Triple Jump, High Jump & Hurdles Performance Clinics
Monday, November 25, 2013St. John’s School
2401 Claremont Ln, Houston, TX 77019
The NSAF Triple Jump, High Jump & Hurdles Performance Clinic is open to all school and club coaches and athletes who register. All ages and levels are welcome. Learn and refine technique from experienced, proven coaches.
This is a part of the NSAF’s Regional One-day Learn-by-Doing Performance Clinic Series. There will be ample opportunities for observation and interaction with the coaching staff. Participants are encouraged to film and fully participate to gain maximum benefit from this event.
Coaching Staff
Peter Pratt been coaching track and field for at least 30 years. He is a former Bahamian triple jumper, winner of the inaugural CARIFTA Games, NCAA Champion and current Bahamian National team coach. Pratt is an IAAF Level V Diploma Elite Coach for Horizontal Jumps and currently coaches Jumper's INC. He has developed countless triple jumpers over the past two decades, including the Mimms twins currently bursting onto the international junior scene and gold and bronze medalists at the recent World Youth Championships. In 2001 he began a 3-year stint as National Jumps Coach for Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He has coached athletes that eventually went on to be medalist at every level of the sport. He normally represents the Bahamas on occasions at various international events.
More information on the Triple Jump Tradition of the Bahamas can be found here
Richie Mercado has been the St. John’s School (Houston, TX) Girls and Boys Head Track & Field and Cross Country Coach for the past 30 years. A decathlete at University of Virginia Mercado has coached dozens of conference champions in the pole vault, high jump, long jump, triple jump, sprints, and hurdles. He is USATF Level 2 Certified Coach in the jumps and combined events, the Junior Coordinator for USA Heptathlon and has also completed the IAAF Level V Master Coach Program. Mercado was the Head Coach for Team USA Heptathlon in the 2008 Thorpe Cup USA-Germany dual, the 2011 NACAC Cup Heptathlon in Jamaica, and a manager for the 2013 Pan Am Junior Team in Colombia. He has served several times as an instructor in USATF Women's Junior Elite jump Camps working with many top juniors, including Tianna Madison, 2005 World Champ in the LJ. Mercado has directed the St. John’s Track & Field Camps for the past 19 years, and has served as Secretary and Annual Congress Coordinator of the North America, Central America, and Caribbean Track and Field Coaches Association (NACACCA) for the last 23 years.
Andrew Blanks ("Coach B" as he is affectionately called) began his coaching career as Assistant Track Coach at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas in 1972. A product of that University's art program under the tutelage of the internationally renown Dr. John Biggers, Blanks was a member of the TSU Flying Tigers track team in its hey day where he competed beside track and field legends such as Olympians Jim Hines and John Hartfield.
Blanks moved from the University to Johnston Middle School where he became the Art Director and Athletic Director. He also assumed the Head Coaching job at Westbury High School in 1990. Two of Coach Blanks' pupils shared the spotlight at the 2004 Athens Olympics in the 400m hurdles final. He was the only American high school coach to have two finalists share the track in the same Olympic race that year: Bayano Kamani who represented Panama and Bennie Brazell- USA. Both are recent graduates of Coach B's program at Westbury High School in Houston, Texas where they were both Texas State Champions and Texas State Record Holders in the 300m hurdles. Coach Blanks has retired from teaching but continues as the Head Coach at Westbury High School and is much sought after for clinics and private coaching. He is known as the Guru of the Hurdles in Houston and has presented at several NSAF Performance Clinics.
Schedule of Events
Monday, November 25, 20139:00am Registration and Welcome
9:30 am- Noon - Morning Session
1:30 pm - 3:00 pm - Afternoon Session
Registration
Registration and clinic fee payment is online via Headcountreg.com
Clinic Fee
Clinic fees are $100.00. Participants can choose to attend only one event discipline or move between events during the sessions.
Waiver
All participants will be required to sign a Waiver for St. John's School (click here) and bring with them to the Clinic. This is in addition to the normal Waiver included in the online clinic registration.
