Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES When throwing with the turn begins seriously the effort should be varied by making the athlete sometimes throw with a fast turn and a light delivery and sometimes with a medium-speed turn arid a stronger delivery. By experimenting with effort ratios it is possible to find out the optimum speed at which the athlete should turn to produce the best result in delivery. Here are some effort ratios which should prove useful. Full tables of effort will be found in my Athletic Training for Men and Boys. AVERAGE BEST THREE·Q.UARTER HALF QUARTI':R PERFORMANCE EFFORT EFFORT EFFORT I70 ft. I58·8 ft. I47'4 ft. I02-I36 ft. I6o , I49'4 " I38·8 " 96-I 28 , I50 " I40'0 " I 30·0 , 90-I20 " I40 " I30'9 " I2 I '4 , 84-I I2 , I30 " I2I'4" I I2·8 , 78-104 " !20 " I I2·0 , 104·0 , 72- 96 " I IO , 102 ·8 " 95 ' 4 " 66- 88 " IOO " 93 '4 " 86·8 " 6o- 8o , Teach the man to regard turning as a spiral effort, which reaches its high point at the instant of release and is counter– balanced by the reverse of the feet, which must not take place until the discus is in flight. The coach should seek first to correct major faults, and then look for small mistakes. Errors he is likely to encounter are: (r) In the hand-hold: The weight of the discus is not kept slightly in advance of the fingers; the fingers are too widely spread, or too close together, so that the force of the strongest two fingers-i.e., the first and second-cannot be properly applied; the entire palm is in contact with the discus surface, so that there is a chan-ce of the discus slipping out from under the hand in a premature release when a strong effort is made. (2) In the preliminary swings: The swinging is rather in vertical waves than in a smooth horizontal plane; the trunk does not turn in the direction in which the discus is swinging ; the weight is not transferred to the foot nearer to the direction in which the discus is swinging; and the discus is not allowed to follow its own path all the way back during the last preliminary swing. (3) In the turning movement: One of the main faults can be traced to the athlete's having his feet too close together in the starting 438