Yeah, so I guess that my presentation is a bit of an outlier compared to the other presentations that we have seen, which were mostly about observers in developed countries. As I was looking at these presentations, it slowly sank into me that the work that I've been doing is actually also with observers, but recruited from the crews of small scale fishing vessels. And I hear you guys thinking, well, you cannot make an official and an observer, but perhaps at the end of this presentation I can show that under some conditions it actually is possible. So I've been working with the crews of about a total 600 Indonesian snapper tuna fishing vessels. We've equipped them with cameras and we've asked them to take pictures of the catch. That is what it boils down to in a nutshell. So this image or this slide already tells half of the story. Here you see a fisherman taking an image of a couple fish put on a measuring board. We have been doing this program between 2015 and actually up till now. We've covered the entire Indonesia Exclusive Economic Zone. We've worked with small boats, but also with some larger boats of about 100 GT. At a global scale, I guess that these larger boats are still, that's only medium size, but for Indonesia they are quite small. So one of the specifics, one of the characteristics of the fisheries in Indonesia is that most of it is small scale or even nano scale, you could say, very small boats, hundreds of thousands of them operating often from very remote landing sites. So that makes it very difficult to even deploy port and numerators, let alone professional observers. So when we were designing our monitoring program, I noticed that my technicians were communicating with the fishers through images, mostly through WhatsApp actually. And over time we decided to capitalize on that idea and to work with these fishers, or at least some of them as observers on their fishing vessels. And we developed a routine that is completely fisher friendly, it is form free and it also doesn't require any filling in of paper forms or electronic forms. It also has its limitations of course, and I will tell you a bit more about these later. So the purpose of the data collection that we were doing is to get length based data for length based stock assessment, perhaps I don't really need to go into the specifics of it, but it boils down to a length frequency distribution of an exploited fish stock, having a different shape from a length frequency distribution of a fish stock that is not exploited or less exploited. So just from the shape of a length frequency distribution, you can say something about the exploitation status of the fish stock. And as for many of Indonesia's fisheries, we don't know anything about exploitation status. That is a good place to start. So we were interested in catch composition and we wanted to work with these fishers with cameras. So each of the fishers we work with, we gave them a pocket camera. We use pocket cameras rather than hand phones because pocket cameras work way faster. They are way easier to operate than a hand phone camera. On the hand phone camera, there's just too many other apps and especially if the screen gets wet, it becomes difficult to operate. And for people who are working on board and who want to work quickly, it is really important that they have a piece of equipment that they can just switch on, that they immediately is ready for taking pictures. Also in the way that we work, the fisher hands over the data at the end of the trip to a technician. And that is also a bit easier with memory cards that are found in pocket cameras. Obviously, we included the size reference in each of the frames of the pictures. So on the top right here, you see a measuring board and that measuring board is really only as a size reference. It's not used by the fishers as a measuring board. We also used other kinds of tokens and references depending on the type of fishery. One challenge remained the total catch. For some of the fisheries, especially for example Snapper, that is a one by one fishery. We could be reasonably sure that the fishers took pictures of most of the fish that they caught. But for other types of fisheries, pursaners and pollen liners, that was not always possible. So in those cases, we asked the fishers to also take an image of the sales receipts that they already have. In addition to get some more social economic data, we asked them to take an image of the receipts for the supplies that they bought. So we are basically working with the information systems that the fishers already have, basic as they are. We just take it one step further. We also equipped the boats and you see that these are really small boats with tracking devices. They became quite important in our program. We used spot trace. Spot trace is not even a real tracking device as such. It is actually marketed as an anti theft device. But they are real time and they are battery operated. They have an on and off button button, which means that the fishers actually can switch them off. But we felt that they still yield very useful data for us. And here you see the fishing positions of drop liners and long liners in the Arafura Sea. You actually do see that here on this image that the fishers even report their locations when they know that they are fishing in areas where they are not supposed to fish. They need the waters of Timor-Leste and even to some extent also the waters in Australian waters. Indonesian fishers are quite known to fish the line. Our system does require quite a bit of a human support system. We use one technician per 10 or 20 vessels. And then we also have one data quality control supervisor per 5 to 10 technicians. All depends a bit on the type of fishery and the size of boats that are in each unit. We also developed an online portal for data suppression for data quality control and for reporting. So some of the key attributes of our monitoring program. First of all, this is longitudinal monitoring. So we are following a relatively small set of vessels, so about 600 vessels through time. It's not cross sectional. Many other monitoring programs, like for example port sampling, basically go to a beach or a landing site or a harbor. And then you take observations on each boat that happens to land at that day. For us it was a bit different. We followed the 600 vessels through time. Obviously, the monitoring program does require some training. Fishers need to learn how to take good images and what to take images off in the first place. Especially in the beginning we have issues with fishers taking pictures only of the fish that they like most. And that of course doesn't give a good representation of the total catch. We found that the role of the technician is quite critical as a liaison with the fisher. The technician usually does a debrief with the fisher more often so in the beginning of his engagement than towards the end. Because after a couple of trips the fisher pretty much knows what to do and data quality control is already quite good. We found that an incentive is necessary, so a simple fee works best. So the fishers we work with do receive a small fee for the work that they are doing. We also think that this way of working is probably not suitable to roll it out to all fishing vessels in Indonesia. But it works very well with a small percentage of the fleet based on their representation. So if you're looking at a fishery that has gill netters and say handliners, then you recruit a couple of each of those fishers. And in that way you get data from both handliners and gill netters. So some of the benefits of the program that we worked on, we got high resolution data. The timestamp of the images is really useful, not only for geo referencing, but also to get an idea of when exactly the pictures were taken. So if you see that an official takes images only on the last day, you may not know that there is something wrong with the way that he is working. Obviously the data are verifiable, I don't need to explain more about that. But in Indonesia this is particularly important because we have such biodiverse fisheries. So the snapper fishery that we've been working on has more than 50 common species. As I've shown earlier, even though it is a voluntary system, it does generate data that is relevant to compliance. And finally, we also found that this network that we developed of collaborating fishers is quite useful. So it is a good sounding board for developing ideas, for example new ideas on management. We also commissioned a couple of studies on artificial intelligence. The results were quite good. One of the methods that we developed is, you see highlighted here, the machine that you see on the picture on the deck of a fishing vessel is designed to take standardized image of fish. So it's not working with those snapshots that we have been collecting. It aims to get really fully standardized images. It worked really well. So the accuracy overall on the data set of 44 species was about 95%. We used 2,500 training images, then we trialed it with 766 images. And here you see an example of three critical moiety snappers snappers that are almost identical.  The AI system, however, had no problems whatsoever telling the difference between these species. Sorry for these three species, 100% accuracy rate. My final slide has some recommendations and insights. First of all, even with this fairly simple way of using cameras, onboard procedures for data collection still depends a lot on the type of gear and on the type of fishery. So you need to tweak it if you're going to work in a different fishery. It makes quite a difference whether you're working on a one-by-one fishery on snapper or a percane fishery. We found that the estimation of total catch does remain a bit of a challenge. So we had to rely on pictures of the sales receipts, for example, for the percane fisheries. Also, if you would roll out this idea to an entire fishery, I think that you would need to rely on AI to speed up the data processing process. We also found that this way of working is actually quite robust to the effects of COVID. At least in Indonesia, observer programs basically came to a standstill, but the work that we have been doing more or less continued, simply because the fishery still continued. There were some delays in getting the chips with the data, but overall, our time series will not show a data gap. So with our voluntary and image-based data collection system, we collected data from over 25,000 fishing tricks, and that proved to be a credible basis for length-based talk assessments. We have transferred these data to the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, who is now using these data to compile harvest strategies for various snapper and grouper species we've been working with. So that's it for me. Thank you for your attention. Of course, if there are questions, I'd gladly take them.


Goodness a really talented athlete overall. So he's been, you know, almost doing anything and you know, a very promising golfer And Yeah, I just noticed him when he was very young and Saw this talent and approached him and asked if he wanted to throw Welcome and thank you so much for taking the time you guys to set up the interview I have good knee and I have to say Valor goodness in right Did I say it right and then Peter pretty right? Okay, and then Peter Peter Good Mund Sun, right? Right. Yes. Okay. So I when I was when I was in Iceland I learned right I guess Icelandic is kind of a Germanic language and so it is definitely a tough language I So basically Welcome and let's start it off with saying Congratulations on setting the Icelandic national record a 30-year record obviously held by legendary Vestin Hefsteinsen And hopefully I said that relatively well And obviously he's become, you know, arguably maybe one of you know, the greatest discus coach of all time with Obviously what he's done with Gerd Kanter and Daniel Stahl and Simon Peterson and the Swedish throws success and everything else So how did to kick things off and kind of talk about that? I always like to start You know You you did that you were only 24 years old, which is a massive throw And How you know what what did that lead up to like what was the conditions you set that at home there in Reykjavik, right? um So yeah, go ahead and Let me The the 2020 was pretty bad year for me except Icelandic record, of course, right Uh, it started off. We were training outside in the snow and in the rain just all the time always around freezing temperatures And I ended up injuring my groin if I remember correctly and it was uh, I was injured mostly the whole summer Oh, wow, so I couldn't do a lot and And when I finally like could throw I mean we tried competing a lot and I wasn't throwing that well like Most part of the summer Okay, then I just Maybe What do you call it? Just two days before the Icelandic record It finally like everything clicked together like my lower body was finally a little bit ahead of the upper body And I was like connecting on the throws. I thought I had a terrible practice But then seeing the marks they have that two days later. I was like, okay, maybe it was a really good practice Maybe like I was throwing probably constantly around 63 four meters interested in the call. That's really good for me in the practice since I I usually just throw around 59 meters all the time always and I've been doing that for the last like six years or so okay And yeah, then just to what do you call it two days later? It was a Wednesday if I remember correctly Pieter asked me if he should have the meat. He asked me at like 10 in the morning, I think Because it was like raining and the wind was blowing. It was wasn't like exactly the correct Like wind direction for our, you know, disco circles but But I was I was feeling good and I just said yes I was like hyped up for the meat and I started I'm in college during doing sports science And I had a basketball class. So I warmed up a little bit doing basketball Okay, and then I went straight to the field Just warmed up a little bit the wind was blowing Straight from the right But we also had like we have really tall trees Like a whole right side where we were throwing so inside of the circle and maybe I don't know maybe eight meters off the ground It was kind of cold. It's like no wind because of the wind the trees were blocking it. So You have to like throw it really high And far so so and did anything because I was the only one that did well in this competition. We were like five six people throwing I think so okay or seven. I'm not sure but It's like it's like the wind didn't help you anything except maybe at the 55 or 60 meter mark I'm not sure, but it looks like that on the video right But you mean yeah, I had been throwing pretty or I felt like I was throwing pretty bad like during the last weeks before the Icelandic record and And the meat starts off well. I threw I think I threw 60 something in the beginning Maybe 65. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Yeah Yeah, I opened up with a little bit less. I think 61 or two I was really happy with that and then I threw 61 five Something I don't remember correctly a little bit. Yeah, it was a little bit better than my old pair And then in my second last throw, it's just like everything just hit. I just like I was really wide in the release to the right Just like could push it really far out. The grip was perfect And it just it just went really far That's awesome Yeah, it's like I couldn't even see how far it went. It's like it was super far and And this was my fifth throw and my sixth throw that was that was not shorter. I think it's just It was a really bad throw, but the wind just took it Just ridiculous far and way out of sector and I felt it it was so it didn't even measure it It was probably around 69 or more, but we don't know it. It doesn't matter. Okay I'm really happy with 69 35.  Well, um, like like we said, it had been a problematic summer But I felt that it was coming together and uh And on that big day the The difference between him and the other throw was was that his mindset was i'm going to throw far today. I'm not going to let the weather In in fact me at all So so he managed to He managed to you know, get full speed through the through the throw Obviously, this is his fastest throw um and and Yeah, what I what I try to do is just to create opportunities and always stay positive Right. It's it's it's it's I think that's the biggest quality a coach has to have that's great opportunities and and and build up the athlete Right Yeah, now like we talked about before we started the introduction. Um, you were a two-time Olympian 21 26 pr in the shot. Is that the Icelandic record in the shot? Yes, I was I was gonna say I have to believe that's that that's a that's a big throw So, you know, congratulations on that as well. Um, thanks and obviously You know, how did you? How did you guys connect and when did you have you been coaching him the whole his whole career? Yes, in uh, yes in discus um Goodness a really talented athlete overall. So he's been, uh, you know, almost doing anything and you know, very promising golfer oh, wow and Yeah, I just noticed him when he was very young and Saw this talent and I approached him and asked if he wanted to throw And and he was willing to do that and so he joined my team and and Yeah, rest his history The thing with Gwyn is He is he is willing 110 to be the you know become the best in the world So he's very coachable So my job is rather easy, you know, just be there You know be the be the the extra eye for him to correct positions direct him When I need to And uh, the thing with him is he's very quick to adopt Very cool and on try we we try a lot of things and talk about it And then we decide to use it or not Gotcha Yeah And you know, I I feel like that's a that's um Uh, I I've talked to you know a number of other, you know, European Throwers and whatnot and I know you guys I don't know if there's a I know it's Scandinavia is Iceland So I don't know if you know, I got to make sure I'm you know saying that right but Uh, I noticed with some other European throwers that I've talked to it's very common for This kind of scenario you start with an athlete at a young age Whereas here in the United States, right? I've I've been fortunate to to coach some very talented athletes And I'm building a really great, you know, technical base and then they go somewhere And they get a new coach and then the training is changing and then they change the technique You know and that's happened. I think unfortunately I've had some You know some pretty talented athletes that have had some big big distances And then they're starting to make technical changes and my mind is Why would you make a lot of technical changes to continue to refine experiment? And I really like what you said about that, you know, I think that's the key um, so how one question I have is uh, how Old was he when you found like what age was because I saw this first like on world athletics, right your first Your first year, I think it shows that you threw 63 50 Right and you were 19. Is that right? Do I have that right? Which is yeah, which is and that was that your first year? Yeah, yeah, kind of it was I started doing this because like late 2014 Okay, then I had been doing a shot for a little bit. I'm not sure Maybe a year. Maybe Peter one year I was trying to qualify for I think it was Youth worlds at Eugene. Okay I didn't make it uh in self put Okay, I would probably make it in I would have made it in discus though, but I wasn't in discus yet But yeah, it started a year earlier in discus trained a little bit like did the switch trained more discus during the winter and Then like during the summer I just like a PR just in almost every competition. It was really fun Right. Yeah, I ended up with 63 50 and that's like that was a five meter PR at the time But I had I had like maybe five meats in a row that I had thrown Over 60 in warm-up or out of sector. So Okay, and so so now how let me let me know a couple of stats on you how tall are you And then how much how much do you weigh? I'm 199 centimeters tall. That's like six six and a half. Okay. Yeah, I think so And I'm right now. I'm around 148 pounds no kilos Yeah You're the skinniest discus thrower in the world Yeah, the looks are deceiving So but we are trying to lose a little bit of weight to Okay around a little bit better. This this is a pretty heavy So so coach, I'm assuming when you see him And back in 2014. He's a big big guy and are you thinking right away? He's gonna be a shot putter Well, due to my background, I I tend to have all athletes try the shot first. Okay. Yeah figured as much, right? And it was it was coming along nicely, but Then we I had the whole throwing team in training camp in, uh, Portugal Okay And I I was I was having all of them do discus Okay, you know, like a line over the field and everybody had a discus Everybody throw at the same time Uh like for kids Yeah And I had I had a couple of discus throwers there, uh, but couldn't it was throwing further than them? So, you know from a stand throw so I right away saw that he had incredible touch on the discus Okay, so that was no question about it. We had to we had to go for the discus That's really cool. Yeah, and so when you start develop him, obviously he he Seems like it's pretty much a natural. I think if you throw 63 meters within Basically from a little over a year maybe or two seasons from when you started That's uh, that's pretty that's uh very impressive to say the least Um, so again as the coach and you have the opportunity Which I said I kind of got a little side track But the point is is I see the European or this, you know, Scandinavian model seems to be like You get the coach and you're pretty much going to get that opportunity to develop and here like you said I think in the states You see You're going to go which could be argued. It's interesting. We've obviously the United States is Absolutely insane with the number of World ranked shop putters, right? I mean our shop putters are insane Our discus throwers, however, we've had a lot of talented guys But we just haven't had the same type of luck, you know, or success on the international stage We of course have had greats, but in the last 20 years We've and we've had very good throwers and but we haven't had like that Kind of domination that you would see Do you from your guys's perspective? What do you see is there a big difference between what you see from like The european scandinavian discus, you know model versus the american model Good question Well I don't know, uh, of course Your shop putters Are always so impressive um Maybe they are just Taking most of the talented throwers So I don't know I you know, I tell you I've had a couple of I've had multiple kids that I coached with the the 5.45 right at the So the 12 pound shot and I've had to I've had a 22 meter kid A 21 86 kid and a 21 uh, like 26 Throwers, so I had you know, and I had all those guys within like a five-year span You have it's very fortunate to find the talent to be able to do that. But you know And all of them were good discus throwers too Uh, but they all once they became good at the shot They they wanted to throw the shot all the time. So, um, do you think that the the discus is technically Harder than the shot No, I don't think so. Uh, what I think is shot put has more opportunities because it's an indoor sport also Okay, so you you have more You know challenges and competitions Right, so I think I think it's more fun To be there Yeah You know, I think Yeah I think uh, all of these These throws uh javelin hammer they all need a lot of technique and And determination to be good. So, um It's it's I don't think it's right to say one is more difficult than the other um, I think just in like like like in goodness Setting he uh, he he has a very talented athlete. He wants to be good He comes from a strong supporting family He's in a in a strong, uh, club with many good coaches He's a student He doesn't have to change anything to to, you know, improve Still, you know, so I think this is this is one thing that Really is strong here, especially, you know for him I don't know Like I met this, uh, there was this dutch shop putter here, uh, sven His last name Yeah, so then he He commutes two two hours every day to his coach. Oh, wow Yeah, that's that's a lot of sacrifice. Yeah, for sure Two hours to go there and two hours back right, so So I think, uh, you know the the setting the way things are here, especially, you know for good in it right now It's it's just good That's cool. Okay, so let's ask you about, um, obviously Going into, um In in 2021 How was like the year you opened up, you know, uh, when I see something like 56 When you open up, I don't know if you were injured or Is it raining, you know, I mean, it's rake of it, right? It's Iceland it rains all the time So, you know, I would imagine Competing in less than optimal conditions in your in in Iceland's got to be kind of a norm, right? Like you're always going to have something it can change fast And yeah, so so you open up and then that was it I mean you went on and most of the season at that point you jumped up your next meet was like 63 meters You know, so what what goes through like what happened in like I said your next meet is Just, uh, you know a month later and you're over in Croatia and I'm imagining the weather is much better In april in Croatia than april in iceland Yeah, it was just it was pretty cold in iceland. I think this was my If it wasn't just my first time throwing outdoors, I'm not even sure it was warm Yeah, and we were just having having fun and uh, it was supposed to be fun at least I remember I You wanted to you wanted to you know scratch that, uh, throw and I said no stay in you will throw further, but he didn't So what you know as the coach when you see what what do you do?  Like how do you approach it? I know sometimes throwers can get right like oh and then they start to stress out and When you know, sometimes I mean a bad meet just happens or maybe you had better throws But you followed them or whatever and that's you know, never what you can see behind a final result I mean, it's irritating to have a bad meet but But mean I was I trained gold for 10 years and that uh, it made me pretty calm about my But it just about everything so now we can't go break clubs after one bad shot What about what about a one whole bad day? But it'll just come another day where you throw further or something.  It's there's no reason to like ruin the whole weekend or all week over it, right Yeah, what I what I say To my athletes is you you you have to have a ton of bad throws to be able to have a few good throws At least few perfect throws So you have to be able to you know To cope with it it's Of course, it's irritating like when it says but This is just how it is, right Yeah, now now I notice again Really quickly, you know, it looks like the very early part of the season was uh, you know Starts really strong. You just kind of keep building you get a 65 39 um, and I it was that the meet i'm trying to think was that uh I'm assuming in vax about you're throwing against daniel and simone and You know those and I think isn't that the meet that simone went uh Did he go i'm just trying to think of when he went 69 meters. Was that the i think even 69 meters then Is that the one and I think he beat daniel, right? Yeah, he beat daniel. It's the only uh, right isn't daniel lost last year, right?  Oh, wow Okay, so like around 73 74 73 60 or something. Okay, okay So I mean daniel can throw far Yeah, everybody knows that. Yeah, for sure And and so it's talk about like so how did the rest of the year go? I I I notice um, you know, you're competing again and you're prayer preparing for tokyo And there's still a lot of right, you know from your guys's end. I know from here We were even hearing, you know weeks before tokyo like they were considering potentially You know canceling stuff. Did you guys ever hear that or like did you have that concern at all going into going to tokyo? No, not me at least I always thought they they were always gonna have the games because It's gonna be probably just a financial disaster. They're not gonna have it Very true Yeah, I don't know. I always thought they were gonna have it Especially into us 21. I mean, I I thought they would not postpone it from 2020, but right I always thought they were gonna have it into us 21 after one postponed Gotcha, I don't know and would you My biggest concern was, you know, not not having good any, you know getting the virus Right, so he so he wouldn't, you know go I went from Iceland for a training camp in Tenerife in beginning of April Because everything was closing down in Iceland And our training facility, they were gonna close that for six or seven weeks because they had a computer tournament A League of Legends tournament, so they decided to close down the facility for seven weeks That's a pretty weird decision. Have you asked me? Yeah And I went, yeah, I was in Tenerife for four weeks I went straight from Tenerife to Croatia I was in Croatia for I'm not even Maybe almost two weeks. I think I was there in two weeks. I went yeah from Croatia to Vaxia I was there for Two weeks. I think I'm not even sure and it was all because if I came back home I had to do like five-day quarantine Ah, okay, so I was always trying to stay as long as possible Without coming home, but then I had to come home for Icelandic Championships in the like second week weekend of June And that's like I was on our like steady going upwards I threw 65 30 Something 39. Yeah, I think it was 65 39. Yeah. Yeah, then we went to Gothenburg through for the Gothenburg Grand Prix and I threw 6490 And that was in just a complete call. I was just really worn. It was a fun competition And then I thought everything was like Coming I was like throwing far snow wind just just me throwing far And then I came home Did my quarantine And just like I didn't find the like the touch after that. I mean I threw some big throws, but Never in never in the meat itself. Like it was in warm-up like right. I had a really big warm-up at the nationals Yeah It was I'm not it was I'm not sure how far but it was really far, but I think it was close to 69 Yeah, okay, but It was just some some misunderstanding with a laser equipment We're used to after well last week So after three throws in I mean it was one degree so it was really cold too. Oh, wow After three throws I took our to throw three throws so it was extremely long competition So you're just really cold trying to stay loose and it's just pretty hard especially when you're Getting big and stiff and not 20 anymore. Yeah, you're an old guy now at 25. Yeah So as you guys that you know the rest of the season Talk about you obviously went to the games And you obviously didn't have the games you were Hoping to have and I know that's probably you know, but I wanted to just kind of ask you guys You know because these things happen. I've obviously, you know as a as a coach in my experiences you get guys and You know, sometimes there's one of my friends who's a mentor and a coach Always said, you know bad day to have a bad day, right? You know, yeah, and it just but it happens sometimes But so what what what was there? Was there anything or was it just an off day? Was there like an injury or you know I had been dealing with a groin injury and I have been dealing with a little bit of groin injury for the last Since 2019 Okay So like I got sick sick in 2018 December I had to they had to remove my appendix Okay, and During the surgery they messed something up and I got a peritonitis From the surgery so it was just like my appendix had blown and everything that could have Gone wrong went wrong. Gotcha. So the surgery almost didn't do anything Got it. That's that's a bummer He was in intensive care for a while. Oh, wow It I lost like 16 kilos In just three weeks it It's amazing what you can lose. You just don't eat anything Yeah, I bet But yeah, but it came really it came back quickly and also the strength but Just after this I've been dealing with some weird groin injuries. I've been having like Meanie strax fracture in my pubis bone Okay, and I ruptured my pubis ligament to somehow Okay, I don't know how though, but it happened and I've been dealing with a little bit of like groin problems like now and then like And just Right now there. I haven't felt anything in my groin since just around olympics, but Yeah, but yeah, it was just a bad day 2021 in the olympics. I had been throwing pretty well in the world What do you call it in the training camp before the olympics? Okay. I was throwing pretty well where I thought so At least and It was just a bad day. I would say Yeah So coach, how does that how did it how were things leading up and then you know as the coach How was it on your end? When that situation happens Well, it's of course very hard to to take Of course, it's a lot harder for him, of course, right Always has to remind me of that, but I was I was pretty disappointed because everything was Was going quite well. Mm-hmm. The warmup was good Um But I think I think after you know thinking afterwards. I think uh the season had been just too long Okay, the covered problems wouldn't have to be away from Iceland for so many weeks Right traveling. Yeah It took a lot of toll and that was that was just Yeah, it was just somehow an endpoint there Um, so so It just did not click What he was trying to do right And uh, and I was just there in the stands and had no answers Gotcha Yeah Yeah, no, I can I can imagine and you know, you when you were mentioned that earlier and you had to be on the road Because of uh, you know five-day quarantine upon returning kind of staying out. I would imagine at a certain point It's one thing to write to kind of even mentally know you're going to go somewhere Do a training camp for however many weeks and know you're going to kind of return home, right? But then when you're kind of perpetually on the road, you're not in your bed You're not eating kind of the way Not as normally as you might eat. I would think you know when you're you're traveling that hard that definitely would take a toll so um, so on that note I wanted to ask you guys On training and I think that's pretty like when you guys live in a Cold climate, it's it seems pretty I see this with most european throwers as well.  The conditions are always good How many training camps a year do you guys? tend to do and then like what's a training What's the training cycle look like for you guys? When do you guys start training in september? Do you know what when do you take off when do you start and then and then how many training camps do you get kind of pre-season? Well, actually we we don't go that often since goodness in school okay We only we only can use like christmas time and then easter time training camps, okay And then we go to the winter cup throwing competition and we try to use Get few extra days there That's in march. Okay, so so and then We try to do something early spring Okay, someone got you Usually related to a competition. Gotcha So it does it can be in holland or or sweden or or portugal okay so So as it is now, it's not so many training camps every year. Okay It was the first time now we went during the christmas Yeah, yeah Yeah, and I think I saw where did you go again? I had seen that on I think your instagram uh went to tenor reef to the Northern part of tenor reef that's really nice for throwers Okay, but when it comes to Your throwing technique, what you know, what are what is kind of the general, you know, technical approach like what would be I I always see, you know, coach, I'm not sure if you're familiar with kind of like my six pillars I kind of break the throw down. It's a teaching system and I was explaining right we have a lack of, you know, coaches, but um I'm big on You know, you have to the start to me is is massively important to the throw because it's just going to dictate if it's on Everything's going to kind of fall into place easier if it's off you're off balance your orbit's affected You know, you're gonna and you're just working at a less optimal You know point so yeah, I totally agree with that the start is everything. Yeah. Yeah, good. That's great to hear So so what do you guys like what are some of the key things that You like to do and I know when I interview a lot of athletes and coaches sometimes, you know I get it that when you're starting to compete on a You know, you're you're competing at the highest level. So sometimes you don't want to like, you know, give away what you think maybe are your little You know advantages or insights, but generally You know, what would be some of the kind of the main technical things like you had said earlier when you were talking about your throw You know, coach, you said He was fast, right and clearly that's the key like bigger distances the more on balance and more speed Is going to translate to bigger throws And then you said goodness You said you talked about the grip and that's like such a huge thing that I think especially young throwers don't understand like And in like, you know coaches saying You started picked it up right away and that's something that that's usually I always say is the big indicator for it for a discus throwers So you've got speed you guys talked about grip And then you said you really got your lower body ahead and you felt a nice long pull So how do you guys kind of approach things because there's a lot of stuff Obviously in those quick comments you guys made but how do you guys generally go out and You know, how do you look at your technique and What do you you know, what are the things how when you trying to get the lower body ahead? Obviously, I think that starts in the beginning of the throw as well Um, but what are some of the big things that you guys like to think about We think about probably most the start the start is like the most important thing. So if if the start is really good I mean the rest of the throw is just gonna almost finish it itself And if you like if you can start with like a good press into a circle Wide right leg and your left leg is not like pulling you into a circle that's almost just Just equals 60 meters plus like all the time almost but It's really hard sometimes to try and throw far without pulling something out of line and something so For me at least I think about almost every practice is just trying to get that start the right and right now we are working on just like Not pulling the left shelter into The throw and that's that's something I did really well in my 69 meter throw I I managed to like neutralize my left shelter So instead of like always put opening it up. It was always just close the whole time so It managed to let me like leave the discus more behind And just like give me a better torque like from a feeling up into the fingers right And coach, what do you so when you're coaching it? what do you like What do you look for like, how do you know his start is on and how do you know his start is off? Well, I just see the if the balance is good or not Right just by just by watching him and sometimes just by hearing the throw I think you know what I'm talking about Yeah, yeah, you can you can hear if it is a good throw Right, right Yeah, the way the feet are gonna sound through the yeah, yeah for sure so So the way the way I coach I don't really have Like a like a set of rules like you have done with your six pillars Um Which I think is really good in the way you explained how things are in your country There are not so many Many quality quality throwers and the coaches out there, right? So so you're trying to build that up with with those steps And what I do I just I just watch The individuals how they throw And then I correct things By number of different drills To to correct it and And and yeah, that's just how I work Sometimes I have to say The same thing in 10 different ways. Yeah for the athlete you understand it right so So, uh, yeah, so it's just a lot of work one on one So that's that's what I try to do. I try to spend time with the athlete when he's throwing I I just don't give him orders and then I go somewhere else. I'm there watching Taking videos. We watch the videos together right there And not every not all the time. I don't think that's good to do at all the time Sometimes you just have to throw and feel it right But it's a lot of a lot of video work also right there on the spot.  Yeah And that that's a definite training advantage nowadays for sure Yeah so, um What since you mentioned drills what would be you know, you had really fast success And obviously that says a lot about your athletic ability Uh that that you could you know Basically what in the second season throw 63 meters at your first year you threw 52 meters with the 1.75 Right, and that's a huge throw for the first year with a 175 I actually Through 53 something. Oh, was it 53? Okay. Yeah, but somehow it's not recorded anymore. Oh, okay So, yeah, even even more to the point and so the next year you throw 63 50 and a series of 60 meter throws with the 2k as a It's like you're the Icelandic Lawrence Okoye So, uh, so coach doing that and and to have that kind of success what would what would be like three drills that you Uh, like your top three drills to kind of get a young thrower moving quickly and what specifically did good nut? Was what was what was the key for him? Well, he he had the touch for the disc right away. So he had the he had the long reach and and really That that that pushed To the implement. Okay, so so I didn't have to worry about that uh, what I just had to have him do is is like The things you you're doing, you know, you press into your left leg and you take the right Wide out and and and put it down there. Okay To the right. Okay. So a lot of those drills to start with just just to put pressure on the left leg and take the right Have have the same distance between the knees as you go around Uh, that's how I explain it. Okay, I keep your toe out Okay and And then a very important thing is never look down just Just look like you're walking in a normal way of walking right Yeah, and then we're still working on this With with goodness head though. I think he has a lot of him a lot of a lot of uh improvement to do with the way he Manages his head as he throws So he's he's he's still leading a little bit with his head at the finish. I wanted to relax a little bit more and get more get more A little bit more delay Got you from the upper body. Yeah, right So We still have We still have some improvements to do. That's good Well really at 25 are now you're 26 Right, so you still are in your prime throwing years So yeah, what and obviously I would imagine, you know, you want to Paris has got to be the goal And and uh, you know, what do you think? What do you think you're gonna be able to Throw and I do have two more questions for you guys tech about technique. There's two things Oh, but but ultimately with where where do you think you can Like what's your goal? Like is is the next goal just a just a pr or do you have in your head like it's 70 meters the constant Thought or you know, how do you guys approach that next level? I mean my goal is just always to throw as far as I possibly can And just I mean, I want to Be able to throw constantly really far. So I'll be able to join like diamond league meetings the Always in the finals at the big meets championships I mean, everybody's looking for the podium Right, I think a very few Disco drawers at this level Don't think about the podium like everybody's always thinking about the gold everything is about the gold, but I mean It is possible. I mean, I know I can throw really far. It just Just has to be a good day and we just are always working on a technique and We'll just see what happens. I mean, I'm strong enough to throw far now. We just need to Maybe do it So coach two things I got for you The middle of the throw I find is always one of those tricky things to teach There's always the right. There's the the subtle deceleration of the upper body So that you can obviously accelerate the lower body and create that torque when you land What are what are how do you guys approach that aspect of the throw? Is there any like key marker points? Is there like if you just had some general things if you were talking at a At a clinic, you know, what would be the advice you would give people on how that sequence kind of comes in to play Well in in my mind it's you have to you have to get the right food quickly into the middle As quickly as possible without, you know, any shortcuts it has to go the way you go all the way But still be fast into the into the ground to get the support from the ground And as you're doing it Left food has to come really quickly into the block Right and really, you know, really give the block block is so important You cannot have a soft knee there. You have to have it have the left leg pretty straight there. Okay? So I don't know if I'm answering your question But you know get into the middle feel feel the weight on your right leg Of course, you cannot you cannot turn your head unless left is down It's gonna turn maybe, you know just by being turned in But there's no power until the your left foot comes down. Right. So So us, you know get the left foot as quickly down as possible and I think it's the best block is if if your heel comes down Right. Yeah Yeah, I would I would agree with that. Yeah So what do you think And what do you think is the Let you guys both ask from the coach in the athlete perspective. What do you think is the best part of your throw? And what do you think is the weakest part of your throw and How much of that is Do you just kind of Accept that. Okay. Well, this is how he's gonna move So maybe that isn't ever get to what we think is the most optimal, but we got to Find the most optimal style that allows him to perform it as best Best part of your throw weakest part of your throw and if there is a weak part of your throw At what point basically coach do you say? This is probably never going to be that classic This is probably never going to be that classic type of movement like I have a thrower who says he's thrown 65 48 And he can't get a wide right leg and Robert Harding was out here at the Germans and back in 2000 and Uh, I want to say it was 2018. They did a camp. I think it was Roberts last year and um, so it was Daniel Jezynski and Robert's wife and You know you had um a couple other Germans and we all went out to dinner and we talked and he was saying your thrower has a You know stiff right leg and I was like, yeah, I know There's like but I've just now he's never gonna have that Beautiful big wide leg. He's got a little bit of a tighter But it still goes wide and he's got the right path, but he doesn't have a a real dynamic sweep So I had a certain point had to say Well, I just have to focus on what what's going to make him and he's about six three So I forget what that is in centimeters and he weighs 100 and Uh, well, let's see. What is he baby? He's under 120. He's probably about You know 118 and that range is kilo. So So that being said, best part of your throw weakest part of your throw What do you think? What do you think coach? Because that'll be I'm sure it's probably the same viewpoint since you're working together all the time But maybe maybe it's a little different. So go ahead Well, if I can start, um, I think like I said earlier, I think Good and it can improve in In holding his his his eyes back Okay, just before the throw okay, and Therefore get a stronger hip and a bigger pull On the on the disc. So so this is what We're talking about and and working on It's um, it's a long way to correct that it's because So many throwers tend to lead with her with her head right and and uh, it's hard to correct. So so it's uh, it's uh You have to just be patient and work on it So that that's the key everything else is quite good for winning The every year he's getting stronger Um, he throws a ton of throws Between 10 15 000 throws every year. Wow. So even even with his growing injury and and um Probably 70 percent of that is into a net Which is which is, you know, also Not so good all the time. Gotcha Um We need to go more For training camps Throw in the sun go to Arizona. Maybe yes, you got a Arizona is always good right now Beautiful for the next two months Yeah Yeah, so this is my my view of Okay, what can be improved? Yeah, for me, it would be probably similar. It's uh, I would say my best part is probably The beginning because that's uh, the thing we've mostly worked on like during my career in discus throw And my worst is probably yeah, just like the whole middle section kind of So you feel like the head the head's turning too much around when you're coming around. Is that what you guys? Yeah, the head's pulling too much and just maybe not turning strong enough on the right and you know, it's always You can always turn more and Yeah, for sure faster.  What are what are the numbers? Uh, my clean is uh 182.5 kilos right now Uh, it was 180 for like four years and I just Managed to do a 2.5 kilo PR right now. Okay. Is it 400 pounds? Is it it's 402 kind of And and my I mean, I was I was going for 192, but I pulled it high enough, but I didn't catch it. So it was just high pull My bench is 235 kilos. Okay I did that after all my attempts of clean. So it was really hard Okay, yeah, that's about 500 Yeah, 500 is 227 kilos. So this is Almost 10 kilos is 520 maybe that's a big that's big My squat is 300 kilos. I did I finally managed to max out my squat in december I hadn't been able to do it just because of you know injuries always a little bit something there and there Okay, then What my my snatch is 145 kilos power snats Some power something All power Power overhead bar lift And uh, you know What I left my deadlift is three 10 kilos three hundred and ten Wow, uh, my jerk is 200 kilos and I did that. I think 2017. I'm not sure I then I I mean a little bit injured always in my left shoulder But it doesn't bother me in anything except overhead presses And jerks and so I just don't do it that much. So okay And it doesn't matter and also the ceiling in our weight room. It's just it's not high enough for For jerks, but they are they are building a little bit lower platform Right now. So maybe I'll be again in a little bit. Maybe some crazy numbers, but I don't know. Yeah, exactly. So the strength is obviously there Yeah, what do you call it this push presses like people are doing now? I've been doing a little bit of them during the last Yeah, since last fall, I think I went like 175 kilos maybe In that I'm not sure. I think I mean, I didn't like build up to it. I just like I was just having fun Gotcha and somehow ended up doing 175 Okay, damn Okay, so what about vertical like your vertical jump? Do you know where that's at? Actually It was in november last year. It was 51 centimeter Without arm swing. So it's just Counter movement jump with your hands on your hips. Okay So it's 51 centimeters. And that was before I started doing plyometrics during training. So My plan is to go back to my college to check out the Jump mat and see if the centimeters have changed. Okay So that's just with your hands at your hips. So it's just like a down and jump. So you don't get the Okay, no Oh, so they don't have you ever tested with your arms?  I think pieter was always making us jump Something and we just like reached that reached up to all with some chalk And then we just jumped up touched it and it just measured it like that and I think I did 73 centimeters, but I'm not sure. Yeah Yeah All right. Yeah, because that makes it that makes a big difference. Yeah another 2014 I think or 13 maybe Back when you were maybe only 135 kilos or something. Yeah. Yeah when I started I was actually 120 kilos and then I Had to lose some weight because I mean I was not 120 kilos strong when I started so I lost 17 kilos. I went down to 103 During like an eight month span.  I mean, I was practicing golf every day So it wasn't really hard. It was just like Eat one bowl of cereal instead of three and just like some stuff like that That's funny. Um, okay. So let's see So I'm trying to think If they're now generally I had one more category. I always like to talk about Just mental focus so from a coaching standpoint and you kind of mentioned peter earlier on kind of like obviously, you know just Getting getting the athlete prepared and comfortable and different things like that But how how do you guys approach things from a mental perspective? Well, I think I tried to teach All my athletes to be prepared To have everything you need in the back Right. So so situation on the field where you ever go to compete doesn't surprise you You have you have a towel You have the chalk You have the knee wraps. You have everything to manage through the competition You have a rain gear You you have two sets of throwing pair shoes pair Um Even though You know This is this is one thing, you know always be prepared. You don't have to rely on others right, you know and then Just believe in yourself and believe you can throw far try to say, you know Stay positive and if you have a bad day try to build them up You know with some positive things to say, you know, there's always something good to To get from even from a lousy training session, right? Yeah The next one is going to be better. Yeah, for sure, right? And what about you guinea? Yeah, for me, I just think it's really important to Like believe you can throw far to mean throw further and like just like believe in yourself It's like when you start having doubts and stuff like that That's like usually when you're gonna start to have a really bad training weeks Yeah, for sure and just like Then you just You just have to like get angry and just go hard until I maybe won't practice And just see that disc fly a little bit further It may be just over that 60 meter mark and just like, oh, yeah I remember I I still can't throw far or something like that Just to like right to get your confident back up But yeah, you just always have to like believe in yourself in almost like everything you do. It doesn't matter what it is Right And you know, you've mentioned it a couple of times and and I find that this is the case You you've mentioned like your training throws are always slightly shorter than your competition throws, right? And I've always found that with most of my athletes that I know if they're throwing, you know 0.1 guys throwing 60 meters in training that I know he's good for he's gonna go easily 62 63 You know what? I mean, and if I see him throw 62, it's like, okay. He's he's ready to start hitting some big throws And and would you say that's the case for you guys too? Most of your training throws are you are you?   I threw a training pb of 66 80 And that was like the only throw again almost compared to my astantic record. So that was just like Really good, but too bad. I couldn't like replicate it during amit, right? The the always the challenge right quick questions like the speed round on personal interests, right? Because you train all the time. So I'm gonna do we do day in the life So what's day in the life like what's a typical day for you? Well, if I start I am I am Policeman here in Reykjavik. Okay, that's what I do 100 percent And then I coach on the side. Okay So A lot of whole lot of time left I bet yeah But uh, I like to travel and actually go into Boston tomorrow a few days. That's right. Yeah. Yeah, very cool And Yeah, that's that's how my my day Days are work and coaching Gotcha, so pretty full and what about so now as a young thrower you're in college And tell me I'll go through the fast ones movies best place to eat in Reykjavik all that kind of stuff Go ahead. What's a day in the life? But for me it would just maybe Go to class for a little bit study a little bit play some Call of Duty Go training And if it is not snowing and Then I would probably go and try to maybe go golf a little bit or Disc golf a little bit. That's also really fun. Okay. That's like two of my hobbies. So very cool And uh, how good of a golfer are you coach said you're pretty good Right now my handicap is two. Okay So I think I'm I'm I would say I'm uh, above average good golfer And also above average Short distance, okay, I bet yeah Very cool. Okay, so Uh, we always say so you you obviously because you train hard And throwing is um, there's a certain fun to throwing, but it's a lot of work, right? It there's a There's a weird enjoyment to throwing right Everybody but it's it's definitely hard work. So you got to have some fun on the side So we always say, okay, what's your favorite movie? Step brothers step brothers nice Okay The the rock, okay favorite food And then pizza, okay And coach, what do you think? What's your favorite? Good steak a good steak. Okay. And what's the what's the best? What's the best place to eat in Reykjavik? Well, it's it's my place. It's my home because my wife is an excellent cook. That was a good answer coach Yeah I would probably say similar. I mean I live at home with my parents and uh, it's almost we eat steaks here like Three out of seven days a week almost Usually some kind of like young horse meat So that's just crazy good. And there's just always it's uh, kind of just better than Going out and pay some crazy high amount for something that's not even Pairable to what I'm eating at home. Okay for weight seeper tacos or chicken wings Chicken wings for me all day. Yeah, same here. Okay. Um, let's see favorite pump-up song For me, it's been a while now. I mean, I'm always rotating some songs, but I would say when I'm lifting It would be heliest mahter in the universe by kojira. Okay, and it has to be the live version Okay, the live version. Yeah, and then when I'm throwing I My favorite pump-up song right now and has been during the fall Is uh, harvester of sorrow by metallica Life at tucino airfield in moscow Okay, nice Isn't that the one that they said there was like a million people there to watch? Yeah 1.6. Yeah It's just It's just a lot of love all songs. Okay Coach now you're a little older So back in the day when I would throw right I would like to go classic Rock back when I was so this is like You know early early 90s. So I would go with black sabbath Paranoid was my pump-up song to get ready for meets What about you coach? Well, like most most classic songs with Deep purple. Okay Good, so it's hard to choose between them all but yeah deep purple. Okay All right, um and just generally what advice would you guys give for young coaches and young throwers? Just believe in yourself in both ways. Just for coaches Read articles. I mean, there's a lot of articles. I'm doing my I'm doing my bachelor of science project now and I mean, there's a ton of articles about like what part of the throw is like Maybe more important than another slangs. So you don't like screw up Like don't stay in the air for too long.  I mean I get this you and I just Put the shot to one X so it just it takes uh, it takes time And maybe it takes some months or even a year before you start seeing a progress and then it just comes really quick usually Right. Okay Coach, what about you?  I I tell them try to have a long career You're right. Keep keep on it. Don't quit. Don't quit. Just keep going. You're gonna throw far You know, it might take a long time to build up, but it will happen Yeah, that's uh, I always say to my guys the the hard work's always going to pay off It just pays off at a different rate for everybody. Yeah. Yeah And also it's like when you're beginning You just need that like Amount of throws if it's a thousand or two thousand throws before you're made like realize Realize what you're doing like right. Oh, yeah, so this is what you're talking about going worldwide here Looking back. It's like takes a while being comfortable in the circle. Yeah, for sure I'm agree Okay, great But hey, thanks again. I appreciate. I know it's late and I appreciate you guys meeting up with me And I wish you guys the best. I hope to see you throwing super far this year And uh, you know, see if you can push that national record up a little bit more Yeah


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