I pulled tape and shagged implements for the "A"s and the professionals at the Pleasanton Championships on sunday. In term sof my own throwing, it was a great thing to do. I can't emphasize how helpful it's going to be.

How many hours have we all spent on youTube, watching videos of the events, seeing how the pro's do it? Now, take all of that and compress it into an hour or two. you see the throws over and over and over and you see different guys who throw far. That shows you what's irrelevant and what's not.

Watching Sean Betts throw the 28 lb for distance was an education. He's flinging the weight around behind him all over the place as he leads up to his first turn, and even into the first turn. He's also quite quick through the first turn, whereas most of the other guys are slower. LESSON: "smooth" isn't the key thing in the first turn, and in fact the speed in and of itself isn't, either. The point is to get the weight moving and get into the power position ahead of the weight, so you are all set for your really quick feet and a monster pull through the second turn and follow-through.

IN the caber....the pick. Harrison Bailey III gets his hands really, really low on the caber, almost down to the ground for his pick. But Ryan Vierra has his hands probably 18 inches above the end of the caber. Mike Pockoski also has high hands. Lesson: where you place your hands on the caber is not the key thing. Find a place that's comfortable, where the angle feels good to you and go for it.

What DID matter? The challenge Caber on Sunday was a monster. In fact, both of them were monsters, the qualifying caber and the finals. Trust me, i KNOW.....I shagged them about 40 times. Only twice during the comp did any of the men "lose it", and Mike Pockoski is so light on his feet that he got back under it and went on to turn it anyway. Not ONCE did any of these guys lose the caber over backwards right after the pick.

Lesson? Balance the caber BEFORE the pick and pick it more-or-less straight up so that it stays balanced during the entire pick.

And so on.


Go shag the implements and pull tape some time. It's really worth it.