May 8, 2014
For today’s blog I’m inserting an excerpt from an article that will appear in the May issue of The Hurdle Magazine, which will come out on Wednesday May 14th. The article is entitled “A Different Kind of Warrior.” Here’s a snippet:
Hurdling is all about individual expression. More than any other event in track and field, hurdling is about styles. There are as many styles as there are hurdlers. You see hurdlers like Aries Merritt, David Oliver, Liu Xiang, Jason Richardson, Dayron Robles, all having extreme levels of success, yet all with contrasting hurdling styles. While there are similarities that can be pointed out from hurdler to hurdler, you can tell who is who just by how they look over the hurdles.
One of my funniest memories occurred several years ago when one of my athletes, messing around toward the end of practice, imitated the styles of several hurdlers. “Let me do Dominique Arnold,” he said. And he looked just like Arnold over the hurdle. Then he said “let me do Trammell,” and he looked just like Terrence Trammell. He did two or three other hurdlers and it was hilarious. All the other hurdlers, as well as myself, nearly fell on the ground laughing. But a very important point was being made: you can identify a hurdler by his or her style. Your style is your thumbprint. It is your identity.
Of course, in developing your own style, you have to study hurdler after hurdler after hurdler, seeing what you can pick up that you can incorporate into your style. Then once you’ve incorporated it, forget about it, forget about that hurdler. Let your body take over. Then study more, incorporate more, forget more. Ueshiba says, “Ultimately you must forget about technique. The further you progress, the fewer teachings there are. The Great Path is really No Path” (89).
