Tips For Teaching High School Athletes How to Throw a Discus

Teaching anybody a new skill can be difficult and sometimes frustrating for both the student and the teacher. While the discus throw can be a difficult skill to master, these tips should help you teach your high school athletes how to correctly throw the discus, and have some fun in the process.

1. Get your athletes moving through the circle. I see some high school coaches who don't allow their athletes to do anything but a power throw for a certain period of time, or until they have thrown a certain distance. This is incredibly boring for the athlete and gets them to focused on throwing from a stationary position, when in fact the discus throw is a dynamic movement through the circle. The power position in the full throw is considerably different from the power position in a stand throw. The stand throw, or power throw, is a valuable drill to use, but it should not be the only movement that the athlete performs in a practice session.

I like to have beginning athletes start out holding something that they can grip easily like a shoe or a ball, then have them walk through the movement in 8-10 steps. As they get more comfortable, start eliminating the steps until it becomes one smooth, fluid movement.

2. Throw different objects. While discus technique is a very specific movement, it is still governed by the same laws of physics of every other throw. Have your athletes throw different objects using discus technique. You can use bicycle tires, bowling pins, balls, shoes, weighted bars, anything that your athletes can safely handle.

3. Throw with both the left and right hands. It is important for athletes to at least do throwing drills with both the right and the left hands for a couple of reasons. First, you want to prevent the overdevelopment of one side of the body, causing imbalances in the back and shoulder that could negatively impact health. Second, research has shown that a skill becomes more concrete when performed with both sides of the body. Generally, a right-handed thrower has very little coordination performing left-handed throws, and is forced to focus more on fundamentals of pushing the hip forward and slinging the discus around.

4. Use video to demonstrate proper technique. Video of elite level throwers used to be very rare and hard to find, but now with the internet, you can find video of nearly every Olympic level thrower since the 1970s. A picture is worth a thousand words, so be sure to show your athletes video of proper discus technique and point out the things that they should be working on to improve.

5. Have fun. At the end of the day, we have to remember that throwing the discus is a sport, and is meant to be fun. Be sure to have fun in practice. This doesn't mean that athletes should not be focused on the task at hand, this could lead to a dangerous practice environment where individuals could be seriously injured. Plan practices in a manner that makes them fun and enjoyable for athletes.