An exceptional document serie . I doubt that you will be able to find something similar anywhere else on the web Monitoring an athlete is a complex but instructive process which is the necessary support on any coaching strategy. The monitoring is to start as early as possible with simple datas but is going to become more and more sophisticated when the performance level is reaching new summits. You cannot monitor EVERYTHING so that you have first to pick what is the most important or significant at a certain stage of the athlete’s career. Then you have to be able to pick the variations , positive or negative , and FIND THE RIGHT EXPLANATION causing the variations. Is it the natural change or morphology ? is it the result of the conditioning programme ? Is it the result of any technical choice or improvements ? Are there accidental variations due for example to illness , injury or mental problem ?   In this chapter , with this example of Alexander PARKINSON , who was first at 17 years old a rather modest beginner (38m with 1,5kg) and finished by accessing the Elite level at 25 years with a 60.86m PB .I want to share how I have tried to monitor the training of this athlete through the years . I mainly used my ”testing charts” (a panel of 20 different tests designed to build the throwing ”profile” ID) that I have designed , used , developed and improved all along my coaching career . But also some other monitoring systems (Competitions results evolution , average of competition results , specific discus weights tests diagrams , comparison of training overall load and training tests with diverse implements weights , bio mechanical data etc…etc…) . It was impossible , for obvious reasons , to publish ALL the documents related to this several years coaching period and I made a selection of some of the most significative .     Additional (sad) note : Alexander PARKINSON has unfortunately decided to stop his career after reaching this 60m mark . He certainly could have done better with a lot of more work and sacrifices , but , receiving no serious assistance from NZL athletics , he came to the conclusion that the game was not worth the candle and that he was to take all the risks and pay from his pocket for other people to get the eventual benefits and comfortable monthly money….Quite a common story these days !

Documents available : PDF 1 Monitoring a discus thrower using testing charts – PDF 2 Monitoring a discus thrower using weights diagrams – PDF 3 Monitoring a discus thrower competitions – PDF 4 Monitoring a discus thrower : throwing and training load   VIDEOS :  Vid 1 Parkinson 2012 44.01m 1.5kg – Vid 2  Parkinson 2014 competition serie -Vid 3 Parkinson 2015 52.92m 2kg PB – Vid 4 Parkinson 2016 55.38m PB – Vid 5 Parkinson 2017 53.94m – Vid 6 Parkinson 2017 56.79m PB – Vid 7 Parkinson 2019 57.32m PB