[An abbreviated and brilliantly edited version of this appeared in the Denver Athletics newsletter “The Rundown” in December 2023. If you’re near the Mile High City and you don’t follow DA, you’re missing opportunities to stay involved in local T&F!]

Last year was my return to coaching. I kicked it off with volunteering in middle school track. I was tasked with developing a hurdles group.

There had never been anything resembling a hurdles program at the school and none of my coaching partners had ever run a hurdle race, so the coaches in the audience can imagine how that first day went.

Oh, real quick, some intro: I’m Dunte (“DON-tay”), an unremarkable sub-masters hurdler/multi, decent weightlifter, and experienced (though part-time) strength & conditioning coach. I made a little splash in the club & masters sports communities back in Austin, Texas as the owner and head coach of ATX Speed and Strength and author of a book on speed training for Ultimate before I shuttered that coaching practice in 2017. But I never could get all the way away from coaching – and I’ve tried to quit track twice now but just can’t live without it.

Which brings us to teaching hurdle technique to middle school athletes. I know the technical and psychological challenges of hurdling. I know the emotional and relational challenges of entering a community as a new coach. I know how fickle the weather in Colorado can be and how that can throw off a practice plan.

But I didn’t know how wonderfully all of that could come together to actually produce some of the better coaching I’ve ever done!

The Wrong Sort of Before & After

Back in Austin, I had a public track, a full flight of adjustable hurdles which ran from 18” up to 42”, multiple sets of blocks, and nearly 330 days of warm sunshine to work with. I had athletes who knew 2+ hour youth club practices and competed in all-comers meets all summer. I had coaches from every sport in my network to support training sessions. I was coaching in nearly perfect conditions.

By contrast, there was nothing “perfect” about our middle school track situation. Practices were limited to 50 minutes (assuming we started on time), not every kid had appropriate shoes, the hurdles bottomed out at 30” when 24” or 27” are best for (short) beginners, and the season was 6 weeks long…in April…meaning we didn’t know until we showed up each day if practice would be in the school hallway or on the track or canceled entirely over poor road conditions.

In short, there were lots of reasons to worry kids didn’t have perfect conditions to build confidence and skill in the hurdles.

How We Adapted Training To Our Circumstances

But we did walkovers, wall marches, and lunge-to-skip as part of a technique circuit to warm up each day, found 24” foam markers to use as training hurdles, and raced over one or two hurdles on the turf OR raced pushup starts in the hallway when the track was full with middle distance and relay practice.

Those kids showed uncommon dedication – and they showed up every single day.

They did the drills and sprint work in socks, in Crocs, and in Chucks without a word of complaint.

We added technique circuits to the main hurdle/speed work so they could keep moving between reps on cold days – and a few kids did the drills at home on our two snow days.

We turned hurdles over to build confidence and used shoe strings for takeoff marks and raced with handicaps to even out experience differentials.

Our school went from “no hurdle program” to crowd comments during meets of “that kid goes over the hurdles pretty well!”

I beamed the entire meet after I heard that one. With a few training principles, a bit of creativity, and a lot of heart, those athletes learned to hurdle – and several said they were excited for next year.

A Message To Athletes In This Situation

So there are two things in this story that matter for you.

The first: if you’re struggling to stay motivated this winter because the weather is moody or because you don’t have your preferred facilities to train, let go of perfection entirely. Your desire to get better and a little creativity could produce the perfect environment for you. Maybe this is the time to try that strength training program. Maybe you can do technique drills in your living room. Maybe you can do uphill tempo work in a parking garage.

The second: have a community. What I left out of the practice story – but experienced coaches probably see it – is that those kids showed up every day. They didn’t show up for me, though they knew I was in their corner; they showed up for the fun of pushing each other in races, celebrating each other in skill practice, and just being together. Who can you get excited about meeting on a 20 degree Saturday morning? Who can you expect to ask about your track practice when you meet them at the gym Wednesday night?

If you don’t have a community just yet, set your eyes on summer 2024 – come hang with us at the Denver Athletics Twilight Series meets! There’s no way you can show up to a meet with all these awesome athletes and not leave with a few new friends.

There are no perfect conditions, so don’t sit around waiting for them. The sun will be shining and the tracks will be clear, bouncy, and fast before we know it. Go MAKE it happen…and we’ll all be there to cheer for you in summer.