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The decathlete and the coach
Santa Rosa's Arnold on verge of Olympic spot, thanks to Blockburger's tough love

By ERIC BRANCH
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Saturday, June 28, 2008

1,500 meters (4:31.04)The partnership between Jake Arnold and his coach, Sheldon Blockburger,
began three years ago with an insult, but Arnold didn’t care.

At that point, he was a driven decathlete at the University of Arizona who had received little
expert coaching. He was ready to endure worse than a put-down if the payoff meant guidance in
his hard-to-master event.

Blockburger, Arizona’s first-year assistant coach, could provide that. He was a former world-
class decathlete who had trained an Olympian and an NCAA champion. In addition to his impressive
resume, he also had a gift for directness.

So when Blockburger first saw Arnold in his office, he didn’t mince words. Arnold was a junior,
but Blockburger thought he could pass for a freshman. His body had little definition. No upper
body. No leg muscles.

Nice to meet you? Blockburger had another greeting: “You’re the weakest decathlete I’ve ever
seen.”

Arnold, a former track star at Maria Carrillo High, was too desperate to take offense: “Instead
of being insulted, I was more like, ‘OK, what are you going to do about it?’”

Three years, 20 pounds and two NCAA titles later, it’s clear Arnold, 24, and Blockburger, 43,
have done plenty together.

And they hope to take the next step starting Sunday when Arnold competes in the decathlon at
the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore.

The top three in the 20-man field will qualify for the Summer Olympics in Beijing. Arnold’s
personal-best score of 8,215 points ranks fourth in the field. With former world champions
Bryan Clay and Tom Pappas favored to take the top two spots, Arnold is expected to battle Trey
Hardee, 24, a former NCAA champion at the University of Texas, for the third and final spot.

From invisible to elite

Arnold’s ascencion is improbable given his invisibility three years ago. As a sophomore, he
finished 19th at the 2005 NCAA Championships. Then Blockburger arrived.

The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Arnold has since won back-to-back NCAA titles — the first to do so
since 1985 — and had two third-place finishes at the U.S. Championships. Last summer, Arnold
placed 13th in his international debut at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan. In March, he
won his first national title at the U.S. Indoor Combined Events Championship in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Now the former 168-pound walk-on is knocking on the door of the Olympics.

Remarkable? Yes, but also understandable. Blockburger, a former SEC champion at LSU, has coached
2004 Olympic decathlete Paul Terek, NCAA champion high jumpers Sharon Day of Cal Poly San Luis
Obispo and Liz Patterson of Arizona.

Said Arizona head coach Fred Harvey, “Jake Arnold is at the level he’s at because of Sheldon
Blockburger.”

Prior to Blockburger’s arrival, Arnold didn’t lack for drive. Just direction.

Arizona didn’t have a coach with background in the decathlon. As a result, Arnold often bounced
between coaches during practice — a jumps coach, a throws coach, a sprint coach — and sometimes
he just invented his own training regimen.

“He kind of wandered around the track and when he felt like throwing the discus, he threw the
discus,” Blockburger said. “Some days he got coached. And some days he didn’t.”

Terek, 28, who trained with Blockburger for more than two years, first met Arnold five years
ago. It was during Arnold’s wandering-the-track years.

“I think it was a situation where you had a guy who was just like clay and he was just looking
for someone to mold him,” Terek said. “But no one was doing it for him. That’s such a
frustrating thing — and now there’s all this constructive energy being wasted. That can turn
into destructive energy real quick.”

No more wandering

Arnold, and many of his teammates, devoted some of their energy to sampling Arizona’s thriving
party scene, a habit that perplexed the no-nonsense Blockburger when he arrived. Blockburger
says “60 to 70 percent of the team were losers. They treated track like a PE class and they
took partying seriously.”

Blockburger didn’t lump Arnold in with the “losers,” but he knew there was plenty of work ahead.

“Jake had no discipline in his coaching and no discipline in his evening hours,” Blockburger
said. “That’s a bad combination. There was no organization in his day and night.”

Blockburger began organizing the day with a comprehensive program emphasizing speed, explosion
and power.

If Arnold’s off-the-track activities remained a work in progress, he was a model pupil at
practice. He didn’t moan about the grueling training. He followed orders. And he kept his
mouth shut.

He quickly began to flourish under close supervision.

Said Blockburger, “He was just so happy to have someone watching him.”

A teacher, not a motivator

Blockburger isn’t a big believer in rah-rah speeches. In fact, Harvey says athletes must be
self-motivated to succeed under his leadership. Blockburger will provide expertise, but not
many kicks in the pants.

His style worked for Arnold, who doesn’t lack for desire. Arnold recalls how Maria Carrillo
parents would be stunned when he spent the final minutes of close high school soccer matches
sprinting non-stop around the field, sometimes collapsing in exhaustion after the final whistle.

He didn’t need a motivational speaker. He needed a teacher. And he didn’t bristle at
Blockburger’s direct style.

“Sheldon tells you how it is and if you don’t want to do it, he’s like ‘OK,’” Arnold said.
“It’s no skin off his back.”

Arnold credits Blockburger for much of his success, which explains why he stayed in Tucson to
continue their partnership after graduating in spring 2007.

And as Arnold’s circumstances have changed, so has their relationship.

Blockburger admits he spent much of Arnold’s final two college years lecturing him on the
merits of staying home at night. Now those talks are over. Arnold is no longer his
responsibility.

“I’ve enjoyed our relationship more because I’m not as stressed out,” Blockburger said. “I’m
not so much like a dad. Jake knows what he has to do now.”

The decathlon has become Arnold’s job. He has supported himself by working at the Home Depot
through its Olympic Jobs Program. He also received some sponsorship assistance and he received
additional financial help through a fundraiser in Santa Rosa in April.

As a volunteer assistant coach at Arizona this past year, Arnold traveled with the team. But
he didn’t hang out much with his former teammates. Instead, he roomed with Blockburger and the
pair often ate dinner together.

With a potential trip to Beijing on the horizon, Arnold has taken Blockburger’s off-the-track
advice to heart. He still has his fun, just not during training.

He wants to give himself the best chance to realize an Olympic dream, a notion that seemed
laughable three years ago.

But then he found a coach. And direction.

Suddenly, he saw the path to success.

SCHEDULE / ARNOLD FILETHE EVENT
U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials
Eugene, Ore. (Hayward Field)
Decathlon schedule
Sunday
10 a.m.: 100 meters
10:50 a.m.: Long jump
Noon: Shot put
1:15 p.m.: High jump
3:35 p.m.: 400 meters
Monday
11:30 a.m.: 110-meter hurdles
12:20 p.m.: Discus
2:35 p.m.: Pole vault
4:45 p.m.: Javelin
8:35 p.m.: 1,500 meters

THE ATHLETE
Jake Arnold
Age: 24
Personal record: 8,215 (2007)
Notes: Won the 2006 and 2007 NCAA decathlon titles, the first back-to-back winner
since 1985 ... won the U.S. Indoor Combined Events Championship in March, his first
national title ... finished third at the past two U.S. Championships.
Top marks
100 meters (11.08)
Long jump (22 feet, 10½ inches)
Shot put (49-3)
High jump (6-9½)
400 meters (48.38)
110-meter hurdles (14.20)
Discus (145-9)
Pole vault (17-5)
Javelin (197-2)

You can reach Staff Writer Eric Branch at 521-5268 or eric.branch@pressdemocrat.com.

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