has anyone ever used the club down at Thornes for sprint training, reason being I've tried for some time to get my lad interested in going but until now has shy'ed away from the idea.

the penny has finally dropped that he has to pick up line speed and agility and want to see if training on speed will help achieve his goal and get back to playing

cheers in advance

I've been on the track, it's good and only costs a couple of quid. I don't know what the coaches are like, if you mean him going down and training with them? Or training on his own?

Should get him running up cannon ball hill, that's a killer and builds the muscles for sprinting.

I used to go down there as a kid and they really helped me, I was always very fast as a kid but they helped with technique and I became lightening fact for a rugby player.

Always happy to run through some speed agility quickness drills with you and him if required, and do some sprint analysis.

The one problem I find with athletics clubs is they try to make you a text book sprinter, but some are not designed to be text book sprinters, but it does not mean you cannot be fast, and text book sprinters are not always suitable for rugby.

I was short and powerful so was designed for sprinting. If I remember Lewis is a little taller and not the normal sprint design.

mainly to train with coaches pushing that bit further than a dad can push him without losing my respect as a dad



cannon ball hill has been mentioned in numerous occasions but I fear that he would be put him off all together. I remember the gut wrenching times I have chase the rest up there only to puke in the bushes

Cannon Ball hill is more endurance rather than speed, avoid at all costs!

You could actually end up slowing him down.

still got you're number and he's more grown up to when I contacted you last time,

he felt a bit embarrassed so I didn't push into it but your right about his size he is at 14 yr is six foot tall weighing in at over 11 1/2 stone (with a bottomless pit) lean for his frame bit is all leg at the moment and expect him to grow another couple of inches

he's got round the idea of what he has to do to make the grade so after Xmas its going to be introduced steadily

old fashion ways eh!!

I even used to piggy back similar hills to get leg strength

Tell that to Usain Bolt.

Donovan Bailey, Michael Johnson, Asafa Powell... all 6 feet plus.

I can give you some very simple drills that you can both do together that will pay off straight away. Do not have that old phone any more, pm me if you want/when your ready and will forward new number, and I would be only too happy to help.

can you also believe at his age he hasn't even done a block start sprinting at school



what are these teaches trying to teach them in pe at Outwood

you've not seen the legs on our Lewis

like tree trunks feet same size as mine now

And all coached by world class coaches who do not coach out of the text book. You would never for example see any coach, coach a child to run like Michael Johnson still never stopped him from running the fastest ever 100m, and holding world records at 200m and 400m.

Club coaches coach sprinting tips, these tips do not always fit certain people, but that is not to say they cannot be made to run faster by coaching less traditional styles, especially with taller lads who want to get quicker for rugby.

Look on the bright side - you'll never have to buy a new pair of shoes for yourself again.

how Jackson manged to run in that upright position is beyond belief

he was a pleasure to watch him break the mold

They can't all have been coached by world class coaches before they learned how to run fast. Nearly half the guys in the world top 10 over 100m are 6' and over.

funny that I tried his trainers on at the weekend

it just didn't look right trying to be so young

Snowy,

You're on my subject here,
You've got to be really careful what you do in terms of sprint coaching because a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

Try and apply certain techniques and you can easily make your lad slower!

Speed is a combination of things but three main attributes will govern your ability to run fast, leg speed, stride length and applied ground force, I won't go into all the biomechanics.
If you try to increase leg speed in the wrong way you will almost certainly reduce stride length and thus reduce overall speed and vice versa.

If you're set on going down to an athletics track, which is a good thing, then make sure you get proper coaching from an athletics sprint coach and not some half cocked training programme set by someone who just thinks he knows what to do.

We are not dealing with 100m sprinters we are dealing with a young developing rugby player who wants to get faster to improve rugby.

I am not going to fight about it, all conditioning has to be sports specific, when I was at Wakefield I was the fastest player at the club by some distance, still never got me a contract as other areas were physically lacking. I coach rugby players who to get faster and I know how to do it, and the products of this re running round the pitches of SL week in week out, not wanting to get into a debate about it, just offering my assistance to another young lad wanting to improve himself at rugby.

All sounds too complicated, just get on the 'roids

I'm not saying you don't, but why bring height into it then? You say you were short and powerful and designed for sprinting, whereas Lewis is a little taller and not the normal sprint design, yet there doesn't seem to be a "normal sprint design" if you look at the fastest guys in the world. They're your words, not mine.

when I was there as a colt I remember a lad that had speed to burn and could turn on the after burners to get away from me and I was no slouch but his size made him weak in the tackling department and couldn't do the full package

I don't think he did its more his frame that does make him a sprinter and he wasn't changed over the last couple of years

Usain Bolts a freak, talk about mutants he's a glimpse into the future of mans evolution!

The techniques of the taller guys like Bolt, Johnson Carl Lewis etc is far from text book it was very much unique to their build. It is also very much sports specific. Harriers are looking for athletes not rugby players. I was asked to chose very early as despite showing great promise at sprinting all I wanted to do was play rugby and ended up more or less being asked to leave because i prioritised by rugby. (not saying that is the case now by the way!)

As I said I honestly get tired of having people attempt to pick my posts apart on here. Just trying to help Snowie, if he wants to take me up fair enough if he does not also fair enough.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Not if you take a walk round Wakefield city centre, he isn't.