by Toni Minichiello

Jessica's Coach

Looking back, if someone had said to me, that Jessica would finish 6th in the European Indoor Championships for pentathlon, win the IAAF Grand Prix Meeting in Desenzano and the European Cup (leading the team to win Super League for the first time), equal a British Record in the High Jump; set a British Under 23 Heptathlon record (not once but 3 times). Set personal bests in every Heptathlon discipline, and end the season finishing 4th in the World Championships, I would have been crazy not to be happy with all that.

With additional performances of 12.97 secs in the hurdles to be only the 10th British Woman under 13 seconds, and a 200m time of 23.15 secs 23rd fastest by a Briton. I can't help feeling a little bit “crazy” as Jessica missed out on a medal with a poor shot performance and not hitting the board on the long jump. She knows that, and will work on it this winter as she prepares for the Olympics.

As a coach it is my job to look for areas of improvement, if I am happy, or when I am happy, then I suppose my job is complete.The most pleasing thing, as coach is that Jessica did “the set”, which means that all the Heptathlon disciplines and the Heptathlon itself resulted in personal Best performances. This shows a continuing progression and as an athlete gets older, this gets harder to do. Of course the main thing is the improvement in the overall Heptathlon score.

The long jump remains the key to Jessica’s long term Heptathlon success as do the throws. I hope you have enjoyed following Jessica this season and will continue to do so in the build up to the Olympic Games.

If you have any questions on Jessica’s training then please feel free to contact me. Jessica is off for a well earned break, and I’m off to plan next year better than I did this one.

Ciao

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