-THE HOLD:

The fingers should be barely over the edge of the discus and not wrapped around the discus. The discus is not held in the hand by wrapping the fingers around the edge. It is held in by the centrifugal force created by the swing. If held stationary at arms length with the discus facing down, the discus should fall out of the hand.

-THE RELEASE:

The discus comes out of the front and not the back of the hand. At release, the angle of the hand/wrist is changed with the little finger coming back toward the elbow. The wrist is "flicked" and the discus is in effect pushed out by the last two fingers. (see drills section)

-THE FOOT POSITION:

Regardless of throwing style (i.e.: standing or rotational), having the hips "open" during the release phase is critical. To accomplish this, the feet must be properly aligned.

At the start of release phase, the feet must be placed so that the toe of the front foot (left) is aligned with the heel of the rear (right) foot. While standing at the front of the ring, with a line through the shoulders pointing in the direction of the throw, the rear foot heal should be aligned with the front foot toe. When in this position, you should be able to rise on the toes, pivot/rotate the body so that the chest faces the front on the ring and then be able to take a step forward with the rear (right) foot.

-DRIVE TO RELEASE:

At the drive position, for either a standing or a rotational throw, the COM (center of mass) of the body must be over the rear foot. The body must be balanced so that the front foot could be lifted from the ring without loss of balance.

Rotation starts at the rear foot and progresses up through the leg to the hip. The rear hip must be fully rotated so that the waist faces the front of the ring. The motion then continues up through the trunk to the shoulders and lastly to the throwing arm.

As the drive to release starts, the discus should be behind the throwing shoulder and the location should be between the waist and shoulder. Both arms should be fully extended. As the discus comes around, the lead (left) arm is collapsed, the elbow bent and the thumb brought back to the upper chest area.

At release, it is critical that the body is standing tall, the throwing arm fully extended, the knees locked and the hips rotated such that they are ahead of the throwing shoulder.

-THE RELEASE OR THROW:

The front/left leg is extended and serves as the brake in the throw. The end of the throw is the same in both the spin and the standing throw. The action starts at the rear foot and moves up as the hip is rotated. It progresses into the trunk and shoulders. To increase rotational speed, the lead arm is collapsed with the thumb being brought back to upper chest area. The release point is beyond the shoulder axis.

The head should be turned in the direction of the spin and the eyes fixed on the lead hand/wrist through the entire spin and release.