Blog Beinnings (May ‘05)
(originally posted 5/19/05)
Yes it's true that I went 36 years without touching a discus, but what's equally as important to note is that when I did throw discus way back when, I basically sucked. I always thought I had some potential in the sport because of my long arms and decent coordination, but I was never very big, or strong, or fast. Equally as important, there was no one available to coach me in the finer points of discus technique.
In Texas back in the 1960's all junior high school coaches were football coaches first and foremost, but they were obligated to coach the other sports as the seasons changed. Some coaches were fairly decent in making the transition to basketball, but Track & Field ran a distant third in popularity...with "Field" even less of a priority than "Track"...and of course, of all the field events, the throwing events were the least glamorous of them all. Our "coaching" amounted to someone who knew nothing about throwing tossing some old rubber discs to a group of kids who had never seen discs before, and telling them to try to figure it out. From what I’ve seen, very little has changed at the junior high level.
My high school years were spent exploring the “hippy scene”, such as it was in West Texas back then, and athletics were definitely not “cool” within the circle of friends I kept. That momentum carried forward through my college years, where the demands of academics and a part-time job also allowed little time for recreational activities. Then came career, marriage, divorce, and remarriage. During this 25-year period there were a handful of years in which I dabbled off-and-on at running many 10ks, and one half-marathon.
So here I am, now 39 years after my initial discus experience, and now I’m at the beginning of my 3rd season of my big comeback. (Although the term “comeback” would presuppose that you had some level of prior expertise to come back to!) I was talked into taking up the discus again by my boss. Her husband ran our company's corporate track team and they thought that a 50 year-old discus thrower might help the team because of the age-grading system. I agree to begin practicing, and soon realized how much I enjoyed making it fly. I barely broke 100' during that first meet, but it was enough to get me hooked, and I immediately started working toward 150'.
At present my PR is 128' 7", but I hope to increase that by about 10' during this season. That should put me pretty close to where I need to be to meet my goal of 150' sometime next year. Last year I also began throwing the shot a little, primarily so that when I drove 3 hours to meets I would have more than 45 minutes of action before I headed home. I have now gotten more serious in shot, and this year I'm trying to add javelin, hammer and the 25# weight throw to my repertoire. Hopefully, my skills will start to come around and I will be able to participate in my first Weight Pentathlon toward the end of this season.
My hope is that by maintaining this web page I will be more focused on my goals, and more motivated to continue to work hard.
Yes it's true that I went 36 years without touching a discus, but what's equally as important to note is that when I did throw discus way back when, I basically sucked. I always thought I had some potential in the sport because of my long arms and decent coordination, but I was never very big, or strong, or fast. Equally as important, there was no one available to coach me in the finer points of discus technique.
In Texas back in the 1960's all junior high school coaches were football coaches first and foremost, but they were obligated to coach the other sports as the seasons changed. Some coaches were fairly decent in making the transition to basketball, but Track & Field ran a distant third in popularity...with "Field" even less of a priority than "Track"...and of course, of all the field events, the throwing events were the least glamorous of them all. Our "coaching" amounted to someone who knew nothing about throwing tossing some old rubber discs to a group of kids who had never seen discs before, and telling them to try to figure it out. From what I’ve seen, very little has changed at the junior high level.
My high school years were spent exploring the “hippy scene”, such as it was in West Texas back then, and athletics were definitely not “cool” within the circle of friends I kept. That momentum carried forward through my college years, where the demands of academics and a part-time job also allowed little time for recreational activities. Then came career, marriage, divorce, and remarriage. During this 25-year period there were a handful of years in which I dabbled off-and-on at running many 10ks, and one half-marathon.
So here I am, now 39 years after my initial discus experience, and now I’m at the beginning of my 3rd season of my big comeback. (Although the term “comeback” would presuppose that you had some level of prior expertise to come back to!) I was talked into taking up the discus again by my boss. Her husband ran our company's corporate track team and they thought that a 50 year-old discus thrower might help the team because of the age-grading system. I agree to begin practicing, and soon realized how much I enjoyed making it fly. I barely broke 100' during that first meet, but it was enough to get me hooked, and I immediately started working toward 150'.
At present my PR is 128' 7", but I hope to increase that by about 10' during this season. That should put me pretty close to where I need to be to meet my goal of 150' sometime next year. Last year I also began throwing the shot a little, primarily so that when I drove 3 hours to meets I would have more than 45 minutes of action before I headed home. I have now gotten more serious in shot, and this year I'm trying to add javelin, hammer and the 25# weight throw to my repertoire. Hopefully, my skills will start to come around and I will be able to participate in my first Weight Pentathlon toward the end of this season.
My hope is that by maintaining this web page I will be more focused on my goals, and more motivated to continue to work hard.
posted by Jake at 7:58 PM
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