Posts by kphipps

Jackson,

I have to agree with Sean's two points made above. I think the wealth of knowledge made available through websites like this, YouTube, and the blogs of throwers has just been a great tool for throwers/coaches of all divisions and all levels.

Related directly to D3, I think we've seen the competitive level in many conferences rise over the past couple of years because of small pools of talented throwers competing against each other each week. I know from experience, having an in-conference competitor like Sean, and his teammate Judd, produced a much more competitive environment. To be one of the best in the conference, you had to post marks that were competitive at the NCAA level as well. This has been the case for the WIAC for many years now, and I think we're beginning to see the same effect on many conferences throughout the country as well.

Another factor might be the success of post collegiate D3 athletes. Seeing former All-Americans and National Champions compete with the country's, and sometimes world's best, has given quite a few athletes hope to compete at that level when their collegiate career is up.

Pretty crazy how much D3 has improved in the past 5 or so years, as far as depth is concerned. Excited to see continued improvement.

Being a D3 coach, like @Sean Denard , nearly all of my athletes will train at least three events through the conference meet. The big goal is to score points, and the level of throws at most conferences in D3 make it a little easier for better athletes to spend less time on one or two events and still manage a high finish.
As an athlete and coach, I think training shot/hammer/disc allows for some great correlations in training for an underdeveloped thrower. The movements in those events make an athlete really learn how to move and manipulate their body in different positions, they have to know how to react to weight changes and react to different implement positions. The timing and firing of certain muscles changes on a daily basis, improving body awareness even more. And best of all, they are still training fast twitch movement.

We usually train one event per day. For example, a shot put practice will always have the same special and weight room exercises, the same for disc, hammer and jav. Depending on the experience and commitment of the athlete, we'll sometimes have a day or two of double sessions, either 2 events or the same event twice. Starting conference week, the athlete will begin to train only the events they are qualified in. When approaching nationals, we narrow the events to what they are close qualifying in as well.

In regards to the NCAA level, what are the opinions on competing athletes who qualify in 3 or 4 events? Do you let them do all events, or have them compete in their best 1 or 2 events?

In the past two years, I have used a pair of yellow over boots and a large pair of water proof mittens when retrieving implements, so far has been working great!
If you're without boots, using a couple grocery bags over your socks does a great job keeping your feet dry, just takes some getting used to.