pissing me off

I'm making great strides in LWFD in practice, but as yet it's not showing up in a Games situation.  I mean, I'm throwing 42 - 43 feet pretty regularly in practice, with the occasional once-a-practice bomb out to 45+, but I get in the freeekin' Trig at a Games and my head gets weird and I can't settle down and I throw 38's.

It's right pissing me off.

It's probably all the lasses in short skirts watching and thinking I'm manly that distracts me, but I kind of don't think so.

Any thoughts?  Accolades?  Punishment?

make sure that the area you're throwing inside of during practice is the same size as what you throw inside of during competitions.

Don't think meat just throw.

I can't remember who it was but one of the pro's at our games this year was saying that when he practices he will draw out the sidelines of the trig smaller, say 4' instead of 4'6".  That way when he gets to competition it feels like he has all the room in the world and does not have to worry much about fouling.

Eclipse wrote: How many throws are you taking in practice? Limit your throws in a row. How are you warming up in games? If you warm up more, do you throw farther?

In practice,  my first throw usually sucks. My next 3-4 are the 38'ers, then I settle down and start throwing bigger.

Today, actually, I settled down, make myself stay low and slow in the back and then throw high, and launched about 7 44-45 footers in a row.

I've taken to doing 3-4 practice throws before getting in the trig, at the Games for exactly this reason.

I am finding this year the best thing that is helping is repetition.  Last year I had the same problem so this year I go out the couple of weeks leading up to the games and just throw lots of reps.  I don't throw for max distance, just maybe about 80%, just enough to get the timing and train technique.  It is all about muscle memory, I used to teach martial arts and it was all about doing hundreds or thousands of reps so that when the time came you don't have to think about it.  I would have to say it has worked, at my first games this year I hit a PR in every event and most went farther then I have ever thrown in practice.  

Here is what I used to do (and probably need to do again):

"give away" your first throw in competition. By giving it away, I mean treat it like an extended warm up throw, with little "pressure" from the competition. Go into thinking that the throw does not matter, and it is just prep for the next two that will actually count. I did this all of the time in my T&F days, and usually blasted a PR on my first throw with this technique. Whether you are trying to be amped up, your adrenalin will be high enough to produce a big throw without the pressure of comp. Good luck

Good idea, Bert...

JISurfer, you're totally right on the visualization, I do that all the time and it helps.

Coach Mac wrote: I'm waiting for the new Dos Equis beer commercial with Bert installed as the Worlds Most Intresting Man  >-------O

"I don't always throw sheaf, but when I do, I throw a Merl Lawless bag."