Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES would allow an athlete, day after day, to put the shot for distance until he was mentally and physically exhausted. But that is what happens in England. There are exceptions, among whom may be numbered the Cambridge Blue R. L. Howland, (Plate IV, Fig. 7), who holds the English record of 47 ft. 8! ins. A brilliant classical scholar, Howland has devoted infinite time and pains to perfecting his shot-putting technique. As an undergraduate he was a good sprinter, and ran a 220 yds. stage for a Scottish University team L2 which made a national relayrecord. Sprinting should play an impor– tant part in the train– ing of shot-putters. The majority of British athletes seem to imagine that there is some sort of holy mystery about the field events. Nothing could be farther from the truth, although it must be freely admitted that these events present many technical problems with which the track runner; does not have to contend. FIG. 164. FOOTWORK FOR THE SHOT PUT The shot put, how– ever, is easy to teach and easy to learn. The main requisites are unlimited patience and infinite perseverance. One cannot hope to propel a missile weighing r6lb. to a distance of 50 ft. by brute force alone. There must be perfect co-ordination and constant acceleration. There is just one easy fundamental style, to which there are a few permissible variations in technique. The technique of shot-putting can be described very briefly. The footwork is shown in Fig. r64. It is assumed, for the pur– pose of description, that the athlete is right-handed. To take up the starting position"he enters the 7-ft. circle shown in Fig. r64, and places his feet at Rr and Lr. There are three ways of stand- 404