track and field development

Track & Field is arguably the most physically demanding sport in the world. At the elite level, margins are razor-thin—every movement, every variable, every detail matters.

What fans see every four years on the Olympic stage is just the surface. Behind it are thousands of athletes striving toward that same goal—yet the path to the top remains inconsistent, fragmented, and underdeveloped.

Unlike other major sports, Track & Field lacks a true developmental system.

Football has its high school-to-college-to-pro pipeline. Gymnastics builds athletes step by step through skill progression. Most sports emphasize structure, mastery, and foundational movement.

Track & Field? It has depth at the youth level—but no standard of progression. No shared foundation of execution. No clear path.

And we’re seeing the results:

• Fewer athletes reaching elite levels
• Drop-offs in collegiate depth and event volume
• Gaps in technical consistency from youth to pro

At Essentials, we believe Track & Field needs to return to its roots—physics.

Applied physics governs every successful movement in every sport. Efficiency must come before speed. Mechanics must be mastered before progression. Without that, talent plateaus or breaks down.

It’s not optional—it’s essential.

Coach Sheila Burrell calls them “deal breakers”—the biomechanical essentials that must be in place before any athlete can reliably progress.

These aren’t style points or personal preferences. They’re non-negotiable components of elite performance at every event.

Essential's mission is to identify, standardize, and teach these foundational mechanics—giving athletes and coaches a framework they can trust throughout an athlete’s career.

Essentials of Track & Field is developing a system of education, exposure, and support built around technical mastery.

💡 Our Initiatives Include:

• Virtual symposiums and clinics
      → Teaching what to teach, and when
• Biomechanical progression systems
      → Event sequences modeled on skill acquisition
• Invitational field clinics
      → Hands-on learning for athletes and coaches of all levels
• Live streaming & digital access
      → Bringing elite teaching methods to a global audience

Essentials isn’t locked into a one-size-fits-all approach. We know this work will evolve. Our commitment is to refine our process, sharing it openly, and recruiting others who share the same vision:

A generation of athletes built on physics, fundamentals, and foundational mastery.

If you want to help rebuild Track & Field from the ground up, we want to hear from you.