Another 56# for distance ?

Wayne,

I too am under 200 so I have felt, and still do at times, your frustration.  Be careful though that you don't allow that excuse to mentally block your progression. 30 feet is a good mark. Be positive.  A two spin can and has been done by guys our size.  The problem we run into is that any little mistake we make with the 56 during our approach to the trig is amplified to a greater degree due to the weight being a bigger percentage of our body weight.  There's a "physics" explaination for this but I'm no Kevin Rogers so I keep it on my level.

The biggest thing that helped me I learned from Sean Betz who I think got his tip passed down from Ryan Vierra.  It seems that lighter guys shouldn't throw like the bigger guys but that is not the case at all.  The pros have figured out the most efficient way to throw the weight and we need, more so than others, to take advantage of this.

What he showed me was to cast the weight in front of me.  Instead of dragging it behind you, you cast it ahead of you and then execute your spin, trying to beat the weight around in a kind of race.  This ensures that you are not in the air for too long.  If you are in the air to long, this is when you will find that the weight pulls you out of your grove.  It is a heavy weight so you need to be in contact with the ground to move it.  Once you get more profitient at the event then, like coach Mac says, you try to spend less time on the ground.  Not due to "air time" but do to the fact that you can transfer your power to the weight quickly.

If you can watch some video of Vierra or Betz it will be very helpful.  Trying to describe it through words is hard and I'm sure trying to understand my words is no easy task either.

If what I have said makes no sense let me know and I'll try to clarify but I'm sure there are others that have better ways of trying to teach the event through this kind of medium.

Tim

Wayne,

If you are able to throw with Mark Howe then you don't have an uphill battle, you have a walking, talking technique video/teacher. 

From what it sounds like,though, you have a lot of what you need to throw the two spin worked out already.

Tim

[QUOTE=Wayne Hill]Unfortunately, Mark has moved back to Florida, so we see him rarely.    I really should have filmed him the last time he threw here.  His technique is fantastic, and should be studied by the big guys.

O.K. Wayne,  you know I love ya and everything but lets not get carried away here.

One thing you really need to learn with the 56 is patience. Most novices are way ahead of the implement and that is why they can't complete two spins. Bigger guys have an advantage here because

1) Their greater mass allows them to counter the implement with less muscular effort.

2) They tend to move a bit slower so don't end up as far ahead of the weight.

3) (and most important in my opinion) Greater body weight means bigger athletes can more easily stay in contact with the weight while they turn (i.e. they remain in control of the implement's orbit as they turn). Lighter throwers have a tendency to launch the implement, then turn while the implement flies in an unimpeded trajectory, then when they contact the ground they try to reestablish control. That leads to a 'jerky' looking throw. Matt once told me that he focuses on feeling the implement pulling on him through the whole orbit. Watch his throws some time, butter smooth.