Hip Height

I think the total accumulated time from games and practice adds up over the years. I don’t think wearing pads has much if any affect but all those reps in peewee/junior high/high scool/camps/neighborhood games constantly staying low for cutting and taking hits really adds up. Tough to get tall after all that time being low.

On a related note I was watching womens college volleyball a few months ago and noticed for taller than average girls quite a few had serious anterior pelvic tilt. My guess is all that time spent in the “athletic ready” position i.e. quarter squat over the years has had an effect on them. I’m even starting to see this in high school with the constant year round club play, I figured some girls are getting 200+ days a year in, lots of them are chronically injured too.

i assumed he meant when the players move onto the track…

My guys foam roll some. trying to get them to do yoga class at the gym. One of my guys just was made Parade All American. Guess what he does, yoga. No I am just thinking I need to get the tissue where I want it, then easy to maintain.

With a deep look into this issue, it is many things no doubt. Sometimes poor arm technique may keep athletes from getting lift. Sometimes it might be tissue quality, which will include mobility. Sometimes it’s a position in which they have never been in before, and as a result, I work on it at a slower speed first. The position being proper step over mechanics etc. Sometimes it might be an elasticity issue or strength issue, or just being over trained. All of the reasons above I have seen in all my athletes. With all of these issues, it was very individual.

One of our main cues is swing the hip and put force into the ground, what do you guys think about “swing the hip”?

I did Yoga while competing (track). At 1st I wasnt sure about it because the instructor is a friend of mine (about 5’4 110lbs with weights in her boots) but after a few weeks my flexibility got better and overall I felt better. Just didnt do the whole meditation humming thing :slight_smile:

For upright running?

I heard Tellez uses that cue.

We have a bunch of different sprint drills that we cue swing the hip - pose chop, scissor march, mann drill, and all the variations of pose chop.

I don’t even know what the hell that stuff is.

I spent some time with Boo Schexnayder and he said the athlete should feel a big split between the knees during accel and still a big split during top speed but obviously faster. He did mention it all coming from the hips. I personally have to make sure I don’t “pose or stall” in the high leg position when focusing on this cue. It seems to work better for me if I just concentrate on stepping down hard or pumping the arms hard from a tall, upright posture.

Cue the arms, and the legs will follow.
Drills to help with form/technique

That’s good, that’s what we like.

bold warrior

It looks like you were going to mention some drills and/or coaching points…I’d love to hear them if you get back to this thread!

Still searching to become a better coach,

Thanks!

For me hip height is not a focus in the first 60m to 70m in a 100m race. As most footballers do not run much more than 30m to 40m in a hit up or in preparation for a tackle I do not believe there is any advantage trying to get the players to achieve such.
My background with sprint training of footballers is with Rugby league and Rugby union, the majority of what i did was for acceleration up to 40m with the focus on making and taking a hit. It is my understanding that an athlete who practices high hip height will not have a good step required to avoid an opposing athlete whether in attack or defence.

It is my understanding that a former successful sprinter from Australia could not accelerate fast enough to be accepted in the US college system as a football player (10.08). This could well have been because of his hip height being at the right height too early.

Ross tried out for the NFL…and being fast is not enough.
No way could be slower than a 4.35 40y…in shape…off course.

Talking to him just before Christmas, I offered help but he was looking for Paul Hallam, if I still had his ph number I would have called him.

If you would call Jamal Indris soft then I guess Josh is too. I suggest he missed because of his acceleration over 40m.

He probably just sucked at football