Introduction
Hello and welcome to this high jump analysis video brought to you by High Jump Help. Free Review of videos High jump help will analyze your high jump videos for free. Please send your videos to coachwhite@highjumphelp.com for a chance to have your video reviewed for free on YouTube like this one.
High Jump Baby Steps
When analyzing videos, we always use the 4 Baby Steps of High Jump, High Jump Helps proven framework to learn how to high jump.
1) Approach
2)Takeoff
3) Knee Drive
4) Overbar Mechanics
The high jump baby steps are in order of importance and each baby step builds off the others, so always do them in order. While coaching, remember a person can only focus on one coaching cue at a time, so while coaching prioritize what one cue you tell your athlete by working through the 4 Baby Steps. Start with the approach and end at the overbar mechanics.
Analysis of the Jump
First off, thank you to Kuzey for submitting the video. Kuzey is a brand new high jumper!
-Approach
The athlete’s approach looks good. He is continuing to get quicker all the way until his takeoff. The only suggestion I have is to ensure that he has his approach measured out and recorded somewhere. Not having a measured-out approach is a common mistake new high jumpers make.
-Takeoff
Next, let’s look at his takeoff. Initially, it looks really good. His shoulders are away from the bar and his plant is at a 45-degree angle of the mat. The athlete can do a better job with their head though. Notice how his arms stay away, which is good, but his head is already collapsing into the bar. Where your eyes and head go, your body follows so an athlete always wants to keep that head away from the bar during the takeoff.
-Knee Drive
Now we will look at the knee drive. The athlete’s knee drive is very good. Notice how his knee is driven to the height of the bar. The one correction that is needed is the fact that he straightens his drive knee out straight. This will make it difficult to perform the overbar mechanics which we will look at next.
-Overbar Mechanics – backbend
You will notice that the athlete goes over the bar very flat. The reason for this is because he straightened his leg as discussed when talking about the knee drive. The backbend is like an ice skater who tucks her arms in when twirling on the ice. When she tucks her arms, she spins faster because all of her body is closer to her center of gravity. The same goes for the high jump backbend. The closer you can get your head and feet to your center of gravity the fast you will rotate over the bar. Lastly, the athlete needs to not look at the bar. As stated in the takeoff, the body follows the head and eyes, so you will notice as soon as the athlete tucks his chin to look at the bar, his hips drop. He needs to continue to drive his shoulders all the way to the mat and not snap.
Recommended Drills
Now let’s talk about what the athlete should work on in practice.
The first drill I would have this athlete work on is circle runs, see a link to the video on your screen. Circle runs position the athlete’s body correctly during the takeoff. Here the athlete can focus on keeping his arms and head away from the bar and also practice rotation over the bar.
The second drill I would have the athlete work on are backbends which can be done off the ground or box. Since this athlete is new, he should practice backbends so he knows what driving his shoulders to the mat feels like.
2nd reminder Free Video Analysis
A second reminder that High jump help will analyze your high jump videos for free. Please send your videos to coachwhite@highjumphelp.com to have your video reviewed for free.
Conclusion / High Jump 101 E-Course
If you are interested in educating yourself in the high jump and learning more about the 4 Baby Steps of High Jump check out the High Jump 101 E-Course. A link is below in the description