Jadan Hanson of Uniondale using trip to Cuba to fine-tune his triple jump

Jadan Hanson has gone international. The Uniondale senior triple jumper, who is in the early stages of his state title defense, spent the weekend in Havana, Cuba, learning from some of the world’s best triple jump minds.

For the second straight year, Hanson was invited to participate in the Project Triple Jump Cuban clinic, organized by the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation. From Jan. 16-20, Hanson will learn from three world-class coaches, including Kenny Harrison, who won triple jump gold representing the United States at the 1996 summer Olympics in Atlanta. Hanson will train alongside Cuban jumpers and share training techniques.

Last year’s experience fine tuned the way Hanson thought about the opening phase of his jump.

“They explain how we should attack the first phase,” Hanson said. “We should run off the board. A lot of people don’t utilize that. They jump off the board and don’t run off the board.”

In addition to the physical art of jumping, Hanson said he also learned a lot about the mental side of the event from sports phycologist Dr. Margaret Ottley, who has worked with countless Olympians.

“I was always younger and jumping against bigger people,” Hanson said. “So, if I used to lose, I said, 'Oh, they’re in an older grade, I’m in a younger grade. It’s not that big of a deal.’ But [they] gave me the opportunity to say that I could be competing for number one at all times because winning is a habit. No matter who you go against, you should try [to win].”

Lately, winning has been a hard habit to break for Hanson, who committed to Georgetown in November. He jumped 49 feet, 7 1/2 inches last March to win the indoor state triple jump championship and hit 50 feet, 6 inches to take third at the New Balance Indoor Nationals.

This season, with a state championship repeat an extremely likely scenario, Hanson has bigger goals. He wants that national title. That goal dovetails with his second goal, breaking the state triple jump record of 51 feet, 6 inches, set by Shaker’s Ronel Forde in 2016. He’s already on his way. Hanson’s jump at last season’s New Balance Nationals (50-6) was the farthest jump by a junior in state history, according to tullyrunners.com.

“Each year, you naturally get stronger,” Hanson said. “If you keep doing the same technique, you’re naturally going to put more power into your jump, so you’re going to jump farther.”

The road to 52 feet, which is Hanson’s third goal for 2020, is born in the first phase of the jump. Hanson said that if he can get to 18 feet in that opening phase, he feels confident that 52 feet will be found in the pit.

“We use cones to visualize it,” Hanson said. “ ... We’ll just keep doing that. Then we’ll do second phase, put the cones out. ... It’s a lot of visualization, more than weights. We don’t do weight room. We just focus on more technique. You have to have to confidence to do it, too.”

Despite entering the weekend with the best triple jump mark in the state, a 47-foot, 4 1/4-inch flight notched in December at the Energice Coaches Hall of Fame Invitational at the Armory in Manhattan, Hanson said he’s just begun to rev up his triple jump training. Too much competition early in his junior year led to a minor drop toward the end of the outdoor season, he said. Hanson doesn’t want that to happen again.

“I was chasing the 50,” he said of last winter’s workload. “But this year we’re trying to be good indoor and outdoor, so we’re trying to not do as many meets indoors.”