Youth Jumps specialisation

Youth Jumps specialisation is a topic that I am passionate about. I am asked about it a lot in my role as a professional jump coach. The most common question is:

When should a young athlete specialise in Long or Triple jump?

When it comes to track & field, specialisation refers to an athlete preparing and practising for only one event (e.g., triple jump, long jump, high jump, shot put, sprinting, etc) or event group (e.g., jumps, throws, distance running, etc).

If I am asked when a young athlete should begin to specialise in a particular event for instance Triple jump, my response is:

I firmly believe that a young athlete should be treated as a multi-event athlete, until at least 15-16 years of age.

This means that they prepare and practice for, and participate in, a wide range of events available to their particular age group. They run, jump, throw and walk

The Problems of Early Specialisation

Earlier specialisation in the triple jump can result in several problems:

A narrow development of muscles and systems

Early specialisation can result in a restricted exposure to a variety of movements and exercises, leading to a narrow skill-set. For long-term athletics and sporting involvement, and particularly if an athlete has a goal to participate in a higher level or even high-performance sport, they will need to have a wide base of movement experiences on which to call. Early specialisation just does not allow for this. 

Having said that, Where I come from (Cuba), we train talented young athletes for triple jumps, and even as a coach, I have had athletes who with 15 years are already jumping over 15m.

We never have to stop listening to scientists, but I strongly believe that everything depends on the knowledge of the coach. if you have the necessary knowledge to guide a young athlete to specialize in a triple jump or long jump, just do it.

To get results like this below, we need to use our own experience and knowledge.

                                          (Pedro Pichardo 17.98m Olympics Tokyo)

I also believe that inexperience and lack of knowledge are more likely to result in an athlete suffering sports-related injuries. Too much repetition of a particular movement or set of skills can be stressful on an immature body structure.

Also, it is my experience that kids who are specialising are often prescribed inappropriate training content for their stage of development. Too much of the wrong training too soon will almost certainly result in stress injuries.

A jumper needs to work very well on rhythm, balance, time and space, speed, coordination, plyometrics and especially in gymnastic exercises to improve the technique in the transition between the jumps. Of course, the work is of a greater range than what I am saying, that is why the importance of developing the coach's knowledge in this discipline