Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES putter should do the chest-expander exercise shown in Plate LV, Fig. I 78, starting, of course, from the position shown by the right– hand man in the picture. While the standing put is being mastered the novice should be learning to make the shift. Many coaches allow the athlete to begin learning the shift without having the shot in hand . I am opposed to this practice, simply because a man's balance, speed, and timing must be entirely different when he has the shot supported in his right hand. It is best to start with a simple hop of the required distance from the righlt foot to the right foot. Try to get the man to drop his trunk to the right as the shift is made, so that he can hold his landing pose without putting down his left foot. ' Carry him a stage farther by letting him put down the left foot in the correct position, but warn him to keep his weight back over his partly flexed right leg as the left-foot reaches the ground. In the next stage carry him through to the start-of-arm-action position shown in Plate LV, Fig. I 77, but do not let him make the actual delivery. The arm extension in the delivery should next be grafted on to the evolution, but you must warn the novice to make only the very lightest effort with the arm, and to remain with both feet still maintaining C>ontact with the ground, as shown in Plate LIII, Fig. I6g. The reverse should come naturally .as the power of the delivery increases'. When the rudiments of technique have been engendered speed and strength work can be added to the already enumerated practices purely for style. The main object of coach and athlete alike must be the building up of co-ordination, continuity, and constant, uninterrupted acceleration. All shot-putting practice should be done from a 7-ft. circle bisected by a line of direction and a line dividing the circle into front and rear halves. The stop-board must always be used, but the circle should be moved constantly, or putting will take place from an uneven surface. In working for further development in speed and co-ordination practise sometimes with a fast shift and a half-effort delivery, sometimes with a half-speed shift and a full-effort delivery. Apart from other considerations, this system should reveal through many experiments the optimum shifting speed to yield the best result in the delivery for each individual athlete. Thus one is able, 412