Spear and Cast
The following are a few tips which hold when developing a throwing technique.
Throwing a spear is like throwing a knife. You need to practice to understand the physics of the object thrown so the sharp end lands true.
Use your non lance arm to help balance the cast; and always bring your lance hand as far back as possible for a pull thrust forward. Use your whole body - and so gravity - as opposed to the muscles of your shoulder and arm - drive the shaft into the target by pulling from the rear most position, into the propper trajectory, to result in a forward whip.
Lead the cast with a well rolled shoulder and arm, holding the javien, center balace, pointing at the target, as far back from the target as you can hold it, with your body nearest to the target. Lean back, and roll your whole arm, at the shoulder, counter clockwise if you are right handed and clockwise if you are left handed.
Following this roll, it is your elbow, and not your hand, which must be immagined to be leading the aim and cast. Keep your elbow high through the pull and thrust tartegtwise. Immagine rotating your arm vertically and not horizontaly.
A great teacher, Thomas Röhler on YouTube, covers well many of the olympic level throwing components. He explains how to safely and powerfully throw a stick; you need to however modify the throw to hit nearer targets, and to also go by hand feel as opposed to seeing the tip of your spear - like I have.
You don't always have a oymplic length spear or javilen, so you may not be able to see the tip. The physics of (my) spear is different in that the center of gravity is closer to the tip due to the weight of the head - but this need not always be the case as you may apply a counter weight to the rear of your spear to center the grip on your lance and reduce the weight of your tip. In other words, you should learn to cast and strike accurately, based on the feeling you have in your hand- like I have. Practice is the only way to develop a feel for throwing a fast, powerfull, whipped, true flying lance.
The cast begins with your shoulders near perpendicular to the target; this enables you to give more power to the throw, a longer time holding the shaft to ensure a true and calculated flight, but most importantly, to whip the throw arm, using your torso. Use your whole body to rotate and leverage the throw arm into a whipping cast.
Think about the trajectory prior to initating cast and during cast.
Avoid lobbing the shaft. Only work to strike a mark you know you can hit hard.
A good grip on your shaft is indispensable. You need a leather tie or wrap so your full energy and focus is applied to your throw and not working to grip a smooth and sometimes wet shaft.
Think about your breathing. Keep your mouth shut, tongue on the roof of your mouth - always.
Focus on moving the tip to target throughout the cast cycle. Manipulate with all your fingers to counter the movement of your swinging arm.
Cast thoughtfully and slowly during warmup. After, think about your energy expenditure through the exersie; is it moving you toward perfection of your goals? Are you accomplishing a thoughtfull exercises so you reach your goals of perfection the fastest? Throw the spear and feel every muscle needed to move the spear nearer and nearer to hitting what you want to.
Think about each cast and avoid just throwing it in the general area of your target, but rather a percise point. Make sure you go through each step of a the spear cast after, thinking breifly about how to improve.
Be dynamic. Don’t think to stick to one position. Practice with a range of thrust positions keeping the goal simply to hit the target (like you should with archery). A new position will feel awkward, you will initially throw the shaft untrue, and you will feel and look like a goof, but eventually, with a THOUGHTFUL effort, will result in becoming a dynamic user of the weapon; this will also make a long peatice fun, and exciting by mixing up the monotony of a repetitive action.
Avoid the temptation of using an upside-down spruce tree. Though naturally straight, they are incredibly weak and brittle, and not worth their weight in strength. Use a good wood, about 6ft in length. Saskatoon is good but you will never find a ready shaft. Find an OK shaft, debark and let season wraped to something true. Smear something thick to each end before seasoning. Once dry, use dry heat and a form of your own design and making, a couple of trees growing near each other, or any other stationary objects to bend the wood straight. Heat the section to bend so you can't touch it, but are not burning it. Bend it just past streight in your form, and secure half a minute until cool in a form. Move you way along the shaft until you have a proper lance.
Longer shafts are just better.
Always make or have a distinct target and always try to hit it.
