Team CoachUp – taking a momentary break from connecting athletes with great private coaches!
As you might expect, all of us on the CoachUp team love hearing about success stories related to private coaching! Here is a great article describing how one high school track athlete broke through a personal barrier and vastly improved her 100m hurdle time after finding the perfect private coach.
Alex’s coach took her game to the next level! Visit CoachUp today to find a private coach who can do the same for you!
The following is excerpted from azcentral.com (article by Richard Obert - Jun. 13, 2012); read more here: http://bit.ly/NN4wsb
Alex Tyra was getting frustrated in the 100-meter hurdles during her junior season. In her first two invitationals, she was placing 11th, unable to break 18 seconds.
The Deer Valley athlete was ready to give it up.
Then, with her mother’s help, she found a private coach — Erwin Jones, who directs the Phoenix Bobcats club track program.
Jones filmed her workouts. He got her to collect her thoughts and cut down on her steps between hurdles.
Soon, she had trimmed two seconds off her times, and now has hope of placing at state next season.
“In one invite, I jumped into the 16-second range,” she said. “My PR (personal record) is now 16.27.”
It was good enough to qualify her for the Division I state track and field championships last month, but she didn’t make it to the final eight. That is her next goal.
Tyra said her mother, sensing her daughter’s frustration, found Jones and his track expertise on the Internet.
Now, she works with Jones two or three times a week for private instruction.
“To be successful in the sprint hurdles, taking three steps in between hurdles is important,” Jones said. “The high school track season is too short.”
That is why some of the state’s top track and field athletes do club and participate unattached in meets year-round. There are more than 60 club programs in the Valley, Jones said.
“I take time with the athletes, videotape, and do basic hurdles drills,” he said. “Knowing the hurdles are important. Understanding what you are doing is also important. Some coaches just tell the athletes to go jump over the hurdle and that is all they have time for. … I love what I do so I exercise a great deal of patience. The athlete needs to be a good student, as well.”
Tyra is the top student in her Deer Valley class with a 4.0 grade point average and is taking advance-placement courses.
Tyra started to do hurdles her freshman year when she “thought it looked really cool” to try. But it’s been a stumbling block until midway through her junior season. She said her high school coaches have so many athletes they have to work with, so she thought it would be worth looking for private help.
“That was pure luck,” she said. “After my race one time I ran an 18 seconds. I am a junior and I shouldn’t be running these times. I remember talking to my mom. I said something was wrong. I told her I wanted to find a personal coach. Deer Valley had great coaches but they have a whole team to worry about. She started doing some research on the Internet and found (Jones’) Web site. I went out there.”
CoachUp hopes to provide the perfect resource for all parents like Alex’s mom who are looking for great private coaches!
