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Strand: Athletics

Discipline: Shot Put

Name: Colm Ó Meachair

This week was my last and final week of the term with the discipline of ‘Shot Put’. I really tried hard to improve my technique of the reverse step that is used in the shot put during my classes. In order to do this I took part in a fun game that involved a marked out area and some hula hoops. The aim of the game was for me to try and go from side of the area to the other by landing in the hoops. The first time round I jumped from one foot-to-one foot while facing forward and I went from one side of the area to the other relatively quickly. After practicing this multiple times I had become confident in my capabilities to jump and land in the hoops by keeping my balance at all times. Therefore as a progression task my teacher asked me practice the same game but to jump from one foot-to-two feet while going in reverse. This was a little more difficult but I eventually got the hang of it. I was practicing this technique of jumping and landing as a means to improve my stepping technique for the shot put throw, but in a more enjoyable way that usual. I think that I succeeded in this game because I felt that I was using my right leg to drive my momentum backwards while landing on both feet. Maybe I could have swiveled my body a little more to the side to have had a little better technique. I really enjoyed this game and it benefited my step technique in the shot put hugely.

I have learned so much content and knowledge over these past few weeks that I never thought I would or could. Some examples of this would be the importance that technique has in sports but especially in athletics and the need for continuous practice in order to better your overall performance.

Strand: Athletics

Discipline: Shot Put

Name: Colm Ó Meachair

Coach's View:

This was our final week experiencing the shot put throw. Throughout the term Colm has been a joy to work with and he has shown resilience and patience in all lessons. Whenever he found things difficult he kept practicing and eventually he prevailed. As we see from some of his final performance videos he has really enhanced his shot put throw technique. He listened to every bit of information that was given to him throughout the term and this week was no different!

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Strand: Athletics

Discipline: Shot Put

Name: Colm Ó Meachair

This week was little trickier for me. I had never truly been comfortable with the stepping technique involved in the shot put and this week I had to practice this. I was somewhat nervous before the lesson began because I was confident in transferring my weight from one foot-to two-feet. My balance is usually not very good and when there is the weight of a shot put in your hand it makes it even harder.

My coach put three markers on the hall's floor for me which I found really useful. In week one when I did this last time, I spent too much of my time trying to figure out where my feet should be and as a result of this my whole technique suffered. But thanks to the markers on the floor I did not have to concentrate on this anymore because all I had to do was to place my feet on the markers as a guide and therefore I would know that I was in the correct position to perform the throw.

Coach's View:

Colm always seemed to struggle with the step that is involved with the shot put. As a result of this we designed an activity to try and help him improve in this region. On observation he never could master where his feet needed to be and at what time they had to be there. The activity that we created was to put three blue poly-spots on the floor so that Colm would know where to place his feet when he was doing the step. At first I observed him carrying out his step and from this I estimated where his feet were and where they actually needed to be. I then placed three blue (same colored) poly-spots at the correct positions on the hall's floor. I then asked Colm to practice his step again but this time to use the poly-spots as markers for his feet. At first I asked him to walk through it multiple times so that he got used to it and became more at ease. After practicing 5 times in a row I asked him to do the step at full speed and told him to practice this a further 5 times in a row. Finally I guided Colm to do the step followed by the throw, at full speed, while using a bean bag.

At the beginning Colm was having difficulty at grasping where his left foot should be in comparison to his right foot, but through some feedback and guidance he slowly began to get the correct technique needed. I now hope that this activity will have helped him and have given him the framework in order to improve his stepping technique. I believe that Colm's overall performance with the shot put throw will improve as a result.

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Strand: Athletics

Discipline: Shot Put

Name: Colm Ó Meachair

My aim this week was to try and achieve a follow through momentum with my dominant arm when throwing. In order to try and achieve this I participated in a technique based activity that saw me using a medicine ball. What I had to do was to hold the medicine ball at chest height and I had to slam it as hard as I possibly could off the floor while following through with both my arms. By using both hands it was an adaptation for making the throw easier and more accessible. The medicine ball was five kilograms in weight which made me really follow through in order to shift the weight. I had to do 10 slams in a row before stopping for a break.

As a refinement task my coach then asked me to try slam the ball off the white line of the hall's floor. This was a bit harder for me so I only had to carry out 5 slams in a row before taking a break and practicing again. This activity made me use a lot of energy which I enjoyed because it made my heart rate increase significantly. In turn this activity should make following through with one hand during the shot put throw much easier for me.

Strand: Athletics

Discipline: Shot Put

Name: Colm Ó Meachair

Coach's View:

The above activity was easy and achievable for Colm. He had no issue with moving the weight because he was used to medicine balls from field sports such as GAA and rugby. I created this drill with the intention that he would work on following through when throwing. It was an aspect of his technique that I noted in week one and I felt that he needed to work on. The extra weight of the medicine ball was used as an external factor to really try hard to fling the ball off the ground as hard as he could.

This was my initial position prior to beginning the medicine ball slams

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Strand: Athletics

Discipline: Shot Put

Name: Colm Ó Meachair

During this week's athletics class I worked on trying to improve the rotation of my hips in order to improve my body movement. This was one of my four performance goals which I hope to obtain by the end of week 8 of this semester. During class I worked with a partner in an intricate activity that saw me flicking a cone away with my ankle in order for my hips to then rotate once my ankle did.

This activity worked quite well. I found it a little difficult at the beginning as one of my classmates was holding my wrong arm and this then impeded my performance as a result. The aim of this activity was to have me facing side on to the target, without any ball/ shot put in my hand so that I was solely concentrated on my rotation. One of my classmates held my hand to help me keep my balance. There was a cone placed by my left foot which I had to hit away as far away from me as I possibly could.

In doing this I found myself rotating my ankle first, then my knee followed by my hips like I had intended. It took me a while to get used to this drill but once I mastered it I ended up really enjoying it.

Strand: Athletics

Discipline: Shot Put

Name: Colm Ó Meachair

Coach's View:

This week we aimed to zone in on Colm's hip rotation. As a way of doing this we created the above drill which Colm did with his partner. This was an easy drill he thought when I questioned him before taking part but he quickly ran into difficulty with the technique involved so I intervened to help. I shared some teaching cues with him. The cues were to rotate your ankle first, then your knee and then your hips in sequence rather than moving all parts of your body at the one time. Once he took a break and stepped back from the activity for a while he slowly got himself into the rhythm of the movement. He then found it much more accessible.

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Week 2-Questionnaire

Strand: Athletics

Discipline: Shot Put

Name: Colm Ó Meachair

Did you enjoy this class? Why/ Why not?

Yes I did enjoy this lesson very much. I enjoyed it because I had never participated in shot put throwing before last week and it was something new for me.

What did you find new?

I found that the whole technique and stance involved with throwing a shot put was very new for me. I play a lot of field based sports and I never encountered that type of hip rotation before.

Did you find that throwing the shot put was very easy, easy, moderate, difficult, very difficult? Why was that?

I found that throwing the shot put was quite difficult for me. It wasn’t anything to do with the weight of the shot put because it was only seven kilograms but it was more so the way that I needed to place my body before I threw that I found difficult.

What was the most difficult aspect of the shot put?

I think that the rotation of my hips while also having the elbow of my non-dominant hand at a right angle while looking at my watch were the aspects that I struggled with most.

What was the easiest aspect of the shot put?

Holding the shot put with my dominant arm under my ear was easy for me.

Can you name any two key points involved with throwing a shot put?

1-Face side on 2-Dominant arm holds shot putt under ear

Do you think that the throwing game bettered your shot put throw technique?

Yes I actually think that it did help my shot put throwing technique because it allowed me to get used to putting the elbow of my non-dominant hand at a right-angle.

What will you work on during next week’s lesson?

During next week’s lesson I will work on trying to work on rotating my hips in order to improve my body movement.

Strand: Athletics

Discipline: Shot Put

Name: Colm Ó Meachair

Coach's View:

This was Colm's first time experiencing shot put but he seemed to enjoy it although he was not used to it. He worked well while throwing as an individual and needed very little guidance from me or his peers. We hope to keep his enthusiasm going in next week's class.