Hurdlers Need Attention
by Steve McGill
As the webmaster for this website since 2004, and as a coach who has worked with athletes from various parts of the country since I started coaching in the mid 90’s, I have heard from many athletes and parents with concerns about their progress and development in the hurdles. In this article, I will point out the biggest concern that I most often hear, and I will give my thoughts on how to address it.
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The biggest issue amongst hurdlers that I’ve heard is “we don’t spend enough time hurdling in practice.” Variations of that one, or connected to it, are “I don’t have a hurdles coach at my school” and “I need more individual attention.”
If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard one of the above complaints, I would have enough money to buy a Philly cheesesteak and a large drink. Hurdlers, by and large, are neglected. They are often grouped with the sprinters, and even though grouping them with the sprinters does make sense two or even maybe three times a week, hurdlers have needs that sprinters don’t have. Sprinters aren’t clearing ten barriers per race. I’ve often been asked how often hurdlers need to practice the hurdles. I say at least two times a week. And that’s full-blown hurdle workouts. In addition to those two days a week, hurdlers should also include hurdle drilling in their warm-up or cool-down another once or twice a week. As the great Renaldo Nehemiah once said to me, “hurdlers need to hurdle.”
The basic problem is that a lot of head coaches don’t understand a hurdler’s needs. Many head coaches are distance coaches who couldn’t care less about the hurdles or sprint coaches who, as I said above, just lump the hurdlers with the other sprinters. Many such coaches don’t know the difference between good technique and poor technique, so they have no clue about the importance of working on technical flaws. Nor do they understand the amount of work necessary to develop a race rhythm and a stride pattern, so when it comes to the long hurdles they say, “just run hard in between.” Bruh, what kind of advice is that?
The comparison I like to make is that hurdlers are no different than pole vaulters. With pole vaulters, because their event is so visually different from everyone else’s, it’s understood that they need specialized training that fits their specific needs. When you go to meets, you may notice that pole vaulters from every school seem to know each other. That’s because at one point or another they’ve trained together. To me, telling the hurdlers to “go hurdle” on their own, without being there with them to provide them with on-the-spot feedback is just as irresponsible as telling the vaulters to “go vault,” or telling the shot-putters to “go throw” or telling the high jumpers to “go jump.”
As a solution to this issue, option number one is to find someone like myself – a private coach who specializes in the hurdles. I only meet once a week with most of my athletes. Maybe twice a week. But even once a week is often enough to learn what you need to learn in regards to what is efficient and what is inefficient. I’m always amazed, or maybe I should say frustrated, when I find out from athletes that whenever they hurdle at school, the hurdles are at race height and race spacing. They never lower the hurdles in practice, they never move them in in practice, and they never do any drills. A private coach can provide a plan and establish a foundation of what drills to do and how to do them. That way, when you do them on your own, you know what you’re doing and you know how they should feel.
Yes, I know that good private hurdles coaches are hard to find. If you can’t find one, then follow the YouTube channels and Instagram pages of coaches who know what they’re doing. Besides myself, the other three I would recommend are Terry Reese, Hector Cotto, and Coach Holmes of Holmes Hurdle Tech. I know Coach Reese and Coach Cotto personally; Hector and I are very close. While none of us are exactly alike in our approach and philosophy, all of us know what we are doing and are good teachers of hurdling rhythm and technique. I’m sure there are others, but those are the ones I can recommend without any uncertainty.
When it comes to getting in the work that you need to get in as a hurdler, my advice is get it in where you can fit it in. If your coaches don’t allot any time for you to hurdle in practice, then you need to fit it in after practice, before practice, in the early morning, late at night. Whenever you can. Film as many reps as you can so that you can compare how you look to how the hurdlers in the YouTube videos look.
In rare cases, talking with the coach and explaining your plight does help, but based on what I’ve heard from athletes over the years, coaches who don’t understand the hurdles aren’t very willing to accommodate a hurdler’s needs. That’s why I’m saying that the athlete and the parents might need to take matters into their own hands. That doesn’t mean being a disruption and causing strife amongst the team. But you have the right to expect to be coached, and to do something about it if you’re not. I’ve heard stories from more than one athlete who, because he or she is one of the older hurdlers on the team, is asked by the coach to coach the younger hurdlers. What??? You’re asking an athlete to coach other athletes?
For youth athletes and high school athletes who want to continue to compete in college, you’ll want to look for a school that will allow you a situation where you can have a beneficial working relationship with a coach who is knowledgeable in the hurdles. There are plenty of strong programs that might not be a good fit for you as a hurdler, so do your homework and ask a lot of questions before signing on the dotted line.
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