Coaching and Care of Athletes

THE SHOT PUT In Plate LIII, Fig. 169, Kotkas demonstrates how the termina– tion of the right-leg drive coincides with the rapid rotation of the hips from right to left, as the left leg is straightened and stiffened into a column of resistance and the right arm comes into action. Note how the rapid rotation of the hips has turned the athlete's chest and pelvis square to the direction of delivery, and how the left shoulder is kept well up and the right elbow maintains its proper position in rear of the shot, which is right up on the athlete's three very strong middle fingers. Note also that Kotkas, at the instant the photograph was taken, held in reserve the final extension of the right arm and wrist and of the left foot. These are important points, because in the final, finishing-off effort of delivery first-class shot-putters, by rising right up on the toes, synchronize the completion of the left-leg drive with the finish of the arm action, which culminates in the full extension of that limb and a final r flick of the wrist and fingers. In this style the right-arm action co-ordinates with the sequence continuity of the right-left leg-drive. Athletes who favour the simultaneous landing on both feet at the completion of the shift use a different type of delivery action, as shown in Plate LIII, Fig. 170, by John Lyman, Stan:. ford University, U.S.A., who in 1934 raised the world's record to 54 ft. I in. Those who favour the simultaneous foot-landing from the shift contend that, as the right hip is relaxed and the right shoulder drawn back during the shift, a simultaneous foot– landing puts the athlete in a proper position to contribute the driving-power to the delivery simultaneously from both legs, as Lyman is" so clearly seen doing in Plate LIII, Fig. 170. Note particularly the complete extension of his body from the very tips of his toes to the tip of the middle finger of his right hand, which was obviously the very last portion of his anatomy to break contact with the shot. The present generation of German shot-putters, who have succeeded Hirschfeld and are very good, favour the quick hip rotation action, a cross-body follow-through of the right forearm, and an easy, relaxed reaction swing of the left leg, as shown in Plate LIII, Fig. 171, by H. Woellke, Germany. The counter– balance action of the left arm and the way in which the left– leg drive is forcing the body forward and slightly to the right, so that the pressed-up right shoulder may support the put, are note– worthy features of his style. This conventional form of shot- 409