Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES Had I listened to my very wise coach, instead of being wilfully headstrong, I might have won the championship, and should almost certainly have secured my place in the British Olympic team. Wherefor~ aspiring javelin-throwers are strongly advised to do plenty of walking, running, exercises, and non-muscle– binding manual labour during the first two months of preliminary training, and thereafter to work up cautiously to peak perform– ances. As a limb the arm is exceedingly strong, but there are many tiny, but very important, muscles in the region of the shoulder and elbow joint which play their part in making the delivery, and if one of them is injured the result is likely to be disastrous. Throughout the three subsequent periods of the training season schedules should provide mainly ft)r work on style and co-ordination at well under full effort. Work, wheth,er in training or competition, must be preceded by the limbering-up process which has been proved most suitable for the individual athlete. Here are some examples of proportionate efforts for javelin-throwers of various classes : - AVERAGE BEST THREE-QUARTER HALF QUARTER PERFORMANCE EFFORT EFFORT EFFORT ""' 220ft. 205ft. 190 ft. 154-176 'ft. 190 , 177 " 164 " 133-152 " 170 " 158 " 147 " 119-136 " 150 " 140 " 130 " 105-120 " 130 " 121 " 112 " 91-104 , EARLY-SEASON TRAINING Early-season training, lasting for one month, should be devoted mainly to the inculcation of technical skill, the building up of the approach run, and the acquisition of speed. The following is a specimen schedul~ for one week of training in this month: Monday. Sprint 50 yds. at three-quarter effort twice. Run 35 yds. three times, taking first 8 yds. at half speed, next I6 yds. at seven· eighths speed, and last I I yds. at full speed. Spend 5 mins. in throw– ing the javelin into the ground at a walk. 1 Make six throws at quarter effort and six at half effort, with full-length run at half speed for fault correction. Practise three-strides approach and cross-step to throw– ing stance eight tin:es at a walk. 1 Hereafter I shall refer to this practice as 'tig.' 398