Footwork, athleticism main ingredients of discus

Frisbee? Hardly.

Disc golf? Not even close.

Despite the event being tucked away at the corners of the school grounds, well away from the rest of the track, the discus throw catches a lot of attention for how far the metal discs can fly.

The best high school discus throwers can hurl a disk well over 100 feet. Boys use a 1.6-kilogram disc, while girls use one that weighs 1 kilogram.

Bureau Valley senior Sydney Lebahn is among the area’s leading discus hurlers, with her best throw so far this year topping out at 117 feet, 8 inches.

Throwing a disc involves more than just a snap of the wrist. Movement all over the body is needed to execute a lengthy heave – including “dancing feet.”

“My mom likes to call it my dance steps,” Lebahn said. “She says when my feet are off, I have to work on my dance steps.”

Sydney comes from a family of successful Storm hurlers. Her older sisters Jordan and Madison have taken dance lessons in order to get their feet in working order. While Sydney has escaped the instrumental harmonies and its correlating steps, it hasn’t prevented her from having just as much success as her sisters.

Emphasis on footwork is what sets the discus throw aside from its throwing counterpart, the shot put. Lebahn also changes shoes between throws, putting on special spinning shoes to make her movement feel smoother.

“I’d say discus is definitely a lot more finesse,” Lebahn said. “In shot put, of course there’s technique that will help you throw farther, but for discus, you can’t just muscle it out there. You have to have everything going at the same time, you have to have your feet, your hips, your arms, and have it all put together.”

“Footwork is a big key, if you’re spinning,” she added. “I know, for me, if my footwork is just a little bit off, it totally directs where the discus goes. If you’re able to rip it or not.”

Lebahn won a sectional championship last year with a top hurl of 113 feet, 5 inches, besting a runner-up finish from the year prior by almost 5 feet.

Throwers can choose from different throwing techniques. Ones used by Bureau Valley and head throws coach Jeff Ohlson are the power throw, full, South African, middle turn, and turn-tap-and-go.

Lebahn’s preferred throwing method is the full.

On the full throw, Lebahn will have her back turned from the throwing sector at the rear of the ring, with her feet 1 foot apart. She’ll step to her left, bringing the disc to her waist at the same time. Then she’ll squat down about a foot from the concrete, while she winds the disc back out to her right. Her right leg is bent 90 degrees at her knee, with the foot flat. Her left leg is on her toes, with the knee bent slightly obtusely.

Then she will stand back up as the disc is wound behind her at chest level. She’ll turn out to hurl, pivoting her left foot and bringing her right foot around 270 degrees – with a small hop to bring the left foot around to the front of the ring. Then, when the disc is positioned behind her, hip-level at 45 degrees, both feet will raise up on the toes before letting go and following through.

“I definitely throw my farthest off my full,” Lebahn said.

In the easier power throw, Lebahn stands at the front of the discus ring, facing to her right. For the wind-up, she’ll move her right foot to the center of the ring and wind the disc back around her right side, all while putting her left foot on her toes. Then, as she is winding the disc out, she is putting her left foot back flat with her weight on it, and following through with her left foot vertically in line with the disc. She will let go as her body is completely facing the throwing sector, with the disc leaving her hand at about armpit level before following through.

“Sometimes, at the beginning of the year, he’ll have me start with a power throw for my first one,” Lebahn said. “It’s so that I can get one in and get one marked. All of the other throws are almost always out of full. Middle turn, South African, and turn-tap-and-go are ones I just use to practice with.”

The South African throw is not a legal one due to one foot being outside of the ring, but is a useful drill for mastering the pivot.

For this throw, Lebahn – standing at the rear of the ring – faces the throwing sector with her left foot in the ring and her right foot out diagonally from one another. From that position, she’ll twist her body to her left and wind back out around her back, with her right foot taking a step back. She’ll come across 180 degrees, bringing her right foot into the ring at the center of the circle. This will make her left foot lead out.

Then the right foot will pivot in the middle to make her left foot then come across to the front of the ring. While there, she’ll start her throw with the disc held out from her hip in a 45-degree angle. On the throw, the weight shifts to her leading left foot, which rises on to toes and lifts the right pivot foot up to its toes before releasing and following through.

Middle turn is a throw that Lebahn doesn’t like to do, and usually isn’t called to do such.

“Everything is a segmented process, and the whole throw is putting it all together,” Ohlson said. “That’s why she’ll go to the power, and if we’re doing middle turn, we’ll do some things to drive the hip, and then move her back to South African, then to turn-tap-and-go, which simulates the steps of it.”

The best thing about Lebahn’s process is that she can do it all backwards, also.

“If you can go backwards in it, you can be able to go forwards in it,” Ohlson said. “We’ll do that drill indoors a lot. They’ll go through it, and then they’ll back up. I’ll just say, ‘Go, rewind; go, rewind.’”

Ohlson says that he has been “blessed” with great throwers that have come his way at Bureau Valley. In the past 10 seasons, these include – in addition to the Lebahn sisters – 2001 Class A state champion Michael Behrens, two-time sectional champion Adam Weidner (who won the Class 1A shot put title in 2011), and 2010 sectional champion Melanie Thompson.

Ohlson, a 1992 graduate of Princeton High School, also threw collegiately at North Park University.

So, what makes a good thrower?

“You have to rotate in a linear direction,” Ohlson said. “You’ve got to do two different things – you’ve got to go in a circle, and at the same time, move forward across the ring. It takes a special type of person to be a good discus thrower, and it takes a better athlete to be a great discus thrower.”

The typical discus area has a line of athletes that are built in some way. However, Lebahn is neither big nor tall.

“They’ve got to have good feet and good hands, and they’re athletic,” Ohlson said. “Normally, I’d say somebody big and tall, but my best discus thrower is not a big or tall person. They’re not a tall, long-armed person. I’ve had 6-foot-5 long-armed kids that have been just as good as some of my kids that aren’t that. Then it comes down to footwork. With Sydney, I have an athlete who is very good with her feet going across the ring.”

Secret to the Discus

• Chubbs from Happy Gilmore can apply his putting advice to the discus throw as well, because “it’s all in the hips”. While the throw involves plenty of footwork, emphasis on the hips – which lead the throw – is important because one has to quickly move to get lots of momentum to throw the disc. Lunges, squats, hand cleans, and the clean-and-jerk are important exercises used to strengthen the hips.