Hello Fellow Throws Enthusiast,

I hope all of you are doing well in this coronavirus time. I am sitting here writing you on April 14th, and have been quarantined for four weeks now. The last time I have coached any of my throwers was March 11th. This whole thing is weird and I feel bad for our athletes, especially our seniors. Unfortunately, we need to do this to keep this deadly virus from spreading.

I know if you are like me (I know you are or you wouldn’t be reading this) your trying to find something to fill your throws coaching fix. Here are some things that might help.

• Dan McQuaid & Roger Einbecker has been holding live Webinars for you to be part of. Their latest was on April 10th. It was an excellent discussion regarding discus technique with Iowa Throws Coach Eric Werskey who coached NCAA Discus Champion Laulauga Tsauga. You can view that webinar on YouTube at: Werskey Webinar
• Dan & Roger have a great webinar planned for this Thursday, April 16th with Mike Gattone of USA Weightlifting. The title of the webinar is “Teaching Your Athletes the Full Olympic Lifts-How to do it and Why You Should”. You will get a lot out of this webinar. Mike is the best there is when it comes to Weightlifting. You can read more about the webinar and register using this link: https://mcthrows.com/?p=2870
• Dan & Roger have created a website that has all the past webinars and all of Dan’s interviews with various throwers and their coaches from around the world. This is definitely worth checking out. https://mcthrows.com/?page_id=2
• I am missing coaching so much I have started to go back through all my old Long Strong Throwers Journal’s. Back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s this was the source for all things throwing. Glenn Thompson owner of the Long & Strong Throws Club out of Pennsylvania put this magazine together as a labor of love. While going through these I found the first article I ever wrote on the throws. It was about how we coached and ran the throws program at Fremd H.S. in Palatine, IL. A few of my concepts have changed since then but the article stands the test of time. If you’re interested here is the link: https://tinyurl.com/u5thqns
• Many coaches have been posting drills kids & coaches can do at home. You can check out McQuaid’s Driveway Drill Series at https://youtu.be/If7B37L5Q7M or check them out on twitter or Facebook.
• Joe Frontier from Madison Throws Club has also been posting drills on YouTube. You can check out his drill series at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nDTpYLihVE
• Also, you can check out Joe’s Podcast from Madison Throws Club as Joe Interviews Throwers & Coaches from around the world. https://throw-big-throw-far-podcast.zencast.website/episodes
• Finally, I have been in on a couple of Zoom’s with other throws coaches. It has been fun to meet them and talk throwing. I don’t know how exactly to run a Zoom but I’m sure I could figure it out. If you think you would be interested in having a Zoom where we could talk throws or whatever let me know and I will get something together.

Take Care of yourselves and stay safe.

Jim Aikens