Coaching the Low IQ Hurdler
by Steve McGill

The title of this article is not intended to be a criticism or insult. By “low IQ,” I mean that there are some hurdlers who have difficulty understanding and applying concepts that many hurdlers are able to grasp and apply rather quickly. Working with such hurdlers can be frustrating, and I can admit that I’ve personally felt the urge to tell such athletes to try a different event that doesn’t involve so many nuanced factors to consider and put together. In my early days as a coach, I looked upon high hurdling IQ as a requirement for a beginner, and for any experienced hurdler coming to me seeking to improve. But I now see that these athletes often don’t lack drive or will or athletic ability, and the classroom teacher in me understands that varying my teaching methods to fit certain learning styles is an absolute must. So if it’s a must in the classroom, it must be a must on the track.

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For this article, I’ll use a hurdler on my school team, I’ll call him Gary, as my example. Gary is young—an eighth grader—but is already about 6-0 tall with a strong, muscular frame. He ran a 55.3 in the 400 early in the year, which made me think of trying him in the 300 hurdles. When I approached him about it, he jumped at the chance. Even though he had done well in the 400, he didn’t like it. So I figured that with my ability to work magic in a short amount of time with motivated athletes, I could get him down to the 40-41 range in the 300h by the end of the year.

That didn’t happen. We had our state meet this past weekend, and he finished the season with a personal best of 43.5. Not bad at all for an eighth grader, and for someone who had never hurdled before until two months ago. But our limited time to develop a stride pattern and to work out technical flaws proved to prevent him from displaying the type of speed he was capable of. Next year, I told him, we’re gonna get you right.

When Gary first started hurdling, two things were evident: he was fearless when it came to attacking the barriers, and he was a terrible hurdler. The fearlessness meant that he was coachable; the technique meant he would require a great deal of coaching.

Even before he started hurdling, he was having trouble grasping basic sprint drills, like A-marches and A-skips. He’d always raise the right arm with the right leg, and the left leg with the left leg. It’s such an unnatural motion that I was lowkey impressed that he was able to do it, even though it was all wrong. Spending some one-on-one time with him after practice to work on A-marches proved beneficial. He was able to get the rhythm down at least—right arm with the left leg and vice versa. When it came to A-skips he reverted back to his old habit, so it took more one-on-one time, pressure-free, away from the rest of the team, to get the rhythm down with the skips. 

These one-on-one sessions proved immensely helpful. It showed me that Gary was willing to put in the work, so I had to be willing to put in the work by explaining every movement in detail, correcting him when he did something wrong, and not showing any impatience with him. Building the relationship of trust allowed us to continue making progress.

When it came to hurdling, the issues were more severe. In side walk-overs with the trail leg, I explained to him that the foot of the lead leg must land past the crossbar to ensure that the trail leg comes from behind. It took him about ten reps over one hurdle to finally do it right, though I was demonstrating the correct way each time he did it wrong. Eventually, he got the hang of it. 

But because I had to spend so much time teaching him the rhythm of the sprint drills and hurdle drills, I didn’t have time to teach him the precisely accurate body positionings for each drill. If I had tried to get him to lower his hands, for example, that one instruction could’ve ended up taking so much time that we wouldn’t have time for the main part of the workout. And when you’re in-season, with meets coming up at you all the time, the amount of available teaching time is minimal.

Because he wasn’t quick to grasp things, I focused on making micro-adjustments, simplifying the phrasing. For example, Gary takes very short, choppy strides. Although he’s 6-0, he might as well be 5-5 with the way he runs. In the beginning of the season, he was taking 26 steps to the first hurdle and 19 between one and two. From there, it would vary from 19 to 20 back to 19 back to 20 up to 21, etc. Instead of trying to develop a consistent stride pattern, I instructed him to raise his hands higher in his running strides and to cover more ground. Without mentioning stride pattern, he was able to go 24 to the first hurdle, and then 17 to the second. From there it was still a guessing game, but at least now he wasn’t wasting so much time at the beginning of the race.

Also, he tended to raise his arms way above his head when clearing each hurdle, taking off on a flat foot and jumping vertically. It had taken forever to get him to get his arms right in the A-skips, so I knew I couldn’t give him a detailed explanation of how to use the arms over the hurdles. Instead, I said try to keep the hands low, and in regards to the take-off, I said try to jump more forward than upward. By keeping the language simple, I was able to address the major flaws and turn them into relatively minor flaws.

My plan—and this would be my suggestion for any coach working with a hurdler who is a hard worker, eager learner, but who processes and applies instruction slowly—is to do a ton of drilling in the off-season. We’ll start as soon as we get back to school in the fall. With no meets in the way, we’ll have time to move at a pace that fits his needs, and that allows me to implement the foundational elements that are so essential to long-term development. Because he’s on my school team, and because he doesn’t play another sport, I’ll be able to work with him multiple times a week. If he weren’t on my school team, and/or he did play another sport in the fall and/or winter, I would still seek out time to work on drills once a week, probably on a Saturday or Sunday.  My experience as a private coach has shown me that a consistent once a week is enough time to get done what needs to be done. 

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