Do sweat the small stuff

Coaches Clinic focuses on the “little things” that optimize performance
by Jason Bohne

After a coaching career that includes 26 state champions, multiple national titles and world records, and service as the 2004 U.S. Paralympic Track and Field coach, Bryan Hoddle is a believer in sweating over the small stuff.

“There are a lot of simple techniques a coach can use to help their athletes improve and to keep injuries down,” Hoddle says. “It’s the little things that separate a champion from others.”

Hoddle will share his approach to maximizing athletic performance at the 2009 Simplot Games Coaching Clinic on Friday, February 19, at 7 p.m., at the Red Lion Inn.

Along with instruction on workout plans, muscle development, and mental preparedness, Hoddle will focus on small but critical actions: body alignment, adequate rest, and proper sequencing of workout activities to maximize performance.

While Hoddle has enjoyed great success coaching at the high school level, he is best known for his work with Paralympic athletes, including Tony Volpentest (the 1996 100- and 200-meter gold medalist) and Marlon Shirley (100-meter gold medalist at the 2000 and 2004 Games and triple world record holder). This experience gives him a unique perspective on coaching able-bodied athletes.

“My work with amputees really made me look at the importance performance analysis and correct body alignment,” Hoddle says. “I’ve taken my discoveries from coaching amputees and now apply them to able-bodied runners.”

Following the 2004 Paralympics, Hoddle began training another group of superior athletes: U.S. soldiers wounded in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, first at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and then at the Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama.

“Sometimes in athletics we forget who the real heroes are,” Hoddle says. “In a day and age with cheating and steroids in sports, and poor sportsmanship at the highest level, we have young men and women who chose to serve their country and were then dealt a serious blow, yet they come out in sport to inspire all of us.”

Hoddle’s involvement with Simplot Games began in 1996, when he attended as a high school coach. For the last several years he has been a meet announcer, combining his knowledge and enthusiasm for the sport with his booming voice. On the meet’s final day, his is the voice announcing all the Games medalists.

“Simplot Games has had more impact on me than any other track meet – greater even than the Paralympics” he says. “The atmosphere here changes lives. The town really puts its arms around you and makes you feel welcome. You have great competition in a great facility on a great track – a really fast great track. And you get to walk around and shake hands with some of the greatest Olympians ever.”

Hoddle led the 2002 Coaches Clinic and returns for an encore with 20+ pages of handouts, video analysis, and live demonstration with former University of Oregon standout Jenny Brogdon, a high jumper training with Hoddle for the 2012 Olympics.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have some great mentors who have really had an impact on my coaching, men like Tony Wells, Tony Veney, Dan Pfaff, and Loren Seagrave,” Hoddle says. “That’s my goal, to help other coaches the way these great coaches have helped me.”

For more information on the Coaches Clinic visit the following link:
http://www.simplotgames.com/coaches.cfm

photo provided courtesy of Bryan Hoddle