Arienne Birch – Track & Field High Jump Success Story

Arienne Birch’s Journey to High Jump Success: Overcoming Challenges and Embracing Growth

Meet Arienne Birch, an ambitious athlete with a passion for both rowing and high jump. She is on her way to North Dakota State University, with dreams of making it to the Olympics one day. Her success story is not just about winning, but about the journey, the struggles, and the growth experienced along the way.

Chapter Overview:

00:00 Introduction to Arienne Birch
00:09 Discovering LPS Training Facility
00:23 First Impressions and Adaptation
00:57 Training Techniques and Benefits
01:59 Achievements and Future Goals
02:37 Mindset and Competition
03:12 Gym Culture and Support
03:33 Sacrifices and Advice for Young Athletes

Discovering a Training Haven

Arienne’s journey took a significant turn when she learned about a facility called LPS through a track coach. The facility offered not just a weightlifting area, but a comprehensive training program that she had previously lacked. Her initial days at LPS were filled with skepticism, but she quickly realized the potential it offered after just a couple of training sessions.

The Unique Approach of LPS Coaches

What distinguished LPS for Arienne was the adaptability of the coaches. Unlike her previous experiences where coaches adhered to a one-size-fits-all method, the LPS coaches tailored their programs to fit individual athletes. This personalized approach made all the difference for Arienne, particularly in avoiding sports-related injuries while transferring her training into her disciplines.

Cross-Training Benefits

Arienne found that the explosive weightlifting movements she practiced at LPS significantly improved her performance in both high jump and rowing. The strength gained from these exercises boosted her ability to jump higher, while the volume work enhanced her stamina and endurance for rowing.

Supervised Olympic Weightlifting

Prior to LPS, Arienne’s acquaintance with Olympic weightlifting was minimal, as she wasn’t supervised in technique. However, at LPS, coaches provided oversight, which helped her grasp the nuances of these exercises. For instance, a simple cue about staying over the bar translated directly into improved rowing techniques, showcasing the cross-benefit of her training.

Achieving Milestones

Arienne’s dedication bore fruit as she clinched a victory at OFSAA with ease after her training at LPS. She matched her personal best at the Canadian Nationals, setting the stage for her ultimate goal: the Olympics. While rowing is a skill, high jump remains her passion, and she’s determined to prove her potential in this sport.

The Mindset for Success

For Arienne, every competition is a form of active training. Anything below nationals or provincials is merely a stepping stone towards personal bests. Her philosophy is to dominate by overcoming past performances and becoming the best version of herself. It’s about ruling her sport, a perspective infused into her mindset at LPS.

A Supportive Community

The gym culture at LPS is described by Arienne as “too good to be true,” with an atmosphere brimming with encouragement. The support she receives from fellow athletes, even those she doesn’t know personally, is both enriching and surprisingly rare in today’s sporting world.

Sacrifices and Words of Wisdom

Pursuing sports at such a high level requires sacrifices. Arienne has missed out on social outings, family gatherings, and extracurricular activities to remain focused on her athletic goals. However, she offers young athletes this advice: It gets better. The hard times evolve into easier phases before becoming challenging again, but perseverance leads to growth.

Conclusion

Arienne Birch’s story is one of resilience, adaptation, and relentless pursuit of her dreams. With LPS’s support and a strong personal drive, she’s not just jumping higher physically, but metaphorically leaping towards a future filled with promise. Her journey is an inspiring testament to the power of determination and the right support system in achieving success.

>> Watch more of our athlete success stories here.

TRANSCRIPTION:

My name is Arienne Birch. The sport I compete in is both rowing and high jump. And I’m going to be going to North Dakota State University. I heard about LPS from a coach from track and field. They said that there was a facility that did weight and I needed a place that did weight and also provided a program, which I didn’t have before.

My first week at LPS was probably the most unique experience I’ve had. Initially, I didn’t like anyone here. But, after maybe two training sessions, I thought, wow, this is a real training place. This is a place where I can develop. What stood out for me the most was the fact that the coaches, they did adapt to the athlete.

Which I thought was a little crazy because all the coaches I’ve had before did not. They just had one set training plan for everyone, and that was it. In terms of injuries, I’ve never had a sport related injury in terms of transferring my. weights into my courts. It is honestly not that different for weights.

We do a lot of explosive motions and that’s very beneficial for both high jump and rowing. Especially for high jump. I’ve gotten very strong because of the explosive transfer. For rowing, all the volume work he did with weight, that was super beneficial because I was able to have more stamina and endurance.

From Olympic weightlifting, I didn’t do much of that in the past at all. Like my coach had said, here are some exercises, I’m not going to supervise you, go. But here we have that. The coach is actually supervised. That really helped a lot because Now that I got to understand the technique. And in fact, one of the cues I got from one of the coaches to stay over the bar was super beneficial to my rowing because that’s exactly what you do, just vertically.

Of all the current achievements that I’ve had, I’ve won OFSAA. That was pretty amazing. That was easy after coming to LPS. I was able to jump super high, the high jump. Recently, I was also able to match my PB at Canadian Nationals, which was just this past weekend. In the future, I plan to go to the Olympics, no matter what.

And having a weight plan, it was a huge step forward. Olympics specifically for high jump, it’s my passion. For I’m great at rowing, but I have a point to prove in high jump and that’s where it’s gonna happen. My thought process for competition? It’s active training. If it’s anything below nationals or provincials, I consider that training.

It’s like in trying to get a personal best, but that’s all it stands for. You gotta win, no matter what. The word dominates. Here mean to overcome what you’ve done in the past. You want to dominate your own self and to get better as you go. And you also want to dominate against everyone else too. And the world.

You want to rule your sport. Oh, the culture in the gym. It is. Too good to be true. Everyone’s too supportive for my personal liking. Even random athletes that come in, they’re like, yeah, go you can do it. It’s your max. It’s just super supportive and I think that’s rare now. Some sacrifices that I’ve had to make.

In order to pursue my sports is I’ve had to give up a lot of activities with my friends, friend outings, simple family get togethers extracurriculars at school that probably seemed fun, but I wouldn’t know because I didn’t go to those. I’ve also had to give it, give up. A lot of emotional standing.

Some advice I would give to myself or younger athletes would be it gets better. It’s hard. Now it’s going to stay hard, but you know what? The hard stuff gets easy and then it gets hard again. So eventually it’ll get easy.