Oct. 24, 2014

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina head track and field coach Curtis Frye and assistant sprints/hurdles coach James Daniels will be attending this weekend’s “Sprint 400 Initiative” conference in Las Vegas, Nev. The seminar is part of the 2013-16 USA Track and Field (USATF) High Performance Plan, which places special emphasis on the 400m and 400m hurdle events.

“I think it’s always a great honor to be invited to one of these events based on your body of work over the years,” Daniels said. “Particularly in Coach Frye’s case, he’s a Hall of Fame coach and he’s done a lot of great things for the sport, providing opportunities to athletes to turn professional and go on to win medals. For myself, I’ve been in a fortunate place to be on these teams over the years and it’s an honor being considered as a person who has placed people in the finals and put people in position to make U.S. teams.

“It’s also great to be a part of this and represent the South Carolina track and field program,” Daniels continued. “It shows a student-athlete that if they come here they will be able to get elite coaching if they want to become an Olympian. They’ll have the opportunity to get that type of coaching here at South Carolina so I’m very excited about it.”

The USATF and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) believe that there is a great potential to increase Team USA’s medal count in the events at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. The organizations have designed a plan to offer its High Performance on-track biomechanics services, led by Dr. Ralph Mann, to a small contingent of coaches who have a strong history in placing athletes in the NCAA finals in the 400m and 400m hurdles events.

Frye and Daniels will be a part of approximately 8-10 collegiate coaches in attendance where they will have the opportunity to provide feedback that will drive how resources are allocated and how logistics are designed and implemented. The seminar will focus on the analysis of long sprint athletes and the coaches in attendance, looking at the characteristics of the elite sprint/hurdle coach, and how the new tools that USATF has developed will help them in enhancing their coaching abilities.