Mystery Box

Mystery Box


This part of the blog I will go through some more components required to be a successful hurdler!

Articulate 

The ability to be articulate whilst being a successful athlete is very important!  It means that you can be able to speak well in front of people and negotiate with people. 
Being articulate also means that you can be in front of cameras and media without freaking out!



Resilient
Resiliance is an important part of an athlete's life, especially in hurdles.It means you are able to recover and come back from something bad that happened; e.g. a bad race or an accident that involved a lot of bad media media coverage.



Sportsmanship 
A hurdler needs sportsmanship to be a friendly and successful athlete. Showing good sportsmanship includes congratulating others even if you are the person that won; and not getting angry and frustrated if you lose, but congratulating the person that beat you!


Healthy Diet

A heathly diet enables the hurdler to perform to their best ability.
It is important that that hurdler gets enough energy from the food they eat to fuel their bodies whilst training and performing.
This is what world champion Sally Pearson usually has to eat in a day:

Breakfast: A bowl of cereal

Lunch: Salad sandwhich

Dinner: Meat and vegetables or meat and salad.

Other: Fruit for morning and afternoon tea. 

Hurdles Support Crew

Hurdles Support Crew

Coach:

A hurdler needs a coach so they can have someone to guide them through. A coach is responsible for teaching the correct technique to the hurdler and mentoring them along the way. The coach provides a training plan and assists with the actual training. Out of the support crew, the coach is the most important member.

Physiotherapist:

A physio is very important to a hurdler and athlete for many reasons. For one, a physio makes sure that the athlete is in good condition. They come up with preventive strategies for injuries and are in charge of treating them.

Dietician:

A dietician is in charge of making sure the athlete has enough energy to compete and train. They look at what food the athlete eats and make sure that it is nutritious enough.
They look at all of the different types of food in the food pyramid and make sure that the athlete is getting the right amount of each to benefit their bodies.

Sports Scientist / Physiologist:

A sports scientist / physiologist is experianced in biomechanics and has a great knowledge of all the bones in the body.
They know which bones can come under stress from injury and are part of the team that helps to treat and deal with them.
This is useful to a hurdler as they often have lots of injuries.

Psychiatrist:

A psychiatrist plays an important part in the life of a hurdler. Their job is to be there for them when something goes wrong, or to talk about anything. A psychiatrist is helpful when a hurdler has gone through a tough part in life or just had a fall.  

 

Mental Attributes of a Hurdler

Mental Attributes of a Hurdler

For a hurdler to be successful, they need certain physical attributes to help them.
These include:

- Confidence

-Motivation                                                                                                 

- Determination

- Lack of Fear

- Positive Frame of mind

- Ability to move on

- Ability to Focus


Confidence

Confidence is one of the main mental attributes required in hurdles. A hurdler needs to have confidence to run a hurdles race and to get over all of the hurdles – without confidence this is not possible at all! 

Motivation

A hurdler needs motivation to compete in hurdles as it is a hard event. Whether this motivation is their competitors or the desire to do well, motivation is an important mental attribute of being a hurdler.

Determination

A hurdler needs to have determination to be successful. It takes a lot of determination when training for hurdles and running in a race. For example, if a hurdler has a bad fall in a race, it takes an extreme amount of determination to get back up and keep racing, even to keep hurdling in the future. It takes a lot of determination to do well.

Lack of Fear

You need a lack of fear for hurdles as is can sometimes be scary jumping over them. You need to be not afraid to fall over and hurt yourself, as it might scare you into not doing hurdles ever again.

Positive frame of Mind

When doing hurdles, you need to maintain a positive frame of mind so you don’t psych yourself out. If you think for a second that you might not be able to get over the hurdles, you probably won’t. That is why it is very important to keep a positive frame of mind.

Ability to move on

In hurdles you must have the ability to move on if you have a really bad fall. If you don’t have this then you may not want to hurdle ever again! :( 

Ability to Focus

A hurdler needs to have a high ability to focus when training and racing. Focus is needed for a hurdler to well in races. A hurdler needs to be able to focus do to well, and not worry about the people that they are racing/competing against.

They need to be able to focus whilst training, so they can make sure that their technique is perfect and so they can listen with open ears to their coach.

The main reason for focus is to not worry about what anyone else is doing, just focus on theirselves and doing well!



All of these mental attributes are important in creating the best possible hurdler.

Physical Attributes of a Hurdler

Physical Attributes of a Hurdler

For a hurdler to be successful, they need certain physical attributes to help them.
These include:

- Speed

- Technique

- Flexibility

- Muscular Strength

- Agility

- Muscular Endurance

- Balance



Speed is important in hurdles as the aim is to move quickly over the ground and in between the hurdles. The more speed the person has, the faster they will go.

Of course, it is not possible to be a successful hurdler unless you have accurate technique. This includes the correct positions of the trail and lead leg, as well as the arms. Good technique is extremely important to enable the hurdler to perform & compete well.

Flexibility is needed to allow the hurdler's actions to be smooth and sharp when going over the hurdles. 

Muscular Strength is a useful physical attribute to a hurdler as it gives them a general strength to help them get through their training and competition without tiring.  

Agility enables the hurdler to move quickly along the ground and to be light on their feet. This assist to help the hurdler run faster.

Muscular Endurance is essential so that the muscles don't tire out from repeating the same action over and over again.

Balance is also important so the hurdler doesn't fall over after going over the hurdle and landing on the ground.


All of these physical attributes are important in creating the best possible hurdler.

The Perfect Hurdler - Home Page

Welcome to the Perfect Athlete!

The purpose of this blog is to inform you and educate you on what it takes to be a world class and successful hurdler. 

Some of the topics include:

- Physical Attributes

- Mental Attributes

- The Support Crew

- Mystery Box 

Enjoy the Blog!