Solange Witteveenanswered questions for the Kangaroo Track Club athletes and fans. Solange is 2x Olympian from Argentina, former South American champion, and the current South American record holder, with a personal best of 1.96mts (6'5")
Kelsey Jentink
1. How did you become interested in the sport of high jump?
I started doing track at 8 years old doing many events. When I was 10 years old I did the high jump for the first time, and I won my first competition with a 1.10mts (3 feet – 6 inches) jump. At that moment I fell in love with the event and I never stopped jumping since then.
2. How long have you been jumping for?
My first high jump competition, I was 10 years old and that was also my first time high jumping ever.
3. How did you get past the mental frustration not being able to jump the next height after a certain period of time?
When I was 13 years old I used to jump 1.45mts (4-7 1/2) very easily but then the bar went to 1.50mts (4-9 1/4). I used to knock the bar down pretty bad, and for a while I couldn’t jump 1.50mts until one day my coach (school teacher) without letting me know that he put the bar in 1.50mts told me that it was 1.45mts. So I took a jump with confidence (thinking and convinced that it was 1.45mts) and I cleared it with out touching it.
After that jump my coach told me that it was 1.50mts instead than 1.45mts. After that day I didn’t have any trouble jumping 1.50mts.
I don’t use that technique to overcome mental blocks any more. The key is to enjoy the jump and do not think on heights or personal bests etc. Every time that I have tried to jump looking for height I was not successful. Instead, when I am not even thinking about the height and I concentrate in my mechanics and knowing that if I do what I need to do mechanics wise “I will clear that height, it is a fact.” Usually when I have that frame of mind I manage to jump well. A jumper has to understand that you cannot PR every day and that it takes time to improve or to come back to a good height (if you haven’t been jumping for a wile or are coming back from an injury). Being a good jumper is not to clear a great height once, you need to be patient and keep pushing yourself forward, and good things will come to you.
4. Do you regularly "take time" off from the sport (breaks)?
Once a year I take a vacation of 3 weeks right after the outdoor season. After the indoor season I take a small break of a week, before I have to go back to full training.
Karissa Pepin
1. What do you think the key to your success is?
That is a tough question, but I think that the key of success is not to go try to seek success. I never seek success. I only wanted to jump high and like that I jump 6-5 that in my beginnings a height like that didn’t even cross my mind. I guess it is about passion. Success will come from that.
Jacque Gehlen
1. What do you do the night before the competition?
The night before a competition I try to take it easy. Go to sleep at an hour that allows me to get my 8 hours of rest as much as I can. The day before a competition I also try not to walk or stay standing too much and save my energy.
2. Do you do anything special before each jump?
Before I take a jump I try to get out of my head the negative thoughts and any thought that has nothing to do with the jump. Like what people or the other competitors may be thinking…………? , “If I jump this height I will get a scholarship…..” or “My rival dropped the bar in his or her last attempt……..”
I simply try to focus on the jump that I have in front of me and try to focus in one or two details (mechanically) that I have to do, like leaning at the moment of take off, or lifting that free leg, I guess I just try to feel the great jump that I will make. I pump myself up repeating to myself a positive word.
3. What do you do besides high jump, do you have any hobbies?
Besides high jump I also windsurf as a hobby, and I am studying a course for being a French interpreter.
Gus Gehlen
1. How do you eat before a competition?
Before a competition I try to eat something light, something that I know that it is not going to upset my stomach. Deep fried food and a ton of salsa it is a big no no. Whatever I eat, it has to be light and not much, because it makes me feel heavy for next day and a full stomach will hurt my performance.
2. What kind of workout do you do in the pre-season?
In pre –season my workouts are very long. From Monday through Saturday I train twice a day (double session) with the exception of Thursday that I only train once a day. Sunday is a rest day.
As a part of my workout I combine hills, vertical and horizontal jumps, aerobic and anaerobic workouts weights, etc. Basically in pre season I emphasize volume. The workout sessions are long and very intense.
3. How is your training before a competition?
Before a competition I decrease the volume of the workouts dramatically. The week of the big meet I train once a day (only one session a day), one lifting day with low reps at 80% of my max (approximately). I emphasize that week also technique, speed and plyometrics. The workouts are not long at all, but fast and explosive and 100% quality.
Two days before the competition I rest, and the day before I lift. But just to tone the muscles, almost nothing.
Coach Munoz
1. What was your motivation for jumping in your beginnings and how much has it changed now?
In my beginnings my motivation was to jump higher every time - like a challenge that I took up against the height. Like a video game that you play and that until you don’t get to the final screen and beat the game you will not rest……..It was just like that. In the beginnings jumping was a pleasure, and in the meets I always had a good time just like “playing high jump.”
Until one day I just jumped very high (for my age) and I got a ton of attention from the crowd and the other competitors. At the end of the competition everyone congratulated me. It was magical, a beautiful moment. But along with the admiration from the people came a big responsibility. Right after I had a PR people wanted to see another one, they wanted more, they wanted higher. And like that I started feeling pressure. The sponsors were there to help train but at the same time they wanted me to jump higher and well every time. So without realizing it I was jumping to satisfy the demands of other ones and I was forgetting about me. I was stuck in heights, I was not jumping well, not improving and completely out of focus, I didn’t have peace. I started pressuring myself and I stopped enjoying the jump. But you learn from those tough lessons and you come to the realization that if you don’t enjoy what you are doing, it doesn’t make sense to keep doing it, period. And at that critical moment you have to make a decision. Should you retire? Or should you keep going? And when I decided to keep going then I chose to forget about everything and just jump high and enjoy it, jump without limits, jump as high as your imagination allows you. And at the same time, and being honest with myself I know that that is the only way that I could reach the next Olympics and be successful. Just loving, and enjoying high jump.
2. What is your max in squat, snatch, clean, and 1/4 squat?
My max in full squat is 120 kg (265 LB)
Snatch 60kg (133 LB)
Clean 80kg (177 LB)
I do sets of ¼ squat with 180kg (397 LB) , sorry no max test on this one.
3. Besides High Jump, what other events have you done? and what are your PR's?
In some other events I have
TJ 12,25mts (40-2)
Hurdles 14.00
LJ 6,27mts (20-6)
In behalf of the high jump fans and the Kangaroo Track Club jumpers, THANK YOU SOLANGE! Thank you for being with us, and for being such a great ambassador of the sport and young jumpers around the world.
