Notes from the 2025 Halle throwing conference

After a successful launch in 2024, we once again put together the Halle throwing conference at the 50th edition of the international throws meet. The theme this year was “behind the technique.” I kicked things off with a presentation on factors to consider in defining your athlete’s technical model. Then coaches Dale Stevenson and Dylan Armstrong gave practical examples of how they approach the topic, including a breakdown of the technical approach for Olympic champion Ethan Katzberg, Olympic medalist Matt Denny, and world champion Tom Walsh. Video from the technical analyis and roundtable are now online for Plus members and below are three key take aways from Dale Stevenson’s talks.

Breaking the rules

Before I start out, let me get one thing out of the way. A lot of the conversations discussed how the technical model at the elite level needs to be flexible. This is not a theory of technical relativity. But it is a reality: there are many different ways to throw far. Elite athletes continue to demonstrate this and at the end of the day the tape measure doesn’t lie. The question then becomes about finding the best path for your athlete, and here we can learn from the differences displayed by other elite atheltes.

Watch Tom Walsh throw the shot put and he’s doing a lot of different things in his throw. If he had approached the throw in a more traditional manner, he likely wouldn’t be a multiple time world champion. At the elite level, you have to get creative. As Dale Stevenson put it:

“The rules will get you far. But the challenge then becomes to try and do things other aren’t doing. By definition we’re in a game of outliers: to try and break the world record is an abnormal thing to do. You have to break some of those rules, do different things, do weird things.”

Let me get one thing out of the way. Just because we’re advocating breaking the rules doesn’t mean there are not rules or that technique is in a state of anarchy. It is the reality though: there are many different ways to throw far. Elite athletes continue to demonstrate this and at the end of the day the tape measure doesn’t lie. The question then becomes about finding the best path for your athlete, and here we can learn from the differences displayed by other elite athletes. Finding out which rules to break involves asking questions that will help lead to the right path.

“The hardest part of breaking the rules is shutting up and getting out of the way. That’s the difference between telling and teaching. Teaching involves learning. Saying it is not teaching. They need to find the answer, so my job is to pose the right questions, which takes more time and more skill becasue the human temptation is to just give the answer.”

Moving beyond pretty

Technique is not a platonic ideal we are chasing. It is a tool, a means to an end. As I’ve discussed before, in the formula to throw far one variable is the key factor: speed of release. In order to throw far the implement has to leave our hand with some pace. Therefore at the end of the day we always have to ask if what we are doing in the ring is making the ball go faster. Dale Stevenson put that thought more eloquently in his presentation:

“Are you playing golf or playing golf swing. The game is not to have a good swing, the game is to get the ball in the hole . . . Do I like a technique? That’s not a thought that enters my head. Who cares whether you like a technique? Technique is overrated. At the end of the day it is a tool to make the ball go further.”

In some ways, when it comes to training the uglier the better.

“By default, we all say a good training session is when they’re throwing really far and every throw is perfect. There’s no sh*t ones, it’s just repeatable. But, there’s no learning happening there. You need chaos. You need a little bit of variability, and that is, I gotta check myself now in that situation, when there’s volatility happening, that’s when the learning’s happening. And keep them in that space, keep them figuring it out.”

Build on trust

This week I also joined a panel discussion in the World Athletics Coaching Matters Series focusing on similar topics. One topic that came up is the differencing in coaching the current generation of athletes. Some coaches lament about the entitlement of young athletes, but I like to see the positives in that change. Young athletes want more autonomy than ever. They also have access to immense amounts of information. This shifts the coaching model from the traditional top-down approach to more of a collaborative partnership. It’s a chance to work together to find a better solution. But it only works if the coaching dynamic shifts from one of authority to one of trust. To do that we have to be open and honest.

Stevenson agrees:

“I’m upfront and say I don’t know, but let’s figure it out. It keeps the relationship in good stead and helps with trust. It’s like kids, they reach a point where they don’t wanna be at home anymore. They want their own independence, their own ownership over it. If I’m too rigid on that, it’s not gonna work. It’s just gonna pull us towards the middle of that curve. That curve is compliance and rules.

Through trust we can get beyond the rule and unlock new levels of performance.

Learn more

For many more nuggets of wisdom from Stevenson, as well as Dylan Amstrong, check out the full 95-minute presentation and roundtable: