Here is a teaching progression for teaching beginners the rotational shot put.
Practice 1:
Focus on the armstrike
Right Angle Drill
Armstrike Progression - 6 reps each hand for each drill
Wrist Flips - warms up arm and wrist, athlete is focusing on holding shot put properly and releasing with a wrist flip. Coaching cues - Keep eyes up to direction of throw, touch middle finger to thumb after release.
Knuckles Together - teaches proper trajectory of the shot and throwing arm motion. Coaching cues - left arm raised 35-40 degrees with thumb down, right arm strikes along angle created by left, knuckles meet, ensuring proper release angle and wrist flip.
Step Back - Now the athlete begins to add the hips to the arm strike. Coaching cue is to drive the shot from the ground up.
Chest Slap - This step begins to incorporate the block of the left side. As the right arm strikes the shot, the left is pulled back and slaps the chest. This allows the athlete to hear and feel the blocking action.
Stand Throws - The athlete applies each of the lessons from the previous drills to the stand throw. As a coach, be careful to only focus on one or two cues for the athlete to focus on at one time.
Right-Left-Right - Now it is time for the athlete to get the feeling of moving through the circle with the shot put. Start slow and focus on getting into a good power position and turning the feet.
Half-Wheels - The athlete is working on turning the hips and landing in a good power position. Coaching cue should be to stay on the outside of the right foot in order to turn it completely into the direction of the throw.
For a beginning thrower, this will be a heavy volume of throws if a competition implement is thrown. It is important to complete each of these drills using both the left hand and the right hand, as this will increase the kinesthetic awareness of the athlete, while helping to prevent overdevelopment of one side of the body. This progression can be completed relatively quickly by a group of athletes, by forming two lines with adequate space between each athlete. The Right-Left-Right and Half-Wheel drills should be done from a circle, as there is an increased risk for errant throws to occur with the more complicated movements.
Practice 2:
Focus: Learning basic movements of rotational shot putting
Drills without implement - complete 20 repetitions of each drill, going each direction.
Pirouettes - Athlete should be balanced and complete a 360 degree revolution. Coaching cue - stay on the inside of pivot foot, stay down on pivot knee, keep knee over toes, sweep leg long with toe up.
Sweep around Cone, Step to Middle - Athlete focuses on sweeping long to the middle and landing with a wrapped upper body. Coaching cue- let the ground come up to the foot, make the x (elbow over knee in middle.)
Wheels hands on knees- Athlete focuses on turning the feet together as a system. Coaching cue - squeeze knees together.
Stand Throws - Without implement, the athlete slowly moves through the stand throw, focusing on turning the feet, knees, and hips into the direction of the throw. Coaching cue - ensure athlete sets up properly in power position, heel-toe relationship, if shot were in hand, is it behind the right foot.
Walking Throws - Athlete slowly goes through the motions of a complete throw, striving to achieve proper positions. Coaching cue - throw from the ground up.
Drills with implement - complete 10 repetitions of each drill with dominant hand only.
Stand Throws
Wheels
Walking Throws
Practice 3-5:
Focus: Putting the throw together.
Drills without implement - 10 reps each direction
Pirouettes
Wheels
Walking Throws
Drills with implement - Complete 4 repetitions with each hand
Armstrike Progression
Walking Throws
After completing walking throws, begin to eliminate steps until the throw is one fluid motion.
This week of practice should give your athletes plenty of repetitions to begin to learn proper movement patterns in the rotational shot put. None of these specific drills require a toeboard, so they can be done in nearly any space available for you to use for shot put practice. Remember to make safety a priority, reducing the risk of being hit or injured as much as possible by keeping athletes in safe areas and paying attention. These drills should form the foundation of future practices and meets, serving as a warm-up to full throws.