About Track and Field Lab

It was 2002, and I was standing at the end of a runway watching my long jumper foul for the third time in a row.

She had the talent. She had the work ethic. What she didn't have was a resource I could hand her that would actually help. I had notes from coaching clinics, articles I'd photocopied from Track & Field News, drills I'd picked up talking with other coaches at meets. But in that moment, none of it was organized in a way either of us could use.

So that night, I started writing things down.

What I built first

I called it Track and Field Tips. A website where I put together technique breakdowns, drill sequences, and training notes for the events I coached: hurdles, jumps, sprints, throws. It looked exactly like what a website looked like in 2002. Basic HTML. No design. Just information.

I updated it when I had time, which was never enough. Meet setup, equipment checks, roster management, the thousand small fires that come with coaching at a large metropolitan high school. The website sat still more than it moved.

But I kept coaching. Kept learning. Kept accumulating knowledge.

The problem that never went away

Here's what I realized after three decades of coaching: having knowledge is not the same as transferring it.

Even a head coach with years of experience struggles to get the technique cues, the drill progressions, the periodization plans out of their head and into their athletes' bodies. There's always something else demanding attention. Bus logistics. That kid who just hurt their ankle. The parent who wants to talk about why their child isn't running anchor.

Club coaches face the same thing, maybe worse. Facility negotiations, registration fees, meet coordination. The administrative load crowds out the technical work that actually makes athletes better.

I watched this pattern repeat for years. Coaches wanted to do better technical work. They knew more than they could share. But the systems to help them get it out and transfer it to athletes didn't exist.

Why I built it for real this time

Two years ago, I decided Track and Field Tips deserved to become something more.

I took all that information, updated it, restructured it, and turned it into what you see now: Track and Field Lab.

The name matters. Every field event is an experiment. You change the angle, the approach, the grip, the takeoff. You measure the result. Coaches are scientists. Athletes are researchers. The runway, the circle, the pit, the ring: those are your lab spaces.

Your marks are your lab results. And the beautiful thing about track and field is that those results are honest.

What makes this different

There's amazing coaching content scattered across the internet. Clinics, YouTube videos, association resources, individual coaches sharing what they know. The problem is that it's scattered. I have not found one place that brings the experiments together for the athlete, the coach and the parent at once.

Track and Field Lab is that investigation. It takes decades of compiled expertise, coaching research, collaboration with other coaches at countless meets and clinics, and real experience with real athletes, and organizes it into something you can actually use at your next practice. Not theory you have to translate. Not elite-level breakdowns that don't apply to high school or club programs. Practical, tested approaches you can put to work tomorrow.

And here's what I'm most excited about: this is meant for everybody.

Athletes, coaches, and parents together. When all three read the same guide for the same event, it changes the conversation. Everyone speaks the same language. Parents understand what their kid is working on. Athletes can explain what they need. Coaches spend less time translating and more time coaching.

What you'll find here

Track and Field Lab includes 11 event coaching handbooks covering every technical event, from hurdles to throws to jumps to pole vault. Each one is built the same way: progressive development from beginner to advanced, complete drill libraries with reps and cues, common errors and corrections, season integration guidance, and the coaching philosophy that makes it all work.

Beyond the handbooks: Track and Field Lab Guides for deeper topics like mental preparation and program building. Free Track and Field Lab Articles with technique breakdowns and training notes. Drill cards you can print and bring to practice.

All of it built from the same source: real coaching experience, organized for real coaches.

Your invitation

My position has always been: there's more than one correct way. The world is beautiful and dynamic. There are many ways to improve and be your best self. Track and Field Lab is just some of those ways, assembled and tested over decades, offered because I know what it feels like to want a resource like this and not be able to find it.

Before you close this tab, try one thing: pick an event you coach or compete in, and read the first article for that event in the Resource Library. Just one. See if it gives you something useful.

If you're willing to experiment and improve, you belong in the lab.

Your marks are honest. The work shows. That's the beautiful thing about track and field.