June 20, 2016

A little bad news / good news. The bad news is that I’ve taken down the biography of Rodney Milburn from the website. The good news has to do with the reason why I’ve taken it down: I have found a publisher who has expressed interest in publishing the book. So, obviously, if I want people to buy the book, I can’t have it available for free. I’ll keep you posted through this blog on the progress /  process of publication. This will be my first time through as a published author (except for a self-publishing venture about fifteen years ago), so I will be learning the process as I go.

The story of Rodney Milburn is a remarkable one, an inspiring one, and it is one that needs to be told on as large a stage as possible. Hopefully this publication opportunity will serve to do just that – keep alive the memory and legacy of one of the greatest hurdlers who ever laced up a pair of spikes.

November 14, 2015

Cycle Arm Practice

Last month I posted about the new cycle arms style that I’ve been experimenting with. In that video, I tried to demonstrate the style myself, but it was not a very good rendition. Keare Smith, the athlete that I was working with last summer on the cycle arms style, has started working on it on his own while training in New York City. The clip at the end of this post shows three reps of him going over three 39” hurdles, spaced at regular race distance, moving at the warm-up 5-step pace.

The key thing to look at in regard to identifying the style is the trail arm, or what is traditionally called the trail arm. For Keare, that is his right arm; from the head-on angle of the first two hurdles, that would the arm to the viewer’s left. If you watched my previous video, “Cycle Arms,” where I explained the style in detail, you’ll remember that the trail arm is meant to function in the same way as the lead arm. So, the first thing you’ll want to look for – and it will probably look odd – is that the trail arms cycles down (instead of punching up) as the athlete descends off the hurdle. read more

October 17, 2015

I just posted a long video on my YouTube page explaining a hurdling style that I’ve been experimenting with off and on over the past few years. Since starting my new job teaching English at a school near Charlotte, NC, much of my energy has been focused on teaching, and I haven’t been spending nearly as much time coaching. The fact that my new school has no track and has a very small track team has further put things on pause. The positive side of that though is that it’s given me more freedom to experiment without the pressure of getting athletes ready for races. So, the style I’ve been working on, which I call “cycle arms,” focuses on having the arms cycle (instead of thrusting up and down) in the same manner that the legs cycle. The cycling action doesn’t just take place over the hurdles, but in every stride. Once you’ve had a chance to watch the video, let me know your thoughts by posting on my facebook page. The link for that is on the right-hand side of the home page of this website. read more

June 9, 2015

An article in this month’s Hurdle Magazine (which comes out June 14th) will feature a training session with an athlete who needed help breaking the habit of kicking out her lead leg. Here’s a snippet of that article, which is entitled “Learning to Cycle:”

On top of the hurdle, Nadia’s lead leg remains bent so that she can properly cycle it, and then cycle the trail leg as well. A lot of hurdlers will flatten out their lead leg at this point in clearance and try their best to “skim” the crossbar along the length of the entire leg. That’s not what we want to do. We want to create a downhill angle like we have here, so that we are coming DOWN on the hurdle, and will therefore be able to come off the hurdle faster than we went into it. You can also see that Nadia’s forward lean is more pronounced, as she pushes her chest down over her lead leg thigh, minimizing her airtime, pushing herself back to the ground. I’ve always said that the lean is not just about hurdle clearance, but even more importantly about creating speed off the hurdle. Meanwhile, Nadia’s trail leg is in excellent position, with the knee facing the front and the toe cocked to avoid contact with the barrier. The lead arm is crossing the body, but if that’s as far across as it goes, then she’ll be okay. read more

May 17, 2015

I recently received an email from Michael Daniels of Baton Rouge, LA. Daniels went to high school with Rodney Milburn, the 1972 Olympic champion in the 110 hurdles. A biography that I wrote on Milburn, The Quiet Champion, is available to read on this website.

Daniels is the project leader of the J.S. Clark Memorial Walkway in Milburn’s hometown of Opelousas, LA. (J.S. Clark is the name of the high school Milburn attended; it no longer exists). A bust of Milburn will be a feature of the project. The bust is already completed, and was sculpted by DJ Dawden of Utah. Clark says that, “like all of us, Dawden felt a kinship to Rodney. I sent him about 10 pics. He did a composite using those and he added the gold medal. All of Rodney’s family cried when we had the unveiling.”

Below are photos of the bust, of the walkway, as well as some vintage pics from Milburn’s high school, college, and professional days.

Milburn lives!

Not-quite-completed bust of Rodney Milburn

Completed bust of Milburn

Completed bust of Milburn, from a different angle.

J.S. Clark Memorial Walkway in its current stage of development. Notice the hurdle in the middle, the bust of Milburn to the left.

Milburn clearing a wooden hurdle on the field at J.S. Clark High School in 1967. The school’s wooden hurdles were made by the shop class.

Milburn (far left) races against teammates on the grass field at J.S. Clark.

Milburn (third from left) with his high school coaches. I’m not sure who all of them are, but the one on the far left is Claude Paxton.

Milburn receives his award after winning the Louisiana Meet of Champions in 13.9.

Milburn (middle) with 1968 Olympic champion and fellow Southern University hurdler Willie Davenport (left) and another Southern U. teammate.

Milburn relaxing at the track. Not sure where or when this one is from.

Milburn showing his start technique. Not sure of the where or when of this one either.

April 15, 2015

At my new teaching job I gave the students an extra credit assignment that involved writing a one-page response to an episode of Spike TV’s reality show “Coaching Bad.” If you haven’t seen it, it features a group of about six coaches from various sports (including one track coach) and shows how they have serious anger issues and control issues and can be very abusive to their athletes. The host is former NFL star Ray Lewis, who tries to get the coaches to see the errors of their ways, and tries to get them to change for the better.

So I was reading through my students’ responses, when I came across a line in one of them in which the student referred to one of the coaches as a “very bad coacher.” Coacher? At first I thought it must’ve been a typo, but then I realized that this student, who had no athletic background whatsoever, assumed that “coacher” was the right word to identify someone who coaches. When I returned the papers I asked him about it, and he said “Yeah, coacher.” read more

April 8, 2015

Well it’s official, Liu Xiang has retired from track and field. For many of us who have followed the men’s 110m hurdles over the past decade or so, this is a very sad day, even though we could see it coming. For the past several years, injuries to his Achilles and ankle have slowed him down severely, limiting him to very few competitions.

When I look back on Liu’s career, several defining moments come to mind, beginning with his Olympic victory in 2004, when he dominated the race, defeating silver medalist Terrence Trammell by almost a full three tenths of a second. Then there was the world record race in 2006, when he ran 12.88 and Dominque Arnold broke the American record, finishing second in 12.90. And there were a whole lot of other races where Liu ran against the best and came out on top amongst the likes of Allen Johnson, Dayron Robles, and many others.

Where Liu stands in the pantheon of all-time greats is open to debate. With an injury-shortened career, he didn’t have the longevity of a Johnson or a Greg Foster or Colin Jackson. But for me, Liu’s status has more to do with his mastery of the event than with his achievements. In my eyes, when it comes to technical precision and executing near-flawless races time and time again, Liu is the best there ever was. read more

April 5, 2015

When people ask me about how to keep the hips up while hurdling, I usually answer that I don’t think so much in terms of keeping the hips up, but in terms of not allowing the hips to drop. There are two key moments when the hips will potentially drop if you’re doing something wrong: during take-off, and upon landing.

During Take-off:
The key at take-off into the hurdle is to stay on the ball of the foot. Hurdlers who have a background in the long jump, triple jump, or high jump will “plant” that last step, or stomp, which will send them in more of a vertical direction. In the jumping events, the plant step enables the athlete to elevate. While planting, the hips drop, and then they push back up when the athlete is airborne. In hurdling, you don’t want that vertical element in the hips. In hurdling, you want the hips to push forward horizontally, although smaller hurdlers may need a slight vertical element to ensure clean clearance of the barrier. By staying on the ball of the foot instead of planting, the hurdler allows him or herself to keep the momentum moving forward, and the hips can stay tall and keep moving horizontally as the legs go up and over the barrier. read more

March 31, 2015

After a few failed attempts, I finally caught up with my former athlete Keni Harrison last night for a phone conversation. Harrison recently won the NCAA 60m hurdle national championship for the University of Kentucky, even though it was only her second meet of the year after coming back from a hamstring injury. We talked about her national championship victory, her Southeastern Conference championship victory the week prior, and her thoughts as she looks forward to the outdoor season, which starts this coming Saturday. She will be competing in the 400 hurdles at the Florida Relays.

McGill: When did you first injure your hamstring?

Harrison: Coming back from Christmas break. That Saturday, I came back early to start training. I probably did half the workout, then we had some sprints to do at the end, and I  started feeling a little pain in my right hamstring. Thought it was just an ache, but it didn’t go away. A week later I was doing 150’s and it was hurting.

McGill: Had you competed in any meets prior to then? read more

January 19, 2015

In a couple hours from now, I’ll be driving from my home in Knightdale, NC (just outside of Raleigh) to the small college town of Davidson, NC, where I will be beginning my new job as English teacher at Davidson Day School. I was hired mid-year to replace a teacher who is leaving to pursue a career as a professional writer.

Throughout my adult life, beginning at age 28, when I moved to Raleigh from Southeastern Pennsylvania, I have lived in the Raleigh area. In my coaching life over the past twenty years, I have had the privilege of coaching many athletes who have had a profound influence on my life. While the big names include hurdlers like Johnny Dutch, Wayne Davis II, and Kendra Harrison, there have been dozens others whose names the public has never heard, but whom I am equally grateful to for having allowed me to play a role in their development as athletes and as human beings.

The school where I will now be working has a very small track team – so small, in fact, that they may not even need the help of another coach. It’s funny because teaching English has always been my primary means of making a living, but people in the track community see me only as a track coach, and many – including some who are personal friends – aren’t even aware that I teach English. read more