How Hooker got his groove back

[rainbowgirl28]

There's video if you click the link.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/london ... 6323435715


How Steve Hooker got rid of the yips
by: Scott Gullan From: Herald Sun April 10, 2012 10:00pm 2 comments

THIS is the secret training facility that has saved Steve Hooker's Olympic campaign.

For the past three months the Olympic pole vault champion has been locked away in his "Bat Cave", a converted railway workshop in suburban Perth.

After pulling out of the domestic season with a severe case of the yips, Hooker has been able to get his mojo back thanks to the state-of-the-art facility that was constructed for him by his major sponsor Red Bull.

"I love it out here," Hooker said yesterday. "It really couldn't have turned out any better."

At the end of 2010, Red Bull asked Hooker what it could do to help him win gold in London. He suggested an indoor training facility.

With the assistance of the Western Australian Government, a site was found at the old Midland Railway yards and by March it was up and running.

The massive shed includes 100m of runway with a double-ended pit in the middle and the ability to use various platforms on the runway to alter conditions.

Each jump is recorded by a hi-tech video feedback system that instantly spits out biomechanical information.

Data such as runway speed, approach distance and the power generated by Hooker when he plants the pole in the vaulting box are all recorded, reviewed and analysed on the spot.

The ability to do large volumes of training at any time has essentially saved the 29-year-old from having to abort his quest for back-to-back Olympic golds.

"I have been able to rack up pretty much close to 1000 jumps since I pulled out of the Australian season (in January)," Hooker said. "That is a huge amount of jumps and without this facility we would not have been able to get anywhere near that number.

"We are away from everyone so there's no one watching. It's just my team of coaches, sports psychologist and biomechanist there and we can do really efficient high-quality sessions every day of the week.

"There are no interruptions from other people in other events, from the weather or restrictions to training hours."

Hooker points to the recent breakthroughs by training partners Alana Boyd and Liz Parnov, who have been selected for London after career-best seasons on the back of using the facility.

He plans to do a practice competition in the warehouse next month before his first international competition at the Shanghai meeting on May 19.

"What I have been doing at training in terms of performances off my short approaches are as good or better than anything I have ever done in my life," Hooker said.

"I jumped 5.20m, which is a massive height off just six steps. My full approach is 18 steps, which we will be working off in a month's time."

Hooker, the second-highest vaulter in history with his 6.06m leap in 2009, has until June 11 to jump the A-qualifying standard of 5.72m and book his place in London.

"I now feel confident on the runway again," he said. "I feel in control. I feel very confident turning up to every session."

[jabennis]

Just wow.
Anyone know how much Plane tickets to Perth are this time of year?? :-)

[superpipe]

I tell you what. I now support Red Bull to the fullest. It's unreal the money they have put up to support our professional athletes. This is no "great" setup for Hooker, it's over the top and then some. Just an absolute dream. Red Bull did the exact same thing for Shawn White (One of the best pro snowboarders ever. He's untouchable in superpipe) when they spent zillions building an Olympic sized superpipe just for him in the backcountry and had a gigantic foam pit built into the pipe so he could learn every double cork trick possible and dominate the competition in the last winter Olympics. It worked beyond belief. Red Bull spared no expense for any detail of the setup. I've never heard of any sponsor put up this kind of money for "over the top dream" setups for athletes to improve their game. It's so awesome that Red Bull stepped into our event. It will definitely help promote our event around the world especially if Hooker comes out killing it. So pumped to see this and see Hooker getting his game back.