BREMEN, Ala. — Several runners from different schools took part in a two-day summer track camp on July 29th and 30th at Cold Springs and it was open to any athletes from ages 12-19. Brittley Humphrey, an LSU graduate, and Trey Cunningham, who’s currently going into his senior year at Florida State, were the instructors during the camp and has a lot of experience in hurdling and sprinting.
Humphrey was a three-time All-American; she finished no. 8 on the LSU ALL-TIMES list in the 400 hurdles. She was an SEC champion, a World Youth silver medalist, and she was a semi-finalist in the Olympic trials. Cunningham is a five-time All-American at Florida State, a former World Junior Record Holder, a 24-time state champion in Alabama, and he placed fourth at the Olympic trials.
Humphrey and Cunningham taught the runners a lot during the two-day summer camp.
“We basically went through a good warm-up,” Humphrey said. “We focused on form and technique, running straight flat without hurdles and then we added hurdles. Basically, things that they can do without someone always watching over them and learning for themselves how to do it.”
“We tried to get the basics down so that we can lay a good foundation for them to go further if they would like to,” Cunningham said.
Their experience in college, along with some advice from their coaches, helped Humphrey and Cunningham become two of the best runners in the state and that helped them become really good coaches along the way.
“It’s a lot of experience from the coaches telling us certain things we need to fix and learning for ourselves after so many years of running,” Humphrey said.
“I think it’s really important to have someone that’s been there, to tell you how to do it.” Cunningham added. “And it gives us credibility, like, yes we do know what we are doing, and outside of high school, it gets a little more specialized, so we can show different things and we know what to look for.”
Cunningham and Humphrey were in the young athletes’ shoes years ago and according to Cunningham, there’s always something to work on and there’s nothing wrong with asking what they need to do to get better.
“We were in their shoes,” Cunningham said. “We were out there, like, hey, what do we have to do? What do we have to do to get better? Who do we need to go see? What are some tiny things that can help us get faster?”
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