MOBO Spotlight: British Triple Jumper Nadia Williams

In two short years from now, the world’s sporting elite shall descend upon England and all eyes shall be firmly fixed on its capital city. As London prepares itself for the 2012 Olympics, British athletes have been very hard at work honing their skills with edifying results. Their success at the recent European Championships saw the GB team win its largest medal haul in the seventy-six year history of the championships, an impressive six gold, seven bronze and six silver medals bringing the tally to nineteen. From distance runner Mo Farah to heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis, team GB is on a roll and the future has never looked so bright for British athletics and its rising stars. One such star is British triple jump champion Nadia Williams.

Whilst most children rushed home after school to recuperate and watch Australia’s finest soap operas, twelve year old Nadia would be in her spikes sprinting and leaping over hurdles at the local sports stadium until the sun set and floodlights were switched off. Her speed, agility, drive and pure love for athletics saw her shine as a school athlete and there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that dedicated Nadia would excel further. Excel she did. The hard working athlete secured a bronze at the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and has since been consistently ranked in the British top three. Getting millimetres closer to the 14 metre standard, the track star now has her sights on the Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi this October.

I spent an afternoon watching a UK track meet with my childhood friend and charismatic British triple jumper at Barnet Copthall Stadium, where the journey began some sixteen long years ago….

MOBO: You have been involved in sports for as long as I can remember, how did you get involved in Athletics?

Nadia: From a very, very young age. Mum and dad were really sporty, my whole family are pretty sporty. My older brother did tennis, older sister did dance, younger brother did football. I’ve got three brothers, two sisters; there’s six of us so from parents down to my youngest brother, sports is in the genes I guess.

MOBO: Could you narrate a typical training day for you?

Nadia: Right we’ll break it down. For winter, during the winter time, a training day for me, not being full time means squeezing what people perceive as two sessions into one session. So during the winter we’ll do a lot of long runs to build up your stamina and endurance and then we’ll do a lot of plyometric work which is a lot of bounding work so box work over a decent distance again to build up the strength endurance in you. If I break it down into hours, during the winter you’re training from anything from two to three hours per day and that’s almost seven days a week because I don’t like not training haha! I have to be told no Nadia, you need a rest now! During the summer, you have your competition time then from the end of April to the end of August, beginning of September and you’ll train four to five days a week and most sessions are shorter so you’re looking at short and explosive work. Lots of short sprints, again plyometric work but not over such a long distance and then specifically looking at working on your technique, so breaking down the technique into literally three elements for triple jump. Again, during the summer you don’t want to have sessions too long and intensive because you’ve got a competition probably every weekend. They’re probably about two hours during the summer.

MOBO: Earlier this year you were diagnosed with patella tendonitis otherwise known as ‘jumper’s knee’. How is the rehabilitation going?

Nadia: Rehab was really, really hard to get into. I was absolutely depressed. I thrive on training, I absolutely love training. I eat drink and sleep training so to be told that I couldn’t run and couldn’t do any of my bounding work I was like, what am I supposed to do? So, it put me out of training for two months. It took me about two weeks to say ok, I have an injury get on with the rehab. Rehab was really good because it was a time to focus on elements of my jumping that we don’t have time to work on during a winter season or a summer season so it was seen as a blessing in disguise to obviously be injured. During that time there was a lot of trampette work which is a mini trampoline to basically strengthen from the ankle upto the knee and again build up the endurance and the stamina, to come back and make it look like literally you’ve not been away for too long. I was sitting and moaning there about being out for two months but some people are out for two years so I really had to be reminded of my bigger picture from my coach, because it’s such a long year with the Commonwealths being in October, it was really a blessing in disguise. It meant that in theory my season started later which meant I can keep going for longer. I would say that I’m almost recovered. I think getting back from injury is more mental than physical so even though the knee is ok, its one of those injuries where people say once you’ve got it, you’re always going to feel it so it’s blocking it out mentally and getting on with what you’ve got to do in order to move on.

MOBO: Our own British athlete Jonathan Edwards is still the current triple jump world record holder at 18.29 metres. Do you see more Brits like yourself dominating the event in the future?

Nadia: I would like to hope so otherwise I wouldn’t be doing the event, I would have found another event to move on to you know just to take the easy option out. So yes for me with triple jump being my main event since 2006, from then to now, it’s really, really moved on in terms of the amount of youngsters who are jumping decent distances and for the guys aswell. The guys are already up there on the world level and it’s obviously the female side that we need to increase a lot more. Triple jump has been low since Ashia Hansen, our British number one, has retired and it’s for us now to find out what we’re not doing or getting right to try and get the same distances as she did. I can’t remember how old she was but she was less than twenty-five when she was jumping 15 metres so it’s to find out what she had in her and perhaps what we’re not getting right in us; but it has moved on from the last four years. For me, I have no intention of retiring in the next two to three years so definitely keep on going and go upto 2012, see where I am in terms of the standard and make my mind up from there.

MOBO: The next epoch in sports embraces biomechanics. From improving lateral stability which is imperative as a world class athlete to prevention of quick muscular deterioration enabling an athlete to enjoy more years of competition, how has the incorporation of biomechanics improved your own personal performance?

Nadia: With training what I’ve found is more so in the last year to two years of my event is like you said, key word being lateral stability. People think that triple jump is about running in fast and it’s just about getting your technique right but I have found so much more this year that it’s about core stability and keeping your body in the right position in order to get the phases you’re looking for in order to get a good jump; so core work is done second to none in order to increase it and it’s obviously being able to control your body positioning coming in at such speed and force and making the contact on the ground. Something that I struggle with a little bit you know even until today but again, that’s the whole point of why we train- to get it better.
If you don’t hold that core stability when you make that jump, that contact with the ground, you lose it and go forward and it takes away from you doing the next phase and the next phase going into the pit. Jonathan Edwards if you look at him, he went through his phases, his body position was literally straight the whole way through and you’ll see, the art to triple jump is being able to keep your level the whole way through and it’s a difficult skill to grasp.

MOBO: Competing at the level that you compete at requires not only physical strength but mental might too. What are your sources of strength?

Nadia: I would say for me definitely it’s physical all the way. Again in the last two years dealing with ups and downs through training, through competition you know sometimes your personal life that you sort of bring into training that you need to be able to control and not bring into your training. Mental strength is something definitely my coach Keith Fleming and I have worked on over the last couple of years in terms of dealing with things that come your way that aren’t necessarily a positive for you; so you know with this sport, this game you need to be thick-skinned. You cannot take things personally. I don’t always win a competition. I need to learn to deal with that. Before I would go away quite disheartened and go, I just came second but there are people all over the world who would love to come second and come away with a silver medal so I have had to learn that I’m not always going to win, I’m not always going to be the best and in order for triple jump to move on, we need more people doing the same standard to get it recognised again so that was quite hard for me but I learned to deal with that a lot better now. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, I’m always looking for again the levels like you said that we want, the speed from the start to the board. It’s not such a bad thing being a perfectionist but you have to learn to not take it to heart if you don’t get it right aswell, so it’s finding the happy medium really.

MOBO: What are your aspirations for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in New Delhi this year?

Nadia: Going there as a bronze medallist from 2006, in my mind I would like to go there and again be there on the podium. Obviously everybody would like to win but if it’s second or third it’s a medal. For me, I’m quite realistic so because I’ve had such an up and down year I’m not going into the Commonwealths with perhaps the high amount of confidence I’d like to but what I’ve learned from my coach is, that anything can happen throughout the season. You look at your competition that’s going to be there and they may not of necessarily had a good year either or they might have had the best year but come to the Commonwealth Games being in October a lot of people may be fatigued by then if they haven’t kept their training schedule to the needs of the Commonwealth Games so for me yes I’d like to come away with a medal but I don’t know what the jump is going to be. I literally want to just go out there and jump well do myself justice really because I did my 13 metres 75 at the beginning of the outdoor season and I would love to jump 14 metres which is the next barrier to break. I’m a quietly confident person and the next three weeks I have from tomorrow are quite important meets for me, they will give me a rough guideline as to how I’ll fair over the next month.

MOBO: London is hosting the 2012 Olympics. What do you think the city will gain from the Games?

Nadia: I would say that three quarters are really excited about having it here. I think another quarter still need to be convinced. I’m really looking forward to it. You cannot complain when a major championship is going to be on your own home soil and everybody is going to want to be there, so for me it’s about maintaining my top three status over the next two years to kind of guarantee hopefully that I’m going to have my spot at London 2012.

MOBO: You are an avid music lover. Which are your favourite artists?

Nadia: My sister says you truly are from back home which is Sierra Leone because I just love cultural music so I love Reggae, a bit of Ragga and what West Indians call Conscious Reggae, so for me that’s my type of music. That type of music gets me dancing and if that keeps me dancing it keeps the body supple in order to do my competitions but I could listen to a bit of R&B and a little bit of Hip Hop. I can listen to a bit of everything but not too much of anything other than those I’ve specified!

MOBO: Do you have any set genres of music you listen to when you are training?

Nadia: I could start my session with Reggae and Conscious and as my training steps up, I step up the music so definitely in the weights room we listen to more Funky House a bit of Hip Hop.

MOBO: Describe Nadia Williams in three words…

Nadia: Meticulous, feisty, infectious.

MOBO: What would you like the future to hold for you?

Nadia: I would like my future from 2011 to be in full time training so to of either of done the standard, where by it’s recognised by UK Athletics in order to get the Lottery Funding or to have a third party sponsor who can see some development in me and who is willing to take that risk in supporting me upto 2012. A lot of athletes at the Europeans have said the key to their success has been training twice a day and again that is something that I thrive on and am absolutely working my hardest to do. So definitely by 2011 I want to be in full time training. Training twice a day is the start to the development and the success that you’re looking for after that. So, again, making the major champs, to break the 14 metre barrier which I hope will be done sooner rather than later. I would love to do that absolutely this year and give people more interest in supporting me next year. To develop and get my way to 2012 because I think that what you’ve got here is a case of the youngsters recognised more than the mature athletes as they would call it.

MOBO: Are you funded by the country?

Nadia: No. I’m not. A lot of people think that you’re number one, you’re funded. Number one is not enough until you’ve done the standard which is 14 metres to get that funding through.

MOBO: If in the next three weeks you break the 14 metre barrier, would secure funding?

Nadia: Nothing is concrete until you see it in black and white but you have more ground to stand on because they compile the Lottery funded athletes in November of each year so from November onwards you then get your funding from them. If I could do my 14 sooner rather than later, it would give me some ground but then again you’ve got to show consistency aswell.

MOBO: So athletes from a host nation are not automatically financially provided for?

Nadia: A lot of people have that perception that being at that level and being recognised as I am, gives me funding but it’s not enough being number one in the country jumping 13.50m upwards. The good thing with Great Britain is that we want athletes who are going to make finals after the finals, the rest takes care of itself anything could happen, you just don’t know who’s going to be on a podium so for me its breaking the 14 metre mark, getting the recognition more concrete than just being the top triple jumper for the last four years; and obviously being consistent with it and just showing the development. That’s what I need to do really so I mean it’s hard.

MOBO: What is the best piece of advice you have been given?

Nadia: It’s funny, it’s a combination of a lot of things. The most simple one probably in this game is to relax and enjoy it. You’ll find that with athletes when we know that the pressure is on you tense up and it’s visible in any event you so whether it’s a throw, a sprint, a hurdle, a jump. It’s quite evident you can see someone is under pressure. So a lot of good coaches will say to you just relax, just enjoy it. You’ve put in the hard work go out there now and just enjoy it and the rest will take care of itself. So for me that was probably one of the best pieces of advice I’ve been given. Simple, but to the point.

The Olympic motto ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’- Faster, Higher, Stronger is as pertinent today as it was at the time of the Games inception in 776 BC. Athletes like Nadia Williams are part of the ongoing historical challenge to achieve sporting excellence and I smiled as the interview drew to a close. Sitting high up in the stands, looking out at the terracotta track and emerald turf below, I was transported back in time to the days when a gregarious lanky schoolgirl would astound us with her sporting stealth. It was always an utter joy to watch Williams. She would captivate an entire stadium with her thrilling performances, in those days the 100 metres and hurdles; and the Linford Christie fan in me would sit and ponder, when will Nadia make like Linford and unfurl a Union Jack in a global arena?

She did so, making an entire nation proud in 2006 and I do think, she shall strive to do so until the sun finally sets and the floodlights are at last, switched off.

For more information about Nadia Williams and the Commonwealth Games 2010 team please visit:
www.englandathletics.org

The Mayor of London has recently launched the London Ambassadors scheme. If you think you have what it takes, please visit:
www.londonambassadors.org.uk

For information on the 2012 Olympics and how to get involved please visit:
www.london2012.com

by Reema Kumari Jadeja ©