Triple Jump and Long Jump Dutch Championships

 

I have been watching all the national championships in Europe especially the Triple jump and Long jump competitions. As I worked in the Netherlands for many years with various junior and senior athletes, this weekend I watched the Dutch National Championship and I was surprise with the result both by men and women.

I would like to talk about distance, but first I would like to talk about the technique. When I saw the technique, immediately I realized why the distance was so poor. With all respect for all the athletes that competed in the national and their coaches, the lack of technique was alarming, that is why the risk of injury over there is so common especially in triple jumpers.

Holland is a country full of talents with the quality to be one the best in the world in this discipline, but the problem is that until now they haven`t managed to create a culture of jumpers.

When I heard that Fabian Florant is living there, I thought that something would change, but that was not the case. 

I want to say something from my own experience- to be a triple jump coach in the Netherlands is very difficult, and above all when they have to work to achieve results. The Dutch federation does not support this discipline as it does with other disciplines.

In The Netherlands, they don`t have a development program in place to raise this discipline to the second level, and that does not allow coaches to reach the level they require to take athletes to the international level

Observe the biotype of the Dutch athletes -  for example men with a height between 1.85m -2m and women between 1.80-1.90m and by nature they are very strong.  Despite having the perfect qualities to be a good athlete however, the lack of technique makes it very difficult to develop an athlete to the next level.

 I am not saying that all the coaches do not know what they are doing, that is not what I am trying to say here, because I have to acknowledge that Holland has very good coaches. I refer to the knowledge and experience of training athletes at high levels

If you train an athlete to jump over 14.50m female and over 17m male, of course your experience is completely different than when you just train athletes for 13m female and 14m male.

Sometimes you have a big talent, but you ask yourself why he or she does not make progress. You know that they are strong and have the perfect hight and the quality to become a top triple or long jumper, but still he or she doesn’t get the result you are looking for. In order to achieve the result, you will need to have the knowledge, experience and the ability to create training programs for each individual athlete.

Not all athletes can assimilate the same training system, because most of the time what works for one athlete does not work for another athlete, which is why it is so important to have the knowledge to carry out individual specific training programs.

For example, in Holland there are coaches who have no idea how to work with the triple jump base and the worst thing is those who know and have the experience,but they do not know how to implement it during all the preparation phases. The other thing is, they think that the preparation phase should only be used during the first phase, but this is a mistake; The preparation phase should be used in all phases.

To reach 16m by the man or 14m by the women, you will need to train at least 5 days a week for at least 2 hours. This is to allow the athlete to develop a perfect technique and to avoid all types of injuries and achieve satisfactory results every month. That`s why if as an athlete you want to be a professional in triple jump, you will have to train, eat and think like a professional and be able to put aside some of the things that can disturb your career as an athlete.

 I'm not talking about leaving school to became top athletes, because for me education is most important for your future, but you can combine one with the other without any problem.

 There is a way to develop this discipline, and at the same time develop the coaches. Coaches have to organize monthly meetings and talk about technique and how to develop athletes to the next step. It is really important that everyone has to contribute what they know and try to create a healthy jumper culture. You have to put pride aside and create development bases to attract jumpers across the country with the help of the federation or not. That is a good way to lift up this discipline in Holland ,a discipline which at the moment is in the doldrums.