JAVELIN ELEMENTS

All these elements and their development will be discussed in this section

General

· “Gymnastic ability”

· Adequate speed and power

· A “feel” for the event

· Good rhythm and balance

· Natural and fast throwing arm

Specific

· On approach, stay tall and as rangy (maximise fingertip to fingertip) as possible

· Control of speed throughout --- accelerate into the throw

· Good impulse stride --- get the feet ahead of you

· Drop into good power position --- body angle, right foot landing, big base

· Brace against slightly bent left leg --- right hip, bow position, left foot points to front

· Controlled left side immediately prior to long pull on javelin

· Very long pull on javelin and keep contact as long as possible

· Get under javelin and give throwing side as much room as it needs

· Javelin alignment control – throw through point by bringing the elbow through high and throwing off the palm of the hand. This also prevents the javelin landing tail first.

· Final lift on delivery – drive over braced left leg, upper body pivots about hip, then recover.

· Watch it go.

Simple key phrases for athletes

· Throwing arm parallel to ground prior to throw

· Stay tall and rangy – helps long pull and body posture

· Triangle between javelin, head and arm – helps javelin control through point

· Get feet ahead of you, right foot ahead of c of g on right foot landing

· Long pull on javelin – helps long throwing base – essential

· High elbow – launch javelin off the palm – launches javelin through point and prevents tail first landing

· Brace or block

· Left foot in direction of throw prior to delivery

· Get under the javelin – gets javelin through high

· Watch it go – helps control left side on delivery and lift

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND IN THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS

Staged development of the athlete

Faults based on the flight of the javelin

APPROACH

. A good basic discipline for starters is 13 (4 approach, 2 withdrawal, 7 delivery) or 15 (6,2,7) using a conventional withdrawal. However, the approach method is indivualistic and may vary from the above. If athlete can cope, 5 delivery strides is better.

· Overhead carry or carry over the shoulder ----> relaxed, start on left foot, Javelin carried with point slightly down, run in on the toes.

· Point slightly down gives an easier withdrawal.

WITHDRAW

· Three types of withdrawal

· Standard is from forward running position, withdraw javelin over two strides, point down overhead carry will help to withdraw javelin into good position. It sometimes helps to think of this type of withdrawal as an "up then back" movement, can be followed by 3, 5, 7 or more cross steps.

· Drop arm style might be more suitable to get the javelin and body correctly aligned in preparation for the throw – could give fewer delivery strides (5 instead of 7).

· Use of impulse stride off right leg, has to be followed by 5 stride delivery, cadence is – rlrlr lrl rl, where first impulse is withdrawal. This makes use of a double impulse stride.

This approach puts the athlete into a good set-up position in preparation for the throw.

Once the athlete is in withdrawn position, they should get into as rangy a position as possible, fingertip to fingertip, and tall.

PRE-THROWING STRIDES (CROSSOVERS)

· After withdrawal it is important to maintain same cadence as in overhead carry and during withdrawal ---> increase speed into the throw by increased stride length ---> change to the cadence tends to unbalance the thrower ---> it is more important to maintain the cadence and increase speed. If optimum speed is achieved too quickly either before withdrawal or just after then it is likely that athlete will slow down before achieving throwing position.

· Maintain long arm ready for a long pull on the javelin.

· Maintain a long rangy upper body – both throwing and non throwing side.

· Keep hips "closed" during cross steps.

· Head position is very important --- can vary between looking forward and looking to side --- will depend on individual. Also angle of eyes to horizontal will depend on athlete. Experiment with these two parameters to see what suits athlete.

· The optimal head position however will depend on the athlete’s skeleton structure and their shoulder and upper back mobility. For some athletes, it may be advisable, in order to get the athletes into a reasonably long pull position, to have the athlete look slightly to the right towards the javelin, but when the left foot lands at initiation of the throw, the head and eyes should go forward as performed in the agility drills.

· Head position and direction in which the eyes are looking affects the angle of launch and the entire body position. Experiment with the athlete to get the optimum head/eye angles for best delivery. All athletes are different - some will look horizontally or even downwards but most will need to look up prior to launch.

· Watch out for cadence over final 3 foot plants --- (L..............R....L)

· Ensure a good drive off the left foot into the impulse stride to set up the throw. It is important to get a good impulse stride in before setting up into the "power position".

· The power position for the throw consists of the right foot under the centre of mass ready for the right hip to be driven forward with the left foot planted ready for the throw and the left side braced ready for the throw. (chin, knee, toe)

In order to achieve the above, on right foot plant after the impulse stride, it is essential that the right foot lands ahead of the body centre of mass (fig 2). At this stage the centre of gravity will be lowered and the athlete should keep the C of G low until the left foot lands. This will enable the athlete to make the best use of the stretch reflex action from the legs. The faster the athlete approaches, the further ahead the right foot should land.

DELIVERY

· Useful drill. Athlete walks in (cross steps), in withdrawn position (about 4 to 5 strides), then runs in (about 4 to 5 strides) for final throw. Helps javelin control and delivery.

· It is important that the hip strikes very quickly after left foot plant followed very quickly by the upper body and finally the arm (essential for a long throw). However do not delay the arm too long otherwise the athlete will not be able to pull the javelin through effectively. Useful drill is standing throws with emphasis on hip drive – via kicking heel outwards or by screwing knee into the ground.

· Follow above up by 3 and 5 stride throws.

· The aim should be to fix the left leg and use it as a brace against which to throw. The body rotates about the hip rather than the foot - Brace and throw drills. Drills that ensure rotation and follow through – use of foot rhythm on recovery – Brace and lift drills.

· Run in on the heels is a useful drill to get the athlete to get the left heel in first and block effectively.

· Ensure left arm is used as part of the bracing action and whole left side drops away to bring the throwing arm through high (see picture below). This should occur naturally if all the other components are there.

· “Get under the javelin”. Essential to keep elbow high to enable the throw through the point. A dropped elbow means that the athlete will “slap” the javelin through and javelin cannot be launched off the palm and the javelin will be launched tail down. Also a high elbow will minimise the risk of an elbow injury.

· If right foot lands under the centre of mass, athlete may have a tendency to throw javelin low and “topped”. See above notes on head/eye position.

· “Star position” on right foot landing .

DELIVERY DRILLS

· At delivery, right arm has moved approximately parallel to the ground (see diagram below), Javelin is still by the right eyebrow, forming triangle with head.

· "Power position" on right leg. Perform standing throws which exercise this by athlete beginning in the power position with the right leg directly under the centre of mass, arm long, javelin arm parallel to ground. Throw fixed foot. Watch out for the athletes who want to drop the javelin arm too low when doing this drill.

· To develop long base. Perform walk in drills with a throw. Ensure left heel lands first. Make sure left foot points in direction of the throw and look for good alignment of feet. Make sure left foot does not fall away to left of thrower and falls well ahead so that thrower can launch over left foot.

· Perform drills with three stride approach, emphasising brace and fixed foot throw. Don't forget the impulse stride.

· Same thing, but five strides.

· See earlier comments on hip drive drills and other drills, such as walk in/run in drills, which combine delivery and approach.

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AGILITY DRILLS

· Without javelin – simple 3 steps into throw

· Repeated 3 steps over about 25 metres

· 3 steps with front foot plant and hip movement emphasised

· Speed drills – 25 metres with javelin in overhead position

· Speed drills – 25 metres with javelin withdrawn

POSTURE DRILLS

· Approaching the throw with the correct posture is very important. Perform posture drills with Javelin in withdrawn position, beginning with a walk in to the throwing line using small steps, with Javelin parallel to the ground and the point of the Javelin by the eyebrow making the usual triangle (see below, keep upper body rangy, with chest high, head in the optimum position for the athlete and light steps.)

· Having practised walking into the throw, now begin to slowly jog onto the line using small steps, under control, with legs slightly bent to enable athlete to get into a low power position (see below – delivery).

· Finally, easy slow approach, as above, and accelerate into an easy throw on the end, but emphasise the impulse stride (see below) during the throw.