WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Jan. 27) – Waynesburg University assistant track & field and cross country coach Chris Hardie was recently featured in the January, 2010 issue Long & Strong, a monthly publication dedicated to the throwing events in track & field.
Hardie, who is going into his fifth season as an assistant coach for the Yellow Jackets track team, focuses most of his efforts on the team's throwers. He had an article that he penned published on “speed = POWER,” a philosophy that he has used to turn the Jacket throwers into not only one of the strongest aspects of the program, but a group of athletes that have piled up awards at all levels of competition.
During his time at Waynesburg, Hardie's throwers have rewritten the school's throwing record books. The Hollidaysburg, Pa. native has also coached 11 Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) qualifiers, including five in 2009 alone. Among those qualifiers are junior javelin star Elisha Jones, who not only qualified for the national championships in 2008 and 2009, but was honored as an All-American in '08.
The philosophy centers on focusing on speed and endurance training, as opposed to the more traditional brute strength approach to throwing events like javelin, shot put and discus. Hardie and others who implement the approach feel it allows athletes to be able to maximize their training time and develop more explosiveness, endurance and confidence. Hardie added that, while the approach is used by numerous coaches around the country, Waynesburg's approach is unique.
“If your fitness level is higher than your competition you will be able to train longer – and that gives you the edge over your opponents,” Hardie said. “And yes, no one quite uses the term like our athletes and our coaching staff. 'Speed = POWER' is our catch phrase, motto and our motivational chant. It guides all of our athletes to become better at their sport. In that regard, it is an original idea that I have been using for some time.”
Hardie submitted the article while ordering a number of back issues of the publication. He commented about how the athletes, as well as the coaches, have influenced the continued evolution of Waynesburg's version of “speed = POWER.”
“I have just entered my fifth season at Waynesburg University and the philosophy has evolved since my first day with the program,” Hardie said. “Our track program has seen some national-level talent over the past few years, and these athletes have added insight and input into the training process each and every day. In essence, the philosophy has changed slightly from time to time based on suggestions from the athletes and their performances in the ring and on the runway.”
The article also goes into detail about several of the exercises that Hardie and the rest of the Waynesburg coaching staff implement with the Yellow Jacket track & field teams. The veteran head coach was grateful to Long & Strong for allowing him the opportunity to express his passion for the coaching philosophy.
“My philosophy was rejected by editorial boards in the past, because my training routine is not in the mainstream of collegiate and high school throwing,” Hardie said. “I am happy that the magazine took a chance to share Waynesburg University's approach to training their throwers. The ultimate goal is to share what we do with the whole throwing community, and Long and Strong allowed us to do that.”
