Nothing is worse than when you finally hit the big toss, the toss that you've been training all year for, just to end up fouling. All the hard work for that one moment, poof, down the drain faster than the throw itself. It’s happened to me, it’s happened to some of your favorite thrower.
You may ask, how can we stop fouling throws? Today, we're going to discuss how to stop fouling, specifically in the discus, so that next time the big one doesn't get away!
Two Important Questions When looking at fouls that occur in the discus, there are two questions that we can ask. First, What is the body doing? Second, What is the discus doing? Analyzing those two questions can help problem solve what is contributing to these fouls.
What Is The Body Doing?
When analyzing the body in the discus, throw there a few things that we can look at. What are you doing out the back, in the middle, and at the front of the circle? Are you balanced throughout the spin or are you falling? Do your feet continue to rotate through? These are some of questions we can ask.
Having a technical model or technical understanding can help resolve the issues created by the body. When teaching the spin, we teach getting the right around the left out the back, the left around the right in the middle, and the right around the left into the finish. The shoulders and hips should remain neutral throughout the spin to conserve rotational energy. The eyes should be focused on the horizons of the front and back depending on where the body is facing to reduce the odds of peaking over the shoulder or pulling off the track.
Watching elite throwers can help grasp that technical understanding, as throwers like Robert Harting, Vallarie Allman, and Gerd Kanter. You can compare your throw to their throw and check if your moving correctly. Establishing better movement can help reduce the odds of fouling. Factors that are within our control like staying in the circle, executing proper technique, executing a proper release will reduce the odds of fouling!
What Is The Discus Doing?
We can get a clear indication of what’s happening with the discus based off of how it flies once released from the throwers hand. Is the discus staying in the sector? Did the discus hit the cage or netting? Did the discus dive bomb to the side after it hit a high point? Did the discus tombstone? These are some of the questions we can ask.
Proper releases are critical for the discus to fly. When the athlete is delivering the disc, we want to see the hand remain flat with the thumb pointing in the direction of the throw. We want to see the outside edge if the rim slightly down, to reduce lifting, which causes the disc to loose rotational energy and dive bomb. We want to make sure that we are delivering with the right timing so that the disc remains in the sector upon delivery.
Stand throws and other release drills, such as flicks or discus bowling, can help establish or reestablish a proper release!
Recap
Nobody enjoys fouling throws, especially the throws that fel like "the one". Developing your technical understanding of what the body and discus should be doing will help you improve your throw!
Head over to the Throws University YouTube page to check out how to save throws for the glide and rotation technique.
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- Dane, Trevor, and Sam
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