Coaching Throws with Scott Martin
Talented athletes don't always make great mentors, but Scott Martin has proven it’s more than possible to make a smooth transition from competing into coaching. A Commonwealth Games medalist in both the Shot Put (Bronze) and Discus (Gold), there is no doubt Scott was well equipped with a solid basis of the technical model of the sport. However, his success as a coach has as much to do with his strong understanding of the events as the rigorous approach he takes to planning and the approachable attitude that he maintains with his athletes. Scott took the time to speak to us about the challenges of coaching throws at the various levels of the sport and will hopefully encourage more club-level coaches to specialise in coaching the throws events.
Athletics Australia: What are the challenges of becoming a throws coach and why do you think there are fewer coaches at club-level specialising in throws than the other event groups?
Scott Martin: I could talk for a while about that... well, firstly it's a technical event and technical events are difficult to coach. There are four different throws and they're quite different in themselves so it's hard to specialise. Then the other big important component of throws is strength and conditioning, so to be a great throws coach you need to have a great technical model, great coaching eye and strong knowledge of strength and conditioning for power athletes.
In addition, it's a bit harder to find as many athletes to coach. For example, with running there's a lot of events to keep people incentivised, there's gifts, club races, relays and everything, whereas with throwing it's a bit more limited so you get a smaller pool of athletes.
Just from a coaching point of view though, it's hard because of that requirement to have a strong strength, conditioning and technical understanding.
Athletics Australia: So in your opinion, what should come first? Should a throws coach begin with that strength and conditioning background?
Scott Martin: It depends on the age group. Technical is more important for the younger athletes, so if you're coaching anyone up to the ages of 16 or 17 the technical is the most important component. After that then the strength and conditioning side of things becomes really important, especially for elite athletes.
Athletics Australia: On the topic of age groups, when do you think athletes should begin specialising in the throws events?
“There’s nothing wrong with introducing strength and conditioning early as long as it’s done age appropriately considering [the athlete’s] developmental age”
Scott Martin: I started throwing when I was 13, you don't have to get in too early. Most good athletes in good systems - you'll find it's more appropriate to do multiple events and multiple sports for a long time, even up until the age of 18, 19. For example, it's good to have a Shot Putter do Shot Put, Discus, Long Jump, 100m, High Jump whatever and also play Basketball or another sport as well. The more rounded you have an athlete the more skills they have and then they can specialise later with greater results. It's not like you have to do just Shot Put from the age of 12 to achieve success.
Athletics Australia: And at what age do you think that the strength and conditioning training can come into the coaching program?
Scott Martin: Depending on how it's prescribed, you can have strength training such as body weight, medicine ball and to a small extent overweight or specific implements very young. When it comes to what we traditionally think of as strength and conditioning, like heavy lifting then you'd want to move into that around 16. It's hard, you've got to put a thousand disclaimers when you're talking about strength, but it depends on the kid as well. You've always got to consider the individual and their physique, some kids are just naturally quite strong whereas others you need to be careful and introduce strength slowly to avoid injuries or overworking them.
But there's nothing wrong with introducing strength and conditioning early as long as it's done age appropriately considering their developmental and training age. And that it's done in a way to build them up and not burn them out.
Athletics Australia: You mentioned the benefit of having your athletes compete in a wide range of throws events - is there any particular order you think that they should be introducted?
“To be a great throws coach you need to have a great technical model, strong knowledge of strength and conditioning for power”
Scott Martin: It doesn't really matter - the only one that I don't always recommend for the younger guys is javelin, because there is quite a high injury risk for an athlete that isn't particular good at it. If they've got a good throwing motion javelin is good, otherwise Shot Put, Discus or Hammer are all helpful and transferable.
For most of our athletes, Shot Put and Discus works together really well and of course sprints and jumps are really good for throwers. Distance events less important, you won't find many throwers who enjoy running 3km, but sprints and jumps are important in addition to the throws.
Athletics Australia: Is there anything that you have found from your experience that encourages athletes, especially during their teenage years, to stay involved in the throws events?
Scott Martin: Success is the biggest one...Success and a really good training squad I think is pretty important. So, there are quite a few good squads around the country where there are a lot of athletes of different ages training together... so when you go to training it's a bit more fun and relaxed because you've got a few friends there that make you want to go to training and everyone's throwing at their own level. If you can create a great squad atmosphere with five to fifteen athletes all training together it's always good. In our training squad we've got athletes from 14 through to 26 years old, so there's a good mix of ages with older athletes for the younger guys to look up to and learn from and the older guys can benefit from the leadership position.
If people are having fun at training, because that's most of what we do, they're probably going to stay in the sport longer and have a better chance of having success and continuing on.