Coach's Diary 
|
|
Desperately sad blow |
|
|
by Toni Minichiello
Jessica's Coach
It has been a very hectic and difficult few days since Gotzis having been planning and counting down the days to the Olympics it will now come to nought.
It is of course Jessica who has to come to terms with this reality but the relationship between coach and athlete is that of a partnership and although I don’t feel her physical pain the emotional pain and frustration is a shared one.
What positives can be drawn from all of this? Jessica posted 2 very good personal bests from the short season she had in her weakest events shot putt and Javelin. The most important improvement from a coach’s perspective is that Jessica now understands the movement patterns and concepts of how to throw much better than before. Without this it is very difficult to make changes and progress.
She also made excellent progress in her overall training, improving on her running, lifting and jumping tests. These improvements are unlikely to be lost completely but there will be some reduction due to a lack of activity. My personal feeling is that if you have done them once then there is no reason why you can’t do them again.
Out of peoples good wishes a common theme has been expressed
“what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”
and on this occasion nobody died.
Send in your questions or messages of support?
If you'd like some expert advice on coaching, send your questions to Toni by clicking here and marking the subject as 'Toni'.
Or, if you want to send Jessica and Toni a good luck message for the Olympics, please do! We'll pass them on.
|
|
|
Coach warns of speculation |
|
|
by Toni Minichiello
Jessica's Coach
Loughborough marked the last of Jessica’s 3 preparation competitions and the highest standard of competition so far.
Javelin has been the obvious focus in these lead up competitions to her first Heptathlon and we’ve seen her improve her Personal best each time. In total her personal best has improved 5m from 38.07m last year to 43.08m, representing an increase of 96pts to her potential score.
The reality is that a throw of 41.50m in heptathlon has to be the consistent mark; this is due to the fatigue of a 2 day competition, which gains 66pts.
Gotzis represents an opportunity to gain the Olympic ‘A’ standard of 6000 pts and prove fitness required to gain selection. This is the objective first and foremost. This heptathlon is the most complete test event in the preparation plan, but that is all it is.
People will read a lot into the results, but it will be nothing more than speculation. They won’t be handing out the Olympic medals in Austria and a place in the top 3 here won’t guarantee an Olympic podium spot.
After Gotzis there remains 75 days to the start of the Olympic Heptathlon, little time to build or change, but a lot of time to sharpen, polish and contemplate.
Send in your questions or messages of support?
If you'd like some expert advice on coaching, send your questions to Toni by clicking here and marking the subject as 'Toni'.
Or, if you want to send Jessica and Toni a good luck message for the Olympics, please do! We'll pass them on.
|
|
|
Promising Start to the Season Start |
|
|
by Toni Minichiello
Jessica's Coach
Jessica opened her season in fine style on a very cold day in Sheffield. The opening event of the season was a low key open meeting, where Jessica got the chance to test out all the work she has put into her weakest event, the Javelin.
With her very first throw of the competition Jessica threw a new personal best of 40.06m, significant for 2 reasons, firstly it is a personal best, and secondly it breaks the “magic” 40m barrier.
Why 40m? This is where respectable Heptathlon javelin throwing really starts, anything that doesn’t pass this mark is considered poor.
The pleasing thing from a coach’s perspective is that she backed this throw up with another over 39m, showing it wasn’t a “fluke”.
The points tables for Javelin gives 19 pts a metre, so this improvement of 2m only gives an extra 38pts to Jessica’s total score, but this is the type of consistent improvement that will push Jessica’s score over 6500.
Jessica’s competition programme will see her competing in the Javelin on 2 further occasions, before she competes in a Heptathlon on the 31st May. This will hopefully produce the consistent improvement we’re looking for.
Send in your questions or messages of support?
If you'd like some expert advice on coaching, send your questions to Toni by clicking here and marking the subject as 'Toni'.
Or, if you want to send Jessica and Toni a good luck message for the Olympics, please do! We'll pass them on.
|
|
|
Indoor season review |
|
|
by Toni Minichiello
Jessica's Coach
160 days to the start of the Athletics programme at the Beijing Olympics, more importantly the start of the Heptathlon.
The Indoor season has been a mixed bag of results for Jessica, some good, some not so good. The main aim of flirting with indoor competition has been to take a look at and reflect upon some of the technical changes made.
The reason? Regardless of how hard and diligently you train, there is no sterner test than the competition arena. What looked like good long and High jump results have in fact given me more information than I would have seen from training alone.
This view has now helped to shape the next 84 days of training, which will culminate with the Gotzis Heptathlon and represents over half of the time left before the Olympics Games.
The Indoor season has also thrown up some other questions, will Carolina Kluft compete in the Olympics? Will Tia Hellebaut? Blonska and Chernova’s below par performances at the World Indoors, should anything be read into those? A gutsy and highly competitive performance from Kelly Sotherton just falling short of the Gold. How would Jessica have faired?
You can waste a lot of time pondering, wondering and guessing, what is certain is that there are 160 more days of hard work to go and 2 even harder days of competition, and that’s enough for an athlete to think about.
Send in your questions?
If you'd like some expert advice on coaching, send your questions to Toni by clicking here and marking the subject as 'Toni'.
We'll even publish the answers so you can read them too!
|
|
|
Happy New Year! |
|
|
by Toni Minichiello Jessica's Coach The1st January 2008 represents a mile stone in any athletes thinking.The Olympic year is upon us, representing 33 Weeks or 228 days to the start ofthe Athletics programme at the Beijing Olympics. Thereality is more like 195 “training days” (at best), as father time ticks on.Christmas has proved too be a bit of a break from the usual training routine,with the holiday closures of facilities. This break in routine is, I believe,always a welcome way to recharge the batteries and refocus the thoughts.
Jessicahas been training full-time for the first time in her career and a lot moreelements of conditioning, strength development and technical improvement havebeen added. Time, this winter has been in abundance.
Howeverthis year there will be little time to show any form in the Indoor arena,because the harder you work the more time is needed to allow the body to get ina state of readyness for competition.
Asa result of this Jessica will forego the World Indoor Championships and a shortcompetition programme of 5 indoor outings have been planned, with the onlydefinite fixture being a January outing in Loughborough contesting the High Jump and the shorter 60m Hurdles.These represent opportunities to pull off the dust covers and test drive thehopefully “improved” (but not fully finished) Jessica Ennis. Let’s hope it will be a Happy New Year for everyone.
Send in your questions?
If you'd like some expert advice on coaching, send your questions to Toni by clicking here and marking the subject as 'Toni'. We'll even publish the answers so you can read them too! |
|
| | << Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>
| | Results 1 - 9 of 16 |
|
|
