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It’s often said that necessity is the mother of invention and in the case of long jumper Shane Howard, this is most definitely true. With sport training facilities shut during lockdown, he had to create a new training setup at home on the family dairy farm. And what was to the fore of this new regime? Bales of course!
Usually, while training at Cork Institute of Technology (CIT), he would be jumping into a sandpit, but at home in Rathcormac he needed to come up with a soft landing.
“I had to try and find something that would give me some sort of a soft landing that I wouldn’t hurt myself on. The bales were the softest thing I could find around the farm. It’s just to practice take-offs, to make sure I can keep tipping over with some kind of technical training for long jump,” Shane says.
“It’s round bales we have at home, we don’t have any of the small square ones. It’s pretty high. If I could get the small square ones it would be better. I’m kind of landing mid-jump, compared to where I would normally land.”
While the bales took care of some of the technical work, Shane still had to account for the other elements that make up his long jump training. Sprinting and plyometrics (jumping, in layman’s terms) could be done on grass in one of the fields. The weights he would normally do in the gym, however, proved a bit trickier to replace. Once again, he and his father used what they had around the farm.
“I was lucky enough that I actually had an Olympic bar and a few weights. So it was just a case of welding up a squat rack to hold the weights. We just used whatever metal we had around the farm, some old gates and a few bits and pieces like that.
“Then I was able to get the gym sessions done properly. Myself and my dad made it up there one of the weekends,” explains Shane.
Shane works as an engineer in Stryker NeuroVascular in Cork. As he is working from home, he could repay the favour by helping his father out around the farm. “Dad’s delighted I’m at home more, he can grab me as much as possible for jobs around the farm,” he laughs.
In my foot there’s a particular bone, it just hurts me when I take-off. I was stubborn enough to change it
While lockdown is a time of change for all, Shane has tried to reframe it in a positive light. He is using the time (and the bales) to switch from his left leg to his right leg when taking off for the long jump, as he was struggling with pain in his left leg. By no means is this an easy feat – having jumped from his left leg his whole life, Shane has to rewire his natural instincts.
“I’ve had it for a number of years. In my foot there’s a particular bone, it just hurts me when I take-off. I was stubborn enough to change it, because I was getting the distances out of it. I was trying to put it to the back of my mind.
The whole lockdown gave me a big window to practice the new leg and to be able to get back to where I was with rhythm and everything else
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“When it came to training, it was hindering me. So I changed it. The whole lockdown gave me a big window to practice the new leg and to be able to get back to where I was with rhythm and everything else.”
Shane’s current personal best is 7.61 metres. He is chasing the all-important 8m mark all long jumpers strive to hit. His goal for this year was competing at the European Senior Championships, which were to be held in August, but as they’re cancelled, the focus shifts to the European Indoor Athletic Championship in March 2021.
Growth spurt
Shane’s athletics club is Bandon AC, where he is coached by Liz Coomey. He was trained by his dad, who’s a real GAA man, through primary school and most of secondary school.
Growing up, Shane was interested in all sports, starting athletics when he was six. In secondary school, he began to focus on athletics more and then in college he honed in on the long jump.
Now standing at 6’ 4”, it’s hard to believe Shane was ever short, but in fact he was a long time waiting for his growth spurt, which didn’t come until the end of his secondary school years.
I was always short of the standard for Irish teams
“I was good very young, under nines and under 12s say, but then that gap came in secondary school, probably because I didn’t grow. I was behind. It wasn’t until sixth year and college that I started to pick up. I was always short of the standard for Irish teams and it wasn’t until last year that I qualified for the European Team Championships. That was my first international for Ireland.”
I was working towards it for ages and it was nice to finally get there
The Cork man is delighted to have reached his long-term goal of making the Irish team. “It was a long time coming. I was working towards it for ages and it was nice to finally get there.” Last year he also won his first senior Irish title.
At the moment Shane is still training at home, but can’t wait to get back working with his coach. Although the Government announced elite athletes could resume training, facilities in Cork are not up and running just yet. So Shane, like many, is waiting to see what happens.
Until then, it’s bale hopping for Shane.
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