Drills for Fixing Technical Issues for Throwers with Jim Aikens Head Track & Field Coach at William Fremd High School (IL)
Coach Aikens has Coached High School Throwers for over 30 years. During that time he has coached multiple state medalist & state champions. He has also coached numerous nationally ranked throwers on the high school level. Jim has published several articles and has made several video’s on the shot put & discus. He has spoken at a large number of track clinics around the country. Jim is also a member of the Illinois Track Coaches Hall of Fame.

We are providing this drill to give you ideas on how to enhance your current practice drills. The idea is not to implement it exactly as is, but rather to tweak it to make it fit your system

There is sound with the video, so please make sure that your sound is on.

This is a YouTube video, so you will need to be on a network that does not block YouTube videos.

If you would like to see more information about Coach Holler’s entire presentation, click this link: Organizing & Implementing a Successful High School Throws Program

Sand Drills for Long Jumpers with Coach Nick Kohl – Wartburg College Assistant Coach
Kohl enters his sixth season at Wartburg in 2020-21 after serving as an assistant coach six years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse where he was responsible for the men’s horizontal and vertical jumps. He also spent seven years as an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin-Stout as both the men and women’s horizontal and vertical jumps coach.

During his time at Wartburg, Kohl has been responsible for coaching the Men and Women’s horizontal and vertical jumpers. He has coached two All-Americans, 13 Iowa Intercollegiate and American Rivers Conference Champions and 33 All-Conference jumpers.

During his time with the Eagles, he coached eight National Champions, 30 All-Americans, 22 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champions and 40 All-Conference jumpers. UWL won four Men’s NCAA National Team Championships during his tenure. Kohl was nominated for the USTFCCCA Midwest Regional Assistant Coach of the Year 12 times. Prior to UW-La Crosse, Kohl was an assistant coach for Men and Women’s horizontal and vertical jumpers at UW-Stout. During that time with the Blue Devils, he coached one National Champion, 3 All-Americans, 7 WIAC champions and 13 All-Conference jumpers.

In this video post, you will see Sand Drills to help build foot and ankle dexterity for long jumpers.

We are providing this drill to give you ideas on how to enhance your current practice drills. The idea is not to implement it exactly as is, but rather to tweak it to make it fit your system.

There is sound with the video, so please make sure that your sound is on.
This is a YouTube video, so you will need to be on a network that does not block YouTube videos

For more information about Track & Field: 90+ Long Jump Drills, click here: The Best of Championship Productions – Track & Field: 90+ Long Jump Drills – Track & Field — Championship Productions, Inc.

A well-designed teaching progression is necessary to effectively coach the discus.

In the video clip below esigned to teach each fundamental move. In the video clip Don Babbitt,
University of Georgia Associate Head Coach breaks down one of the key drills in his teaching progression – The Front Throw

Coach Babbitt states that once he completes the Stand Throw from the Knee, he progresses to the Front Throw.

To begin the Front Throw have your athlete face the throwing area with their toes against the ring. This will take any right to left shifting out of the picture and allow the athlete to focus on rotating the trunk and releasing the discus properly.

A key coaching point is to make sure that the athlete is timing the extension legs with the release of the arm as they throw the discus into the center third of the sector. You will also want to make sure that they are getting proper rotation on the discus.

Another key coaching point with respect to the non-throwing arm. When the throwing arm goes back the non-throwing arm should extend forward and then when the throwing arm comes forward the non-throwing arm should shorten to the body.

Once the mechanics of the Front Throw are mastered, then you can move on to the Stand Throw.

This clip is taken from Coach Bobbitts instructional DVD entitled Don Babbitt’s Teaching Progression for the Discus.

Coach Bobbitt has been highly successful in coaching throwers. He has coached 29 NCAA Champions and 139 All-Americans;
has coached 53 throwers who have competed at the Olympic Games & World Championships.

If you would like to learn more about how he coaches the Discus Click Here.

The YouTube video below has audio, so please make sure that your speakers are turned on.

These two high jump drills both utilize hurdles and can be done of soft surfaces thus reducing training stress on your jumpers.

In the video clip below USC assistant coach Michale Pullins uses his athletes to demonstrate two different hurdle hop drill that can be utilized to effectively train your high jumpers.

This first drill is called the Double Arm Hurdle Hop. In this drill, the coach should mark off a circle with a radius of 10-15 feet and place hurdles along the perimeter of the circle. The spacing of the hurdles will be dependant on the abilities of the athlete. This will require that you adjust the distance between each hurdle so that the athletes can mimic their normal approach.

This is a critical exercise that can teach your jumpers to use both arms and to create a forceful drive that is upward and outward.

The second drill is the Zig Zag Hurdle Hop Drill. In this drill 4 hurdles are placed at 90-degree angles to each other forming a zig-zag line. The athlete will then explode up off two feet to clear the first hurdle. Upon landing the will immediately jump again to the side to clear the next hurdle.  This plyometric exercise is typically done once per week.

Both of these can be done of soft surfaces (grass) thus helping to reduce injuries like shin splints and tendonitis.

These drills come from a high jump training DVD that contains over 90 drills from some of the nations best high jump coaches. For more information about that DVD click the link The Best of Championship Productions – Track & Field: 90+ High Jump Drills

The YouTube video below has audio, so please make sure that your speakers are turned on and that you can access the site. Note that some schools block access to YouTube.

This post was provided by Complete Track and Field

In this remedial crossover exercises series, Coach Boo Schexnayder has outlined several exercises that can be used to teach the shuffle, in addition to a series of movements that are essential to the proper set up for the delivery in the javelin, discus and rotational shot put events.

Here the key points Coach Schexnayder shares in the video below:

—This exercise teaches the remedial movements associated with setting up for the throw after the approach.

—The thrower assumes a staggered stance with the left foot forward.

—The feet and body are pointed just right of the throwing direction so that the hips are directed just 45 degrees from the throwing direction.

—Bodyweight is placed predominately on the front leg and the front leg is bent significantly.

—The drill begins with a strong push off propelling the body into flight in the throwing direction.

—This flight time provides the thrower a chance to position the body correctly for landing.

—While the thrower pushes off the right leg performs a sweep.

—The right leg sweeps forward in an extended position with the foot remaining close to the ground throughout.

—During this sweep the leg is everted, meaning the toe is turned outward and the inner thigh leads the sweeping movement.

—Care should be taken not to over emphasize the sweep in coaching practice.

—Emphasize the push off in the teaching process because over emphasizing the sweep disrupts timing and is a common coaching mistake.

—An insufficiently strong sweep is a very small error. But an overdone sweep produces major problems.

—During flight the left leg is recovered and extended in front of the body contacting on the inside ball of the foot in a heel ball relationship.

—The right foot contacts on the ball of the foot but nearly flat and the right leg yields a bit flexing at impact.

—In spite of this yielding the pelvis must remain close to neutral at impact.

—The butt should not stick out at landing.

—The left leg should land only a fraction of a second after the right. This ensures that the thrower is not leaning back excessively.

 

The YouTube video below has audio, so please make sure that your speakers are turned on and that you have access to the site. Note that some schools block access to YouTube.

For more great tips from Coach Boo Schexnayder click the link: Complete Teaching and Drill Progressions for Glide and Rotational Shot Put, Discus and Javelin”