THE ART OF SPRINTING

Sports Director Dennis Johnson (right), joyfully sharing coaching tips with students

When I was asked to submit an article on Sprinting, I immediately thought of Mr. Glen Mills, head coach of the Olympic team to Seoul.

Mr. Mills is an exponent on the Art of Sprinting, and I am always very thrilled to watch sprinters like, Carey Johnson and Raymond Stewart. These athletes run in a very relaxed manner, and because of this, they are efficient movers expending just the right amount of energy for the task involved.

However, with the advent of Sports Medicine, and with the emphasis on a number of disciplines, for example - Sports Nutrition, Exercise Physiology, Bio-Mechanics and Sports Psychology, sprinting has become every bit as scientific as it is an art.

We now know that speed can be improved, but we also know that elite sprinters have special fast twitch muscle tissues, and this is hereditary.

This phenomenon will become quite clear when some youngsters in school readily achieve speed than their counterparts. The good coach therefore, will look out for those individuals, and with proper nurture, they should do well in the future.

I am reminded of a quote from my former coach and mentor - Assistant Professor of Education of San Jose State University, and one of the most respected sprint coaches in the world, the late Lloyd C "Bud" Wynter: -

• A coach who has knowledge is only fair.
• A coach who has knowledge and can put it across is average.
• The coach is great who is knowledgeable, can get it across, and is able to inspire his charges to greater heights.

The story begins with conditioning. To be able to achieve top performance a regular systematic and an all year program must be planned and implemented. The improvement of performance comes as a result of intelligent approach, that is to say, the candidate must only work on those areas that are conducive to sprinting.

The logical question that follows is - what are the factors to be considered in the conditioning program for sprinters?

The major factors and the ones we will consider are as follows: -

• Muscular strength

• Muscular endurance

• Cardio-Vascular fitness

• Techniques

Sprinting is a strength exercise, hence it is not only sufficient to do a general strength program, but particular attention must be payed to the muscles that are directly involved with the sprinting action.

If we consider that the whole is the sum total of the parts, then to acquire all these skills, it would do well to practice these skills separately in the form of drills. What will happen is this; the athlete will feel uncomfortable, he will also look awkward, and will experience some discomfort when some muscles that were never put under stress become sore. This will continue for a period of about six weeks, but afterwards, the athlete will become accustomed to this new style of running and will begin t look smooth and relatively easy.

These drills must form an integral part of the sprinter's workout, and must continue throughout his career. It is imperative that the coach understands that the athlete must first learn how to sprint before he can progress. If bad habits are reinforced, undoing it is a very difficult task. Two questions now arise, what about the start and the finish of the short sprint.