Speed Activities
6
There are several key safety factors that must be adhered to when carrying out hurdles sessions,
which are as follows:
• Ensure young athletes never cross the hurdle in the wrong direction when using proper track hurdles.
• Ensure that weights (if applicable) are set for the correct toppling resistance.
• Never have young athletes hurdling on wet grass.
• Ensure all equipment is in good repair and safe to use (no splinters in the hurdle tops etc.).
It is very important to emphasise to young athletes at the very beginning that hurdling is not a
jumping activity. If a young athlete runs and jumps over the hurdles the centre of gravity has to be
lifted at each hurdle and this takes a lot of effort and will slow the young athlete down. Therefore,
if the young athlete can develop a method of going over the hurdles by minimising the lift of his or
her centre of gravity it will save energy and should be much quicker. Young athletes should be
encouraged to 'run over the hurdles' rather than 'jump over the hurdles'.
6.4 Introduction to Hurdling
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