I apologize for not writing sooner. I’ve been busy coaching, observing, and pondering the mysteries of track and field, such as why no one has broken the world throwing records set back in the 1980s.
Just something to think about while watching young athletes sweat, strain and train for the glory of track and field.
May and June are big months for throwers, and track and field in general. There’s a lot of coaching to be done and my disciples were out there throwing like madmen and madwomen, may Odin bless them and our unified spin theory.
On a road trip June 13 to Denison University in Ohio for a training camp with my old friend John Powell, I learned that there is great interest in the throwing events in all ages and all corners of the world.
At the Denison camp, we coached about 70 young people from all over — Florida, Georgia, Texas, the Midwest. In previous years, we’ve had student athletes come from as far away as Fiji, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia. The only continent we haven’t had people from is Antarctica.
We’ve had some very good athletes who went on to become fine throwers in high school and college. And not only young throwers. We get senior citizen students who want to compete in age group competitions just for the sheer fun of throwing.
I’ve known Powell since 1968 and we went to the Munich Olympics together. Powell was a four time U.S. Olympic contender in the discus. He also had a real job as a San Jose police officer and so was a contributing and productive member of society, as opposed to myself. I was unable to conform as much and it always made me cringe to think about putting on a suit and tie and going to the office every day. Still does. I’m cringing right now, writing about it.
Powell set a world record in the discus in 1975 about a week after I set the world record shot-put. That was pretty sensational stuff and we felt like kings of the throwers circles. We became best buddies and I roomed at his condo in Cupertino, Cal., back in the 70s. I could talk the lingo of corrections and cops, having worked as a teacher at the boy’s reformatory in St. Charles, Ill. It was my only real attempt to have a career based on my academic achievements, such as they were.
Powell was not the biggest guy nor the strongest guy on the field, but he had great technique and was able to throw the disc a country mile. It was fun to watch and to compete against him.
He began the throwing camps about 25 years ago and I have been coaching at them ever since. I love being around the students. It gives you energy and it reminds me of my young days when I had no idea about the great world of athletics and the immense possibilities out there.
Powell and I did the routine training — bench press, overhead press, military press, squats, all of that good stuff to develop strength. But we also worked a lot on technique and footwork, because you can’t be a successful thrower just by getting bigger and stronger. You have to develop speed, flexibility and balance.
That was one of the reasons I did 100 yard sprints and striders. It helps you develop your footwork and your leg speed to move through the throwing circle. Running makes you a better athlete.
From Denison, I went on to Wichita and another training camp. More kids, more talent, more enthusiasm. It’s all about the joy of throwing.
I’m still looking for disciples. There’s still space left to be conquered in throwing, a sort of final frontier on the fields of play. All of the world records in discus, shot-put and javelin were set in the 1980s. Those records are waiting to be conquered. I want some conquerors to raise their hands and say, “Help me break that world record.”
I may have found one, not in the training camps, but in the world of weekend warriors. John Long, from downstate Illinois, who sought me out to learn how to train to set records, to be the best you can be. At 36, he is on the mature side, but he has the desire, the size, the dream. We’ll see what happens.
By Brian Oldfield with George Houde