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Teaching the Triple Jump
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It has always been my contention that
there should be more quality triple jumpers in high school than
there presently are. The 45' Triple Jumper should be as common
as the 13' pole vaulter. I use this comparison because the Pole
Vault is an event where coaches seem to spend a lot of time
teaching their athletes correct vaulting techniques and the
Triple Jump seems to be an event where relatively little time
is spent coaching the athlete or the coach is the possessor
of relatively little knowledge concerning the event. How many
times have you seen a pole vaulter enter a meet without the
faintest idea of how to do the event? Believe me it happens
in the Triple Jump all to frequently! Perhaps this is because
the triple jump appears to be a simpler event than the Pole
Vault and due to this fact relatively little time is spent working
on it during practice. Well, it is a simpler event but this
is no reason to sacrifice the athleteís performance and possibly
their safety because of this fact. The triple jump probably
puts more stess on an atheletes body than any other field event
when done correctly. The additional stress experienced by using
unsound techniques can be potentially dangerous to theathlete.
Many big, strong high school athletes can muscle their way to
44' and lets face it, this distance wins most meets. The fact
is, if a jumper without technique can jump 44', this same jumper
could probably jump 47' if they knew what they were doing.
KEYS TO SUCCESS WHEN TEACHING THE TRIPLE
JUMP
- understand what's really happening during
the jump.
- not what the books and films say it should
look like.
- not what the arms and legs should do
- but what the jumper is really feeling (kinesthetic
sense). What is the action similar to.
- proper lead up drills
- don't let bad habits develop
- if bad habits develop, go to previous stage
of development.
- certain drills are for a certain level of
development
- BE PATIENT !!!
PARTS
- approach phase (least important in the beginning
but very important once the athlete learns to jump properly)
- hop phase ( most problems start here)
- step phase
- jump phase
TEACHING THE PARTS
Hop
It should be noted that when performing the
hop, maintaining forward momentum is of utmost importance. Attaining
excessive height will make the remainder of the jump impossible
to perform correctly.
- Standing hops
- thigh of hop leg should come to level
position when hop leg comes off of the ground.
- landing should be flat footed or slightly
heal toe. Iideally the landing should be flatfooted
but sometimes you need to tell the jumper to land heal
toe to keep them from landing on their toe. Once the
heal toe landing is taught, then it is easier to teach
the athlete to land flat footed.
- Consecutive short hops from a stand.
Start at about 4' and when the jumper masters this distance
gradually lengthen the length of the hop. A common fault
here is that the beginning jumper will tend to jump stiff
legged. The thigh of the hop leg when should be brought
as close to horizontal as possible when the jumper is in
the air.
- Consecutive hops from a short approach
lengthening as in #2 above.
- Cone hops
- place between 5 and 10 cones (or some
type of marker) 5' apart and perform the consecutive
hop drill landing next to a cone on each landing.
- It is sometimes a good idea to keep
the first three cones at 5' and then gradually lengthen
the distance between the ensuing cones. The reason for
this is that the jumper gains momentum on each successive
hop and will have a difficult time keeping his hops
at 5'.
- As the jumper gains mastery the cone
interval may be increased.
- Hopping over 1' high hurdles.
- It is important here not to let the
body rise significantly.
- The emphasis is to lift the hop ìthighî
high enough to clear the hurdles without letting the
body rise significantly.
When performing hop drills the hop knee should drive through
and hop heel should almost kick the jumper in the hind end.
When done correctly the hop will look like one legged running.
I also have my jumpers do some of these drills competitively.
- How far can you go doing 4 hops from a stand,
from a 4 step approach?
- How far can you go doing 4 steps from a stand,
from a 4 step approach?
STEP
This phase of the Triple Jump is the most
difficult to do correctly. This phase is also dependant on the
hop. If the hop is not done correctly this phase will not be
done well. For the beginning jumper the emphasis here should
be on getting into the air not driving forward. (As the jumper
masters the event , then they can be taught to go out , out,
and up in the three phases.) This phase is a jump and all efforts
should be made to reinforce this to you athletes. There are
certain preparatory factors (both mental and physical) that
take place before an athlete jumps and this fact should be noted
when teaching this phase of the triple jump. ALL LANDINGS SHOULD
BE FLAT FOOTED OR SLIGHTLY HEEL - TOE
- Standing steps.
- Jump from one foot to the other ( a distance
of 4 to 5 feet )
- Do the above emphasizing leading with
the knee.
- All of the above with a foot-knee landing.
(This put emphasis on proper form in the air and proper
landing position.
- Hop to other foot and balance upon landing.
- Do all of the above with a 4 step approach.
- Step stop, step stop, step stop.
The jumper does consecutive steps and balances upon landing
before proceeding to the next step.
- 3 to 4 consecutive steps
- watch for leg swing and foot lead instead
of knee drive.
- remember these are jumps and the emphasis
should be on jumping.
PUTTING THE HOP AND STEP TOGETHER
The hop step transition is quite easy to
learn when taught correctly. The main limiting factor here is
the strength of the athlete. This is a powerful athletic action.
- Hop-Long Jump (This is the singularly
best drill that I know of for teaching the Hop Step transition)
- 4 step approach
- Perform a short hop
- Upon landing, long jump off of the foot
that you landed on
- Gradually increase the length of the
hop as the skill is mastered
- Gradually increase the length of approach
This drill teaches an active landing
and teaches the athlete to jump off of the hop foot into
the step.
- Hop-Step into the pit (or crash
pad)
- This should only be taught after the
ÏHop-Long JumpÓ has been mastered
- Perform a short hop
- Upon landing, jump into the step
- Hold step position into landing (foot
knee landing)
- Gradually increase the length of the
Hop
- Gradually increase the length of the
approach
JUMP PHASE
I really donÌt work very much on this phase
except to have my Triple Jumpers do long jump drills.
PUTTING THE WHOLE JUMP TOGETHER
- Rhythm Jumps
- Put three cones 7' apart with a landing
area 5 - 10 feet beyond the last cone. (if 7' is too
long a distance, shorten it to suit the jumper)
- The jumper takes off from the first
cone
- Lands next to the second
- Steps to the third
- Jumps into the landing area
- This drill can be done from a stand
or an approach (it should be done from stand first)
- Gradually increase the distance between
the cones and the length of the approach as the drill
is mastered.
OTHER DRILLS
- HOP HOP, STEP STEP, HOP HOP, STEP STEP ETC.
- 5 TO 10 CONSECUTIVE STEPS.
- 3 HOPS AND A STEP INTO A LANDING AREA
- 1 HOP AND THREE STEPS INTO A LANDING
AREA.
* Any of the above can be done from a stand
or a short approach.
THE TOTAL JUMP
- Approach The same as in the long jump
although there is no lowering of the center of gravity during
the penultimate step.
- Hop
- Blow through the board (AGGRESSIVE)
- Do not try to attain height !!! (This
will destroy the jump)
- Eyes straight ahead
- Think about preparing for the step.
After all, this is what the hop does, it prepares you
for the step.
- during the last part of the hop do what
ever you would normally do both mentally and physically
to prepare to JUMP into the step.
- single or double arm block
- Step
- Heal toe or flat foot landing from the
hop
- JUMP into the step
- Drive the thigh up
- Drive the knee up
- Eyes straight ahead
- Double arm block
- Chest high
- Jump
The jumper will feel the greatest amount of forward rotation
during this phase. All of the mistakes made earlier in the
jump will be compounded here. Early in the jumpers development
they will barely have the strength to complete this phase
if the other parts are done correctly. The Triple Jumper
should strive to use good long jump technique during this
phase of the jump.
BOX DRILLS
Box drills are a integral part of every Triple
Jumper's training program. I use a set of plywood boxes that
have a top surface area of 3' X 3' and range in height from
6" to 2'. Below is listed an ideal selection of boxes for Triple
Jump training:
- 2 - 6" Boxes
- 2 - 12" Ï
- 1 - 18" Ï
- 1 - 24" Ï
The following is a set of drills that utilizes the above combination
of boxes:
Drill #1: 
- Use 4 step approach
- Hop off of floor to a 6" box
- hop off of a 6" box to the floor
- hop off of the floor to a 12" box
- Step very high
- hold the landing position into the landing
area
Drill #2 
- Use 4 step approach
- Hop off of a 6" box to the floor
- Step to a 12" box
- Jump into the landing area
Drill #3 (Hop jump drill or hop step drill off of a
box) 
- Use a 4 step approach
- Hop to a 6" box
- Upon landing jump into landing area (or
step into landing area).
Drill #4 
- Use 4 Step approach
- Hop off floor to a 6" box
- Step off of box to the floor
- Jump into the landing area
As the jumper gains proficiency the distance between the boxes
may be increased. The initial distance between the boxes though,
is for you and your jumper to decide. The further apart that
the boxes are the better but be conservative, do only what you
feel your jumper can handle. For example, in Drill #1 I would
usually start with the distance between the 6" and 12" boxes
at 10' and then gradually increase the distance as my jumper
gets better. There will also be a tendency with all jumpers
to get away from the heal - toe landing when they start working
with boxes. When landing from any height, the tendency is to
cushion the landing as much as possible and this leads to a
toe landing. It is essential that they realize that a slightly
heal toe or flat foot landing when done correctly will not cause
injury and will greatly increase the length of their jump.
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GOOD LUCK
Harvey Riekoff
Boys Track Coach
Washington Park High School
Racine, WI
tjbanjo@wi.rr.com. |
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