Indoor Shots: How to choose?

Hard shell, Soft Shell, or Propel?

Unlike javelin & discus, shot put is measured to the quarter of an an inch and that fact amplifies the importance of every bit of energy possible going into the throw. So ideally, the most dense shot possible would be used at all times. That's fine for outdoors where the shot is landing in DG, sand, crushed concrete or grass, but indoors no floor could withstand the impacts of a cannon ball over and over again.

With indoor throwing, aka winter track in some parts of the country, everyone uses some form of shot that has a hard plastic or rubberized plastic shell and a denser filling to increase the overall weight to the specified amount. The most common are 8.8 lbs (4K) for girls 9th grade up including professionals, 12lb (5.44K) for high school boys, and 16lb (7.26K) for college men and professionals.

Two of the most important considerations when selecting an indoor shot are the composition of that outer shell and what/how it is filled with. Traditionally, cores have been filled with lead and sand mixtures. The problem with those mixtures is there is usually some space left over and that allowed the filler to move around... which means the center of gravity is moving and that can adversely affect the distance the shot goes.

For most developing throwers (middle school & high school), the outer shell is what they notice more. Characteristics like too slippery/sticky, too soft/hard, and too small/large, are first and foremost on their minds. Throwers like an implement with a little bit of texture and softness which help prevent it from slipping off their hand early while throwing. Whereas coaches like a harder surface because less energy gets absorbed into the shot therefor 'putting' (pun intended :-) more energy into sending the shot forward. Also, coaches like durability since each indoor shot typically costs more than $100 and frequent cracking or ruptures will break their budget.

Manufacturers have made plenty of shots that were made too hard and cracked very early on in their use. If the shell is durable enough, the next part to usually fail is the fill plug. They often pop out comes the sand spilling like an hourglass.

But thankfully, the VS Propel was developed. The Propel indoor shot has the perfect blent of all the characteristics that throwers and coaches want. It has the best blend of rubberized plastic giving it the firmness of a traditional hardshell plastic shot but the texture is softer giving throwers the 'feel' they are always preferring. To top it all off, the fill area is sealed so there is no plug that could fail. This is why VS Athletics stands behind the Propel with a 1 year warranty.

VS Athletics

800-676-7463

www.vsathletics.com