analysis with an assessment of good harmony with the athlete’s basic the athlete’s reactive strength capacity. capacity? According to long-term coaching experience, reactive strength is the most difficult physical Technical preparation quality to change. For sure we can work on it, we can develop it, but it is extremely difficult In a long-term perspective, technical prepa- to fundamentally change an athlete’s neuro- ration for the high jump consists of four ele- muscular patterns and time programmes. ments: development of general qualities, Depending on this physical quality, the ath- development of specific qualities, develop- lete’s ideal take-off time will vary. Fortunately, ment of specific skills and, finally, technical success in the high jump is possible with dif- training. Below I outline the key aims that ferent variations of this aspect (in fact it’s not must guide the coach in his/her planning for the take-off time that is important but the each of the four. range and speed of motion of the centre of mass (CM) during take-off). General qualities a) Running - There cannot be an efficient Take-off time will effect the preparation of approach in the high jump without good run- the take-off and the activity of the free ele- ning technique. The basic mechanics of run- ments during take-off. The preparation of ning must be developed and therefore we take-off reflects the lowering of the CM and devote a lot of training time to working on this the arm action during preparation (single arm, aspect. short double arm, long double arm). And this finally affects the approach velocity. Figure 2 b) Strength and power - Well-developed summarises the order of influence. strength of the whole (!) body is essential for all jumpers. The focus of interest is on the From this explanation we can see that the whole kinetic chain, with special emphasis on process of developing technique does not trunk and hip stabilisation. However, it is start with one technical model but with a important to keep in mind that strength and physical quality. Depending on this quality, power have no value by themselves, they are the technical elements are evaluated and the important as a support function for the reac- results will dictate the technical model we tive strength capacity.

New Studies in Athletics • no. 3/2009 33 Approaches to technique and technical training in the high jump

Order of Influence Reactive strength capacity Á

Take-off time ÁÁ Á

Preparation of take-off Free elements during take-off

i.e. Lowering of CM; arm action Á

Approach velocity

Figure 2: Order of influence of factors affecting the take-off in the high jump

Specific qualities component is markedly reduced. Therefore, As stated above, reactive strength is the instead of using too many jumps off of a short most important biomotor ability for the high approach, we prefer using the specific drills jumper. Whatever the initial quality of an ath- away from the mat. lete’s reactive strength, the adaptation of the neuromuscular system to short ground con- Conclusion tacts must be developed by basic jumping drills in a lot of variations. The coach’s approach to technique and technical preparation are critical for his/her Specific skills athlete’s success in the high jump. At the IAAF We develop certain technical elements (e.g. WHJC in Cologne, we have developed an arm action, lead leg drive, hip acceleration in approach that can be valuable for use with the last stride, active transition in the penulti- athletes of any level of talent and performance. mate stride) through a variety of specific drills done away from the crossbar. This allows for In this approach we use two key strategies more repetitions and the acquired skills can be for the area of technique development: a) easily transferred to the approach and take-off check whether the athlete’s personal style once the athlete has mastered them in the drills. contributes to performance or hinders the achievement of key technical elements and b) Technical training develop the technical model based on an Our systematic technical preparation as assessment of the athlete’s reactive strength. described has two consequences. First of all, technical training is quite limited in all periods. Our technical preparation programme com- It includes a maximum of two sessions per prises four elements a) development of gener- week with 10-15 jumps each. Secondly, al qualities, b) development of specific quali- jumps from a short approach are dramatically ties, c) development of specific skills and d) less than the number many coaches use. I technical training, for which the key aims must have found that by allowing more repetition of be understood. short-approach jumps, we increase the risk of major changes in the dynamics of the jump. Please send all correspondence to: The take-off quite often becomes longer, the Dr. Wolfgang Ritzdorf lowering of the CM is deeper and the speed [email protected]

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