My first two years coaching were at a Rochester City High School.  Unlike many surrounding schools, this particular school specialized in the arts.  Needless to say, sports were the least of their concern.  Because of this resources were very limited.  There were no outdoor fields, and the only athletic facility was a small indoor basketball court.  None of the schools in this area had an indoor track, that we could use, so our practices were limited to hallways with low ceilings.  As you could imagine, finding a place to practice indoors was difficult. 

Despite poor conditions, I was able to develop an effective method which remains a staple to my current training methods today.   A hallway in the basement became the thrower’s area.  I had my athletes do full movements without the implements; hundreds of them.  This was entirely experimental, and the results it would produce were unknown to me. Up until this point, I had not thought of how effective full movements with no implements could actually be.  I figured you’d lose the feeling and connection that came with throwing.  After 4 weeks of this training my athlete pulled out a 3 foot personal best.  One month later he was throwing 2 feet further than that.

Take away two lessons from this: