The Psychology of Hammer Throwing: Jud Logan

The Psychology of Hammer Throwing: Two Case Studies

by Niall Cannon, University of Notre Dame

Abstract

This paper details a two-case study of Olympic hammer throwers to be presented in

two parts. It examines how world-class hammer throwers employ psychological
principles to assist them in competition. The first case study is on Jud Logan, a
former American-record holder who took fourth place in the 1992 Olympics at
Barcelona. The second study details Lance Deal, the current American-record
holder and first American to medal in the hammer throw in over forty years. The
second study also examines how Deal had to use mental strategies to prevent
himself from squandering his Olympic experience.

Part One: Jud Logan

Jud Logan, one of Americas top hammer throwers and fourth-place finisher at the
Olympics in Barcelona, believes that there are five keys to the psychology of
hammer throwing. In an interview with Jud (personal communication 1998), he
professed that the first component is a positive mental attitude and belief system.
Even though some practices and competitions are better than others, Jud says, I
refuse to have a bad day. Here, Jud shows that he has engineered his brain never
to allow him to accept doing poorly. This is an extremely important concept for
throwing. If your first two throws are just horrible and your technique is off, or if
youre just tired, giving up is a sure fire way to set yourself up for choking on the
third throw.

Secondly, for all athletes in any sport to attain success, they must believe
wholeheartedly in their system of training and coaching. Logan claims to have a
strong, unparalleled belief in my system. He describes his belief as blind faith in
my college coach. If the athlete holds the coach as immortal, the chances of
success are significantly higher. The athlete needs to truly believe the coach when
he/she says something and needs to believe that it will become true. Logan feels

that this type of mental approach to the coach-athlete relationship lays the
foundation for the mental side of throwing. It is of such great importance to Logan,
that he says, without this foundation or underlying structure, it is nearly impossible
for an athlete to be focused in big meets like the Olympics.

Third, once an athlete has a firm foundation of a belief system of training and
coaching, then he can enter into the stage of mental imagery. Because the athlete
believes in training, providing he works hard, the athlete will inevitably begin to
witness positive results. Now that the athlete has a catalogue of good
performances in his mind, he can rewind the successful images mentally and
visualize what was happening at that time. Logan states that:

Once you have enough good performances, you learn to know what they feel like.
You learn to FEEL it before you make the throw, over and over again in your mind.
This allows you to dream of winning. An attitude, belief system, and a strong mind
are a hard combination to find, but more importantly, a hard combination to beat.

Once the hammer thrower has accomplished and experienced success, his
confidence begins to build. Personal records in throwing, along with personal
records in the weight room, vertical jump, and other measures of strength and
explosion add to this increased confidence.

Logan feels that confidence is a word that is thrown around like a cup of coffee and
is underestimated for sport performances. In all sports, especially hammer
throwing, where all eyes are on the athlete standing in the seven-foot circle,
confidence is what distinguishes the big time performers from the chokers. The
thrower must have confidence in his ability to perform the technique while under
the watchful and evaluative eyes of others. This ability to perform personal bests in
pressure situations, Logan feels, stems from good hard training because without
good old fashioned hard work and goal setting, confidence is unachievable in
pressure situations.

Fourth, goal-setting is an invaluable asset to athletes in training, especially sports

such as hammer throwing where it is very easy to assess where you stand in
relation to your goals since it is founded on objective measurements. Goal-setting
necessitates awareness because first the athlete sets the goals, then attempts to
reach them, then evaluates the performance and finally adjusts the goal to realistic

standards (Harris & Harris, 1984; McClements & Botterill, 1979). It is crucial that
the athlete make a distinction between outcome goals and process goals. Martens
(1987) and Burton (1983, 1984, 1989) relate how outcome goals represent
standards of performance that focus on the results of a contest and how
performance goals focus on making improvements in each competition.

While the long-term outcome goal of a hammer thrower in college may be to throw
approximately 210 feet and thus be invited to the NCAA championships, he must
set numerous short-term performance and training goals in order to achieve the
goal of throwing 210 feet. One of the first places he may begin his goal-setting is to
make short-term goals in the weight room. The goal of increasing ones power
clean, snatch, or squat max by fifteen pounds over a six-week interval is a fine
example of short-term goal-setting. The hammer thrower whose intention is to
throw six inches farther at every preliminary meet is another example of setting
short-term performance goals. However, the thrower with the goal of throwing 210
feet must have numerous short-term goals that pave the way to throwing 210 feet.
He may wish to throw 210 feet all he wants, but if there are not objective
intermediate goals set and then attained, he will never one day just pick up the
hammer and throw it 210 feet. Logan feels that it is crucial to keep a training log
and set short-term achievable goals that allow the athlete to reach long term loftier
goals and when this happens, confidence is easily instilled. Accomplishing
numerous short-term goals instills a feeling of confidence in the athlete. Logan feels
that when he achieves these short-term goals, then he realizes that the training
system had set me up for my best performance of the year.

Finally, the athlete must tie all of his training together on one day and make sure
that not only is he ready technically and physically, but also mentally. Many
athletes choke on these big days because of nervousness, fear, or any other
number of mental obstacles. Logan utilizes a unique way of killing nervous feelings
and taking pressure off by approaching the big meets with the saying I dont
compete to win, I compete to reward. This type of self-talk helps alleviate the
pressure because Logan takes the big meet and views it as a chance to gain
personal satisfaction for himself, not as a chance to show the world how good he is.
Gauron (1984) calls this process of creating alternative frames of reference or
different ways of looking at the world reframing. Logan takes the pressure of big
meets like the World Championships or Olympics and reframes it so that he views
it as an opportunity to show himself how good he is as a result of all his hard work.
Thus, when he is competing in his greatest athletic moment (Olympics), Ravizza
(1977) found that athletes who compete without fear have a narrow focus of
attention, total immersion in the activity, and a feeling of being in complete control.

Logan is adamant that a competition is a reward for the hours of hard training.
Each thrower is rewarded at least three throws and the possibility of an additional
three for the countless times he woke up with an aching back from doing squats or
each time he had to sit in an ice bath because his shoulders hurt from throwing so
much. If the athlete looks at the three throws as a personal reward for his
dedication in training, rather than a time to impress others, much of the anxiety and
pressure will be lifted.

The Psychology of Hammer Throwing: Lance Deal

The Psychology of Hammer Throwing: Two Case Studies
by Niall Cannon, University of Notre Dame

Abstract

This paper details a two-case study of Olympic hammer throwers to be presented in

two parts. It examines how world-class hammer throwers employ psychological
principles to assist them in competition. The first case study is on Jud Logan, a
former American-record holder who took fourth place in the 1992 Olympics at
Barcelona. The second study details Lance Deal, the current American-record
holder and first American to medal in the hammer throw in over forty years. The
second study also examines how Deal had to use mental strategies to prevent
himself from squandering his Olympic experience.

Part Two: Lance Deal

Lance Deal, the American record holder and first man to medal for the United States
in the hammer throw since 1956, was able to overcome the big time pressure and
anxiety of the Olympics to win a silver medal during the games in Atlanta. Heading
into the 1996 Olympics, Deal was one of the top ranked hammer throwers in the
world. However, he almost let his best chance of medaling slip away. He fouled his
first two throws and after his third throw, he was exactly tied for 8th place. He was
sure that, just like every other meet, the officials would only take eight throwers to

the finals. Since he was tied, the officials would look at each competitors second
best mark to determine who would move on to finals and get another three throws.
Deal had no other fair throw; thus, he thought he was finished. Sitting on the bench
with his face in his hands, Deal thought he was done. It was not until the score
board showed that he did in fact make finals (in the Olympics, in the case of a tie,
both competitors go to the finals). Still in 8th place going into his final throw, Deal
unleashed the hammer 266 feet and landed in second place, becoming the first
American in forty years to medal.

Deals road to the silver medal consisted of mental turmoil that began the very
moment he arrived in Atlanta. Once he arrived, Deal had no place to stay.
Somehow the coordination of rooms for athletes got botched and Deal was left
without a place to stay. Deal said in our interview (personal communication 1998)
that at this time my world was basically crumbling around me because this
happened two days before the Olympics, two days before what I thought was my
best shot to medal. At a time like that, everything is going to bother you more.
Fortunately for Deal, when the sports psychologists caught wind of what was going
on, they vacated their rooms and slept on some couches so Deal could have his own
room.

When an athlete has been training his entire life for one moment, any disruption in
normal procedure, such as checking into the hotel, can lead to catastrophic results.
This was not the first time at the Olympics that Deal had to handle plans that went
wrong. During the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona, the bus going to the stadium
where the finals were being held got lost. In situations such as these, the athlete
must calm himself and remain focused on the task at hand. Deal says, In my
opinion, if you let it be a big deal, then it will be a big deal. What I was able to do
was not let it be a big deal. Deal had to repose himself in this situation. When
there are monumental errors, the athlete must take a deep breath and relax in
order to control his anxiety. After this repose stage has been successfully
completed, the athlete needs to refocus and find a solution to the problem. A better
solution can be found only after the repose stage because only then is the athlete in
a clear and stable frame of mind. Finally, the athlete needs to respond to the plan
of action that he created in the refocus stage by now executing the plan of action to
alleviate the original problem. Deal was able to complete these three stages in
Barcelona and soon found his way to the stadium in time for the finals.

Deal began using a sports psychologist in 1991 to help improve the mental aspect
of his hammer throwing. One of the major aspects of mental performance they
have worked on is breathing technique. A substantial part of Deals psychological

focus is based on certain techniques of breathing like explosive breathing, belly

breathing, and alternative nostril breathing. Deal says that breathing changes
your blood chemistry in different ways and that explosive breathing, in particular, is
good for knocking yourself out of a bad loop. Explosive breathing is a simple, but
extremely effective technique that helps cleanse your body and mind. The athlete
takes a deep breath and holds it for about five seconds. This creates a lot of back
pressure and then he pushes the air out of his lungs as violently and quickly as
possible. It can help get the athlete excited and give a feeling of power and being
in control. Often, when a hammer thrower is not throwing well or keeps fouling his
throws, he begins to develop feelings of helplessness in regards to technique. At
these times, it feels as if the implement dictates the nature of the throw. Situations
like these are a great time to employ explosive breathing to give the athlete a sense
of empowerment over the implement and over his competition.

Having a pre-competition warm-up or pre-meet set of events scheduled is very

important for an athlete. These special warm-ups or pre-meet events should only
be done before competition. This gives the athlete a break from the ordinary warmups that are done every before practice all year round. It helps the mind and body
to distinguish between practice and competition through a form of conditioning.
Lance Deal, on the mornings of competition, states:

I like to get up, eat early, and then do something a little bit physical like jump up
stairs, mow the grass, or chop some wood just to get the blood flowing so I can
feel my body. All this time, Im thinking about throwing.

Obviously Deal does not do this every day before practice because it would
eventually become mentally draining. However, getting up early and chopping wood
in his backyard, sends signals to his brain and body that today is a special day a
very different day than the previous one. These pre-meet actions set the necessary
mental and physical environment that the athlete needs in order to compete at his
best.

In order to compete at the highest level capable, the athlete must maximize his
athletic talents and mental capacities. Often, this means that the athlete has a
special frame of mind that he enters before competition. For example, Deal says,
in my mind, there is a definite geographic location I need to be in order to throw
far. However, each athlete must tailor his frame of mind for competition to his own

emotions, athletic abilities, and personality. If you try forever to be someone else,
its not gonna work, according to Deal.

To reach peak performance, Deal must construct, psychologically, a bubble. This

allows him to be in a flow (Csikszentmihalyi 1985) which is the state in which
people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter
(Csikszentmihalyi 1990, p.4). Deal has a unique frame of mind, which he enters into
before every competition. He refers to it as the bubble. He says, I cant describe
it. Imagine it is like a bubble with thick walls that you can float around in. The
people around me can tell when Im in the bubble, but they dont have any idea
whats going on in there. To Deal, this bubble acts as a mental refuge from the
pressures of being a world class hammer thrower and lets him hide away from all
the distractions and fanfare that comes with being the number one ranked hammer
thrower in the world. He continues his description of the bubble by telling us; Once
youre in there, you are in your own room and you decorate it the way you want to
and put pictures on the wall and put your favorite music on. Its your room and
youre there. Deal has trouble describing his bubble to others because it is such a
unique creation that only the individual who created it can understand it. He says,
trying to define it changes it its kind of like God. How do you describe God? Just
as God represents someone different to every individual, each person must find his
own bubble and way of mentally preparing to compete. Deal conveys this message
of individualizing his mental approach when he says:

You go to practice and work on the technique, and you go to the weight room and
get your strength. You go to the track and do your plyometrics and power sprints.
Then when it comes to the big meet, your personality comes out. How you do on
the big day has nothing to do with all your training thats your base. How far you
throw on the big day reflects your personality. Thus, finding the way you compete
and throw well is very, very individual, more individual than your training.
Everybody can take a weight workout and get basically the same result, but I dont
think everybody can do a certain breathing or mental exercise or follow a certain
pattern and get the same results.

For Deal, there are many flags that signal his entrance into the bubble before
competition. He says that after seven years of thinking about it and figuring out
where this bubble is for me, Ive got quite a few flags in the ground on the way, and
one of those flags is to get up and chop some wood before to get my blood flowing
before meets. Another flag for Deal is his support system. The love of his wife and
children provides emotional support and gives him a sense of reassurance. When
his wife Nancy sent him messages on his pager during the Olympics in Atlanta, Deal

says it was good because then I was hooked into my support system. Another
flag that Deal has which signals his approach to the bubble is his breathing
techniques right before the competition. He says before I start warming up for any
competition, I do alternate nostril breathing where I breathe in one side and blow it
out the other and repeat this. It helps me keep focused. These are just three
examples of the many flags that point the way to Deals bubble. They provide a
mental haven where he is completely in control of not only the implement, but also
the world. This lends a sense of empowerment and dominance to Deal that is
definitely the mental attitude needed by an athlete when competing in the
Olympics and trying to throw a sixteen pound object over 270 feet. Without
physical control, which begins with mental control, the hammer will overwhelm the
athlete. Hence, when Deal is in his bubble, his emotions of complete control and
relaxation transcend the pressures of the Olympics. He walks up to the ring to
throw, and it is as if he is in another world which he is in mentally. In his bubble,
Deal is unaware of the eighty-five thousand screaming fans or the fact his
competitors are throwing personal bests. He is completely focused on executing the
technique, which will result in a personal best for him.

There have been times before where Deals bubble burst and the competition ended
in failure. He had blown a couple of meets before 1991, but none as significant as
the 1991 world championships. At the world championships, the officials would not
move the cage back a few feet for him even though he was left handed. As a result,
the right side of the cage was directly in his plane of vision on his release. This
caused a distraction that he had never dealt with before, since it had never been a
problem to move the cage back. Deal said that it knocked me off and I fouled my
first throw . . . I completely exploded mentally.

When there is a mental explosion such as the one that Deal experienced at the
World Championships, it is very difficult to pull ones self out of a hole. Such mental
vices as negative self-talk, doubt, and fear now enter into the mind of the thrower.
These detrimental mental processes usually ensure failure. The thrower only has
roughly three to five minutes between his throws. This small amount of time adds
to the probability that he will not have time to rearrange his mental outlook and
gather himself for a successful throw. Like many other sports, but especially
throwing, success and failure are contagious. If a thrower has an outstanding first
throw, often the next three are also good throws. However, when the first throw is a
scratch or feels awkward and out of control, it is likely that the next few throws will
also not be too successful. This is largely due to the confidence that is built early in
your series of throws. If your first throw was great and you are at the top or near
the top of the competition, it allows you to relax and take much of the pressure off.

Muscle tension and anxiety are two of the most common downfalls to a thrower. To
ensure that he does not have to encounter muscle tension and anxiety, Deal enters
his bubble. The bubble provides a sense of security and allows Deal to transcend all
the pressures and other distractions that come with throwing against world class
athletes. However, the bubble that Deal enters before competitions is very
individual and cannot be compared to any tangible object. Earlier, Deal said, I
cant describe it. Imagine it is like a bubble with thick walls that you can float
around in. The people around me can tell when Im in the bubble, but they dont
have any idea whats going on in there. His notion of floating around in the
bubble tells us that when Deal escapes to his mental haven, he feels so little stress,
tension, and anxiety that he literally feels like he is hovering in the air. It means
that Deal has entered into a trance that provides a surreal state of mind to him.
This isolates him from his competitors, and the pressures of competition.

Since using a sport psychologist for seven years, Deal finally had mapped out a
path to his bubble. He could almost routinely climb into the bubble for major
competitions and it appeared that it was the cure to all butterflies and anxiety. For
the next few years since mentally exploding at the World Championships, Deal went
on a tear. Quickly he attained a top ten world ranking and then in the year leading
up the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Deal was rewarded with the number one rank in
the world for hammer throwers. It was not a feat accomplished since Hal Connolly
had last won his gold medal in 1956. In the prime of his career, feeling he had
mastered the technique, and with his number one world ranking, Deal marched into
Atlanta in search of a gold medal for himself, the first for America in that event in
over forty years. However, things did not go as planned.

As one would expect, Deal began preparing mentally for the Olympics almost a year
before Atlanta. He explains that my whole plan, for a year, was to throw 78-79
meters on my first throw and 83 meters on my second throw. Way back in October
of 1995, this plan was in my head. Thinking about and focusing on one meet a
year before the competition, may have been the downfall to Deal. Creating a plan
that far back may have unknowingly placed an enormous amount of stress upon
him. All Deal had to do was show up at the Olympics, throw the same distances he
was used to throwing in practice, and the gold would have been his. However, his
bubble burst and Deal became a mental disaster.

Deal had been to the Olympics before in Barcelona, but never had he participated
with the title of the number one ranked hammer thrower and the publics

expectation of gold. Added to all this was the fact that the Olympics were in his
home country. Deal described his emotional experiences directly before
competition:

I was actually crying during the warm-ups. The music was blaring and then they
lined us up for introductions and they played the 2001 theme song and I just about
jumped out of my skin. When they announced my name, I had never heard
anything so loud and the crowd was going nuts. Im using this, and Im getting up
for it. I think I may have gotten a little too up.

There were no such elaborate introduction ceremonies in most of the meets Deal
competed in. The huge crowd going nuts when his name was announced was an
event he had never experienced before. Most of the best track and field meets take
place in Europe and he is not welcome there because he often beats Europes best.
Warm-ups felt great and Deal was set to begin the competition. Mentally, he was on
the verge of entering into his bubble. Deal says that after the first round of throws,
nobody had thrown over 80 meters and I thought to myself shoot, I can just go win
this thing right now but I wound up scratching my first throw. The game plan that
he had been working on for over a year was tossed by the wayside in a matter of
seconds. When Deal decided to look up at the scoreboard and see how the other
competitors had thrown, he left his bubble. One of the essential aspects of the
bubble is not to pay attention to the competitors. As a result, he abandoned his
game plan in an attempt to throw the hammer as far as possible the result was a
scratch.

A little nervous now, but not in a state of panic by any means, Deal had to find a
way to climb back mentally into his bubble. He explains his attempt to climb back
into his bubble by doing a breathing exercise. He says:

I have this breathing exercise and while Im doing it I say one throw, one throw
only. I kept saying that and again I scratched the second throw. Now I was
completely knocked out of my bubble. So, I kept trying to get there by doing some
explosive breathing and kept rewinding the week of practice previous to the games
where I was throwing personal bests on almost every throw.

Deal attempted to use the explosive breathing to bring him out of the rut he was in.
To an extent, it worked because the throw would have put him into second place

except that his foot nudged the outside of the ring causing a foul. Now, his mental
state of mind was a disaster zone. Fifteen years of training for the Olympics was all
about to come down to his third and final throw. He needed to make sure it was
legal and a pretty good throw in order to make it into finals and get three more
throws. On his third throw, Deal says, I finally had a fair one, but I looked up and
saw the scoreboard and saw that I was in 9th place. I thought I was out. I was dead
finished. In track meets, the top eight distances go to finals and get three more
throws, but Deal had thrown the exact same distance (down to the millimeter) as
the 8th place competitor and they usually look at the next best throw of each to
determine who moves on. Since Deal had no other legal throw, he thought for sure
he was out. However, in the Olympics, if two competitors are tied, both move on.
Deal sat on the competitor bench contemplating his retirement and entertained
emotions of utter failure and disappointment. Just fifteen minutes earlier, Deal was
about to jump out of his skin upon hearing his named announced on the loud
speakers. This emotional roller coaster was exhausting and draining.

Deal was unaware of the Olympic rule that stated, in the case of a tie, both athletes
move on to the finals. Deal says that they took nine to the finals and I had 90
seconds to get my glove, shirt, and shoes back on again. Because I was rushed, I
fouled the first throw in finals. Ninety seconds is far too short of a time for an
athlete to gather himself and compose a mental game plan when seconds ago he
thought his throwing career was over. As a result, it could have been predicted by
almost anyone that his first throw would be a foul. Finally, Deal gathered himself
and moved into an honest 8th place on his third throw, which he bluntly felt still
stinks when youre looking at winning. Still far removed from the tranquil settings
of his bubble where anxiety and tension do not exist, Deal was infused with
emotions of anger, disappointment, and nervousness. Before his 6th and final
throw, Deal desperately sought to find his bubble again.

Mentally, Deal was trapped in a cycle of negative self-talk and feelings of anger. He
needed to do something that would help him gain a new outlook for his final throw,
one which would bring him closer to his bubble. He says, one of the things I do in a
competition, if things are not going well, is leave. If I cannot leave physically, I try to
leave mentally. In Atlanta, I got to leave physically. It kinda breaks the cycle of that
mental talk that is not good.

Deal was able to physically remove himself from the area and take a moment to
gain some control over what was going on before his final throw. He says:

I was throwing and kicking stuff around. Not to vent, but to put myself back in a
position of control because at the time I was a loser and the biggest choker at the
games and my twelve years of intense training was down the toilet.

Deal was creating a situation where he was in complete control when he left the
stadium for a moment. His throwing of water coolers and kicking trashcans allowed
him to regain some sense of power. He was now ready to re-enter the stadium as a
totally different place than the one that saw him waste away his first five throws.
He had armed himself with a new, empowering outlook and was ready to control the
hammer instead of letting it command him.

Changing his emotions from powerlessness to empowerment, Deal was once again
locked into his support network. To Deal, this was vital. It provided a feeling of
security and allowed him to ease back into a comfort zone. He commented earlier
that locking into his support system was one of the flags in the ground that he
always saw before entering the bubble. Deal described how it affected him
mentally when he saw that his wife, Nancy, had made her way to the railing of the
tunnel where he was now re-entering the stadium:

Coming back into the stadium for my final throw, I saw my wife who was in
speaking distance. She said to me, and Ill never forget it, yea, you know how to
throw far. And it made me say to myself, yeah, I know how to throw far, what am I
worried about . . . seconds later, 6th throw, 81 meters.

The fact that the most important person in his life was there at a time when he was
at the lowest moment in his athletic career made a gigantic difference to him.
Encouragement from the person who loved him unconditionally gave him feelings of
assurance and helped him climb back into his bubble for his 6th and final throw.

That 6th and final throw of 81 meters meant that Lance Deal had climbed from
eighth to second place, a mere four inches behind the gold medalist. However, Deal
says the place that I was at mentally when I walked into the ring for that last throw
is the hardest part to describe. Walking back into the stadium, after speaking with
his wife for a second, Deal had found his way back into the bubble. The fact that he
has trouble describing what was going on is evidence that Deal was so engrossed
and so focused that he was oblivious to all else except doing what he knew how to
do best throwing the hammer.

On this final throw, Deal tapped into the essence of what came naturally to him,
throwing the hammer almost effortlessly as a result of and training. His frame of
mind, being in the bubble, allowed him to act as a robot and carry out his final
throw in an unconsciously competent manner. He claims to have been completely
unaware to the point that he cannot recall hardly any details of that last throw, but
he had no problem detailing the previous failing throws. He compares his final
throw to a fellow he used to work with about ten years ago in a car repair shop and
said that he was the individual that popped into his head while out of the stadium
and attempting to reclaim his thoughts. Deal described this individual and how he
also acted in an unconsciously competent manner:

I used to work at this Volkswagen garage, and there was this guy who was the
lead mechanic and when he worked on cars, he didnt ever know he was doing it.
He would talk and work at the same time and before you would know it, the engine
would be fixed. Meanwhile, the other guys and I were cussing and throwing tools all
over the place. Years later, this popped into my head. No anger, no violence, no
retribution. This guy just did the job with complete confidence in himself that he
could do it. This was the last little push that got me back into the bubble for that
final throw.

His final throw resulted in Deal winning a silver medal by coming from dead last to
second place on his last attempt. It was a landmark occasion because Deal became
the first American to medal in the hammer throw since 1956. He helped put the
USA back on the map for hammer throwing.

Much can be learned form the experiences of world class hammer throwers like Jud
Logan and Lance Deal. Their comments can be used to help establish a solid
mental foundation for novice shot putters, hammer and discus throwers. Events
that rely so heavily on the mastery of technique combined with explosive power,
demand mental toughness. The fact that all eyes are on the thrower when he steps
into the ring makes the amount of pressure greater for the thrower. Therefore, one
of the first psychological principles I would instill in a young thrower would be
teaching them to control their emotional levels in practice so they do not choke
during a big meet. This can be accomplished by having inter-team throw-offs at
the end of each week. This would mentally condition the athlete to the pressures of
being under the watchful eyes of competitors and coaches. In practice, it is easy to
get into a rhythm of throwing, retrieving the implement, and then waiting your turn
again. However, rarely is practice conducted similar to the way meets are run. In

meets, the athlete throws, and then must wait for all other competitors, which can
sometimes last ten minutes. Holding intra-team competitions would allow the
athlete to see which areas of the competition make him nervous and highly
aroused. These competitions allow him to focus in on the sort of mental self-talk
occurring. Then the athlete and coach can talk about the experience and see where
the weaknesses during the competition were and attempt to correct them before
the big meet.

Secondly, I would instill the repose, refocus, and respond mental approach to
disasters. Too often, throwers will have a poor first or second throw and become
disgusted with themselves and then proceed to waste that third throw. If the first
throws are not going well, the athlete needs to learn how to take a time out and
have a plan for getting back on track. Teaching the young throwers how to handle
each stage of repose, respond, and refocus would allow them to better handle
stressful situations. This would especially be helpful to younger throwers who can
easily become intimidated by older and significantly bigger and stronger throwers.
While the younger throwers may not necessarily have a shot at winning, they can
still strive for a new personal best. When a younger thrower is not comparable to
any degree to the level of the other throwers in his preliminary round, too often they
just throw quickly and try to finish competing as fast as possible in order to save
face. Employing the repose, refocus, and respond strategy will help the athlete
stick to the game plan that he and the coach had designed before the meet.

Finally, as a coach to a young thrower, one of the most important psychological

principles that I would instill is short-term goal-setting. It is essential that a young
thrower have realistic short-term goal to achieve because a young thrower can so
easily become frustrated with the level of technical sophistication required. Added
to this, in order to master the technique, the thrower must have an incredible
strength base in order to be able to execute the technique while holding the sixteen
pound implement. Thus, due to a lack of strength and time required to master
technique, young throwers often struggle greatly in the beginning. Hence, it is
imperative that the coach work with the athlete to set short-term goals for the
athlete. The attainment of these short-term goals will instill confidence in the
young athlete and give him a sense of accomplishment. This in turn will help fuel
his desire to stick with the event.

It is essential that novice throwers (and all other beginning field athletes) learn the
importance of mental training. Deals Olympic experience shows just how much
power the mental aspect is in sports. Even though he had been ranked number one
in the world at the time and even though he had been in the Olympics and several

other large meets previously, his story reveals how mental breakdown can ruin even
the best athlete. An athlete can train for as many years as he wants, but if he
neglects the mental training necessary, the athlete will only be a champion in
practice. It is imperative that young athletes learn to deal successfully with anxiety,
muscle tension, and arousal in the proper way so that they are armed with the
proper weapons to fight off choking in the biggest meet of their lives just like
Lance Deal did.
Izvor:
http://hammerthrow.org/training-resources/articles/psychology-lance-deal/