Update on the Progress of Sakeenah Odom
by Steve McGill
This article will focus on the progress of Sakeenah Odom, the young girl who competes for the Charlotte Heat Track Club in youth track. I started working with Sakeenah last summer during her peak competitive season. This fall, we’ve been going back and addressing the technical issues that have been holding her back. On September 18, we started the session by working on her approach to hurdle one, and then over the first two hurdles, as she will be making the leap this year from the 80 meter hurdles to the 100 meter hurdles. The hurdles will still be 30 inches high, but the increased distance means a longer sprint to the first hurdle – 13 meters now, compared to the 12 meters for the 80 meter hurdles, and more space between the hurdles – 8 meters now, up from the 7.5 in the 80 meter hurdles. So, for those reps, I chose to go with a three-point start, just focusing on covering more ground in the early strides. We did several reps with no hurdles, marking where her eighth step was landing. Once she was consistently landing that eighth stride within six feet of the hurdle mark, I put a hurdle up, but I kept it low, at 24 inches.
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Having the hurdle there gave her a visual – something to drive toward. It took about three reps before she was driving through the first hurdle with speed and power. Once she did that consecutively for three reps in a row, I added a second hurdle, moved in two feet from race distance. Again, we went through the process of adapting to the new spacing. But after a few reps, she was looking fast to the first hurdle and between the hurdles. Her hurdle technique looked terrible, but I knew it would; I just wanted to focus on getting used to the new rhythm. We did about five reps total over two hurdles, then I told her to take off her spikes so we could do some drilling to address the technique issues.
Her biggest issue, as I’ve said before, is that her arms are always twisting and swinging. The thumb of the lead arm points downward, toward the track, and the arm locks at the elbow. Then the arms swings wide during descent. Meanwhile, we also had to work on the lead leg, as she doesn’t get her heel or knee up high enough, but just kind of swings the leg up and then swings it back down.
So I had her do my go-to drill – the marching popover. I kept the hurdles at 24 inches, started with just one hurdle, and kept adding a hurdle with each good rep, and we were able to get in several reps over five hurdles. By the end of the session, she looked brand new. Lead arm was punching up and down, she was driving up the knee and heel of the lead leg, and she even had a good bend from the waist! After one of the last reps where she looked particularly efficient, I said to her, “Look at you! Lookin like a hurdler!” And she smiled, and that was just one of those cool moments that make coaching so rewarding.
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The next week, on September 24, I had do the same workout – we started with some full-speed reps out of a three-point start, getting used to the new spacing of the 100 meter hurdles. Then we did some marching popovers to work on her technique – lead arm and lead leg knee. It looked good enough after a few reps that we transitioned into cycle drilling, which is what we ended up doing for the bulk of the workout.
The arm action is looking better and better. The old twisty arm is still there in full effect at full speed, but it’s almost totally gone in the drills. Hence, we’re seeing more speed off the hurdle, better balance over the hurdles, an easier motion in general, more fluidity in general. The girl is a worker, a warrior, a competitor. So it’s my job to make her into an efficient hurdler. So that’s what I’m doing.
Hurdles were at 24 inches, and 11 feet apart for the popovers. For the cycle drilling, we raised them up to 27 inches, with 20 feet to the first hurdle for a 4-step approach, and 18 feet between the hurdles for a 3-step rhythm. For the last few reps I increased the spacing to 19 feet between. It’s coming along. If we keep meeting once a week, she’ll be an age group monster in the spring and summer.
A few days later, on September 28, we met again. I decided to go straight to the cycle drill instead of starting with the marching popovers. We did that for a while and then added more space and transitioned into the quickstep drill. Her twisty lead arm didn’t twist in the cycle drill, but it did in the quicksteps. No surprise there. Adding speed always lends toward an old habit coming back. And because she was taught to use her arms that way, eradicating the habit is going to take a lot of time and and a lot of repetitions. Meanwhile, I’m liking the other things I’m seeing. Her lead leg is leading with the knee consistently. Her upper body posture is much better – we’re getting a good lean from the waist now instead of just ducking the chin down to the neck. As a result, we’re seeing good forward momentum over the hurdles, and she’s able to maintain it between the hurdles, even though the arm still causes her hips to twist. Overall, it’s getting closer and closer to how it’s supposed to look.
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The following weekend, on October 5, we did quicksteps over five hurdles, with the hurdles at 27 inches. Spacing was 31 feet to the first hurdle for a 6-step approach, 22 feet between the rest for a quick 3-step rhythm. Mainly we were working on the arm action. I was focusing mainly on the lead arm – making sure it was cycling and not twisting, not locking at the elbow. Coach Will Bullard, her club team coach, who came to observe, was watching from behind the starting line, and he noticed that her trail arm was locking at the elbow as it swung back. When we addressed that, then her arm action looked much more efficient. Meanwhile, I’m still liking the knee action of her lead leg, and I’m liking her forward body posture between the hurdles. Her days of leaning from the neck are over; she is leaning from the waist consistently now, and that’s because she’s not standing up off of hurdles. She’s still landing slightly off-balance, which is because the arms are still a work in progress (even though we’ve made a lot of progress).
At the end of Sakeenah’s session, I had her do a couple reps over 30’s. My logic was, I want to go over 30’s next week, so introducing her to 30’s at the end of the session would prepare her for what it’ll feel like. Her arm twisting returned, which let me know that would still need to be a focal point over the race-height barriers.
The following weekend, on October 12, we did the quickstep drill over 30’s, and the arm twisting returned. With each rep we’d have a mixture of success and failure. At some hurdles her arms would twist, and at other hurdles her arms would punch up and down. I started by having her go over five hurdles, but later reduced the amount of hurdles to three, and that helped to create more consistency. Moving forward, we will need to continue to work on the arm action before we’re able to progress to full-speed hurdling with an 8-step approach from the start line. I think, too, that I’ll need to sprinkle in some marching popovers and even some more basic drills like the fence drill and side walk-overs so that she can continue to ingrain the correct motions.
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