After 20 years of experience in the combined events, sprint and 1/2 bottom, I gained some certainty about the training of the minimals and the function of the coach. I'll suggest a few leads.

1- Profile of a good coach

It is built by his knowledge (his readings, his research), his experience (practice, sharing) and his desire to transmit (dynamic, mobility, creativity on the track). Maurice Houvion, Jean Galfione's historic coach, said: "Training is spreading spirit, always spirit". We must keep it in mind.

How long will it take to make a good coach? 20 years as a good lawyer! More seriously, it depends on the time spent on the ground but not that … Work on oneself is also very important.

2- Highlight the combined events for the training of the minimals 

• our job is to teach what athletes don't know how to do. We must not forget that this is our mission of education. Hearing: "This or that athlete doesn't do hedges or heights because he can't do it", I ask you: what is the point?
• Give athletes maximum skills so they can choose their discipline later or continue the combined events. To put them successful is to give them confidence and make sense of their learning,
• explain to me how you plan your season without putting the combined events at the center of your goals? I'm a taker, but you'll have a hard time convincing me!
• what to do with athletes who don't have the level? Especially don't specialize them. In the long run, it's unmanageable. You have to keep them in the group, the click can come later. Concretely, make them pass the hurdles interval into 5 or 6 supports. Make them throw the weight without elk or not chased. Sauté them on a short run (10 to 12 strides max..). Make them do less competitions … All this requires an organization, an ADAPTATION of the coach,
• no early specialization! You specialize in a minimal sprint: tell me what he's going to do until senior? Just sprinting? Dismal!!!!
• a club with athletes trained in combined events, this offers more solutions for interclubs.

3- What is a good session?

A session is 2 hours on average and do not hang around! Present the main axes of the session during the stretches, the instructions must be simple and fast.

The warm-up lasts 35', I integrate the stretches and ranges (knee climbs, buttock heels, these are not scales!). Let's be creative about warming up !!! 2 to 3 laps, it's for lazy coaches! It doesn't heat up and then it's boring. Observe and enjoy all the resources that your stadium can offer: grandstand, small park … Imagine a warm-up by incorporating obstacles to overcome, areas of acceleration … You have to think creativity and variety for the training of the minimals. And if you extend this running on 25 to 30', you have a good endurance session!

Do we always have to start the warm-up with a run? No, and that's where you'll save time. Get out of the hedges, studs and propose routes (foot work, coordination).

In the same session, if there are not 2 disciplines taught, you cannot present competitive athletes in combined events! It's a certainty.

4- Which disciplines should be preferred for the training of the minors?

You have to find a balance and it is through a work of programming that you will find harmony between disciplines.

Hedges, pole, disc, height are essential disciplines because they pose more engine problems. You don't need pole mats to do a quality session. Ditto for length, you can work out of the jumper.

The 1/2 background for health, we must not neglect this discipline. In this respect, if you don't make your athletes work at VMA, there's no way they'll be competitive in cross country, unless they're well equipped from birth.

What do you learn by sprinting? To have a nice stride and put the foot properly. It is necessary to do but to dedicate a regular session to the sprint, what about the other disciplines?

All foot and stride work, it should be presented during or after the warm-up. With 15 to 20 studs spaced 5 to 7 feet apart or from low hedges, you work the front cycle, placement, sheathing. It takes 15'. Once a week, that's enough. For the "long" sprint, sometimes finish your sessions with 3x120m.

Start-ups: why always get the starts out? There is a plethora of exercises dedicated to starting without a start? Schedule a start session the week before a competition. 3 sessions are enough between 2 school holidays!

The relay. How can I say that? You don't train chicks! One to two relay sessions is enough just before a competition or school holidays.

The triple jump in the training of the minimals: to banish, you will massacre them! Ok for learning the foot bell and leaping strides.

Forgetting the learning of bodybuilding movements, there are so many things to learn.

5- How do you schedule your sessions?

First ask the right question: what are the goals of the season?

You can easily have competitive athletes in cross and combined events! It's still a certainty.

Remarks:

• why do 5 javelin sessions in September/October when we're indoors in winter? It's a waste of time! Don't tell me about the Fall Athletic. Would you rather win 2m in javelin or win 5 sessions that would be devoted to 1 or 2 other disciplines?

• If you do a hurdle session on Wednesday and for 2 weeks you no longer do hedges, Wednesday's session will have served no purpose! Athletics is a sport of repetition and extreme precision, the coach works in a hurry. So you have to be organized and rely on solid programming. Without business planning, athletes can't be competitive!

How do I do that? Very simple, choose 4 or 5 activities between 2 school holidays. For example from September to Toussaint (hedges, height, weight, half-back), from Toussaint to Christmas (hedges, half-back, length, weight) …

Why height so early? Because it's sunny and sunny. I didn't put on length in the first period but that doesn't stop me from teaching the athletes the leaping strides right after the warm-up… You understand that you have to save time.

6- How to program the disciplines between them?

I've always worked in blocks of 2 or 3 of the same discipline. Example over 7 weeks, Toussaint/Noel period, for athletes present twice a week:

• week 1: Wednesday (half-back/weight), Friday (half-back/length),    
• week 2: Wednesday (half-back/length) following Friday (hedges/weight),
• week 3: Wednesday (hedges/weight), Friday (half-back/length),            
• week 4: Wednesday (half-back/length), Friday (hedges/weight),
  
• week 5: Wednesday (hedges/weight), Friday (hedges/length),                        
• week 6: Wednesday (half-back/weight), Friday (half-back/length),
  
• week 7: Wednesday (half-back/weight), Friday (relay or pole).
  

A few remarks:

• There is follow-up and consistency between sessions. You're going to give SENS to the athletes' work, 
• On the other hand, it may seem dauzing: this is where you have to be creative. Of course repetition is unavoidable, but getting into the activity through the challenge, the novelty, the competition, the game is also important. It's up to you to imagine … but without going out of the internal logic of the business,                                                                                                                          
• Each of my endurance sessions did not exceed 30' and always propose at the beginning of the session or just after ranges or coordination exercises,                                                                                                                  
• I repeat, the work at VMA is unavoidable! And the closer you get to the goal, the more your work will focus on aerobic power,                                                                            
• When you have a dozen athletes in weight, it's up to you to find the right educational organization. Get them thrown one by one? To forget, there will not be enough rehearsals. Working with Weight or MedicineBall can be done in waves of 2. If 10 athletes present, 5 throw, 5 observe. Set up a throwing area and separate the athletes by studs,                                                                                                                                
• Ditto for length: you can do 2 groups that practice on 2 workshops. A group on the jumper that works the brought back and the other group outside, which works the impulses (HOP2, HOP3, leaping strides …). It's up to you to put yourself in a good position to observe them all and correct them individually,                                                                                          
• For hurdles: this discipline is a speed race! We must not forget that. Doing scales while walking or mimes for 30' is not making hedges because you do not incorporate the essential element: speed. And it's going to be a lost session!

In summary

You supervise a group of minimal, so you have to offer minimal training! The instructions too technical, you have to keep them for later!

We have to move them minimal, put them in action and also compete in training (challenge, timekeming …). Focus on technical disciplines. We have to learn !!!

You ditto, be DYNAMIC, train yourself by reading, questioning and you must also enter the COMPETITION !!!! I know 80% of IDF coaches from near or far: 50% are killers. Surprisingly, their athletes are often at the top of the balance sheets. To be a killer – work, passion, method and unwavering commitment to his athletes and his club!

The training work begins in the youngest and must continue in Minime !!!! And athletics doesn't end in minimal, it starts as a cadet. To meditate:)