Summer Review

“On your Mark, Get Set…

Only 78 Days left in the  Year.

How will you focus?

Royalty in England  – World Championships – London 2017

Good Bye Mo!    Good Bye Usain!    Hello Mason!!

Mens’ Discus …

A BIG step for Mason and Daniel!

No German Discus Medals

No Russian Team – Again!

Do you know why?  (Hint –  same reason the Russian team wasn’t in Rio last year)

Thanks for your feedback on my One Question Questionnaire!

You asked for all the topics I listed.

In addition, several of you have asked if I could somehow include my

peer network in the newsletter.   That’s been an idea of mine for a while

and I am excited to try to make it work with on demand video or podcasts.

I will also be adding one or more random topics from time to time in The Grab Bag.

The Grab Bag

A random note for all my Internet Marketing friends.

Have you heard of Les Brown, how about Anik Singal?

Do you have a Shopify Store?  Do you  even want one?

Check it out here or skip down the page.

More Throw Stuff  http://www.macthrowvideo.com/

The Arc of a Season, a Career, a Life…

The arc of a thrower’s career is like the arc of a jump by Mario.

How many gold coins can you collect before you return to earth,

before your career is finished?  Of course, having your mental and

physical abilities peaking together is your ideal state.

Its tough to be a wily veteran with less than your best physical ability

or a physically talented youngster with little discipline or focus.

The varying mix of both in each athlete and the combination of all the

throwers at different points on the arc of their career is what

makes competition compelling.

Post Olympic Year 

This adds another dimension to the mature thrower’s performance arc.

The Olympics and World Championships add additional ebb and flow to

career performance arcs.  After the big peak demanded by the Olympics

physically AND emotionally there must be a let down.

There are a few things you can do to reduce the let down, but the best

is to go with the flow.  Resistance is futile.  As my friend and

world renown sport psychologist, Dr. Scott Pengelley says,

“The body always wins.  Mind over matter is mostly a myth.”  

The purpose of training is to work hard, recover and as a result,

be stronger, more skilled or at a higher performance level.

Most athletes and non-athletes tend to ignore the recovery part

and just train or work as hard as possible.

Being overworked does not produce better results, just tired performers. 

It takes great discipline to NOT train too much.

More is not always better.

With an “I will work harder” approach, it is very difficult

to accept an emotional lull.  Younger athletes may be fired up

by an Olympic breakthrough and just keep improving the next year.

More mature athletes may take a year off serious competition or

change performance goals to take into consideration the lower

emotional energy.

This does not have to be a step backward in growth but perhaps

a scaled back schedule or a later start to the competitive season.

A different approach to the season with good results can open an

athlete’s mind to the possibilities that there might be more than

one way to train to reach their goals.  This can help confidence

levels if the standard plan to success isn’t available.

This also helps over-trainers accept that more volume is not the only

path to gain.

Too bad I can’t apply this to my non-competitive life.  ha ha ha

And so to the competitions…

Men’s Shot Put, The FIVE Kings!

Ryan Crouser – 6th Place  –  USA Last Years Olympic Champion with

3 Personal Records (PR) in Rio AND this year a last throw

PR 74′ 3 3/4″ 22.65 to win the US National Championship.

Ryan finished 6th with a relatively meager 21.20m 69′ 7″.

The sweet rhythm of peak throwing and occasionally finding “The Zone”

come and go through out your career.  Ask a baseball pitcher or batter

or pro golfer.  Ryan is just starting his career but you know he regrets

missing a gold medal in London for whatever reason.

You never know how long you will be able to compete at your peak level.

The rhythm will come back. At 24 years old, he hasn’t thrown his last

life record yet.   His London result will be motivation.

Tomas Walsh – World Champion  Shot Put-  New Zealand 2016 Olympics Bronze

& 2016 World Champion Indoors  Tom continued his climb through out last

year throwing a life record after the Olympics.

He hasn’t matched it this year BUT in the World Champs or Olympics,

where you place is more important than how far you throw.

Tomas threw 22.02m 72’4″ to WIN the World Title in London.

The World Champion was the picture of consistency.

Similar to Crouser in the Olympics last summer, Tom had all 6 throws legal,

all over 70′ and 3 of his throws were far enough to win.

Ya can’t beat that, and they couldn’t.

Joe Kovacs – Silver Medal  Shot Put  USA Two years ago Joe was

the defending World Champion from 2015 looking like he was on his

way to dominating the event for several years.  In his 2015 World win

he had just knocked off David Storl of Germany the 2013 World Champion.

As you know, Joe’s career arc flattened a just bit and Ryan’s was a

hockey stick like curve last year.  Joe trained at an even higher

level this year hitting a PR 22.57m 74′ 3/4″ in May and came away

with the Silver Medal in London.  His last throw was a controversial

foul (did he really hit the top edge of the toe board with his foot?)

that might have taken the Gold.  Bummer Dude, only the second best in

the world! Just kidding, Joe should be proud of his competitive effort

this year and in London.  He should be just getting into the sweet part

of his career.  In three consecutive years he has been World Champion,

Olympic Silver Medalist and now World Champs Silver Medalist.

Ryan Whiting – USA Shot Put 2 time World Champion Indoors 2012 & 2014,

Silver Medal World Championships 2014  Slow coming back after a

surgery Ryan has had big throws and Big Wins.  Can he get back to

22m consistently?  Ryan knows enough about big time competition and

finished 7th in London a few inches behind Crouser.

David Storl – Germany Shot Put World Champion in 2011 & 2013,

Silver in 2015 behind Joe. Storl also won Silver in the 2012 Olympics

and after surgery finished 7th last year in Rio.  In London David finished

10th and earned only three throws in the final.  Two Gold, Two Silver,

no one could complain about that. It may be the end but David is only 27

and competition is a heady drink.  Its tough to stop.

Hammer King  –  Pawel Fjdek – Poland Hammer Throw became the first

man ever in the hammer to be a THREE TIME WORLD CHAMPION.

Four Queens…

Michelle Carter USA Shot Put Bronze Medal –

Last year’s World Indoor AND Olympic Champion in the Shot Put with

winning throws over 20m 65’7″.  Michelle is enough of a veteran to

know how to stay at a high level in back to back years.

She is the classic case of sticking with it through a period of

several years chasing the world’s top women shot putters.

Michelle was 6th in the 2009 World Championships.  Finally the gradual

technical improvements paid off with a 2015 world Champs Bronze, last

years World Indoor Champs Gold, her Rio Olympic Gold and now the “off year”

World Championship Bronze.  Three consecutive years of Medals.

This years winning throw was almost 5′ below her Rio winner last August.

But again, where you place is more important than how far you throw.

Sandra Perkovik  Croatia  Discus-  2012 & 2016 Olympic Champion

2015 & 2017 World Champion.  Sandra has dominated the event for five years

while throwing far in the big meets.  In London she picked up her

second World Champs Gold to go with her two Olympic Golds.

Dani Stevens  Australia Discus Silver Medal Last throw Life Record!

228′ 6″ – 69.64m, an improvement of 5′ from 223′.  Dani was World Champion

in 2009 at the young age of 21. She has had a long climb back up to the top

with a 6th in 2015 World Champs, a 4th in Rio, and now Silver in the

London World Championships with a 5′ Personal Record.

Anita Wlodarczyk – Poland – Hammer Throw Won her THIRD World Championship

to go with her TWO Olympic GOLD Medals.  Anita, the World Record Holder,

is undefeated for the last three consecutive years.

Three Young Princes… 

Mens Discus Throw

Andrius Gudzius   Lithuania Life Record   69.21m-227’1/2″  World Champ   6′ 6 1/2″

Daniel Stahl          Sweden                        69.19m 227′ 0″    Silver Medal     6′ 8″

Mason Finley        USA Life Record           68.03m-223′ 2″    Bronze Medal   6′ 8″

All three young throwers had huge break out this year AND in their

performances in London.  They are just starting their careers.

It will be fun to watch their growth as they add to their 2017 performances.

All three have the potential to be medal contenders for the next six years or more.

Check their height.

Now you know why I considered myself at 6′ 4″, 1.93m, a ‘Medium-Small’ discus thrower.