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The other day I posted a question on Instagram about podcast episode ideas friends in the coaching community had. I received two great questions from a graduate assistant throwing coach in the Mid-West. Her first question was about making the transition to post-collegiate throwing. Her second question was about strategies targeted towards throwers ensuring they stay on-track and accountable to their commitments (time management ideas). I recorded the first podcast about making the transition to post-collegiate throwing. You can listen to that episode by clicking HERE. I’ve written about the topic a couple of times, but I haven’t revisited the topic in a couple of years. Since then, some of my ideas about what is most important in making the transition to post-collegiate throwing have changed. I still advocate what I wrote a couple of years ago. You can read that blog post by clicking HERE. In that post from a couple of years ago, I discussed four traits that I thought then and still think today are important when making the transition to post-collegiate throwing. Two years ago I wrote about:
You can learn more about Grit by clicking HERE and HERE. I wrote about Grit in the past when I met Dan Chambliss and Angela Duckworth when she spoke at Hamilton College a couple of years ago. If you are interested in taking Angela’s grit assessment, you can click HERE. I go into more detail in my podcast episode about finding a support system. You can listen to our latest episode by clicking HERE. I also share those details below. Deliberate practice is an interesting concept. Many researchers have spent their entire careers studying the concept and how it has been applied to education, business, the medical field, music, and the arts. You can click HERE to learn more about deliberate practice and some of the leading researchers in the field. Finally, I spoke about how athletes need to be able to self-assess their progress, reflect, make the necessary adjustments, and continue moving forward towards their goals. I think it is difficult for athletes to self-assess and reflect upon where they started, where they currently are, and how what they have done has either moved them closer to achieving their goals or not. In all honesty, this is taking a look at the reflection in the mirror and coming to terms with whether you as the athlete/individual has done everything they can to move themselves forward towards achieving their goal(s). When it comes down to it, there is only one person that can be held accountable for that success or not, and that is the person staring back at you! Building upon these four concepts, I’ve added a couple of new beliefs about what is important to make the successful transition to post-collegiate throwing. First, why are you making the transition to post-collegiate throwing… Your vision and where you want to ultimately end up will dictate how committed or interested you really are in continuing with your throwing journey. If you want to continue throwing as a hobby, then you probably don’t need to dedicate a lot of time to it, suggesting that you are just interested in throwing. However, if you are making the transition to continue throwing after college because you want to qualify for a World Championship or Olympic team, then you are committed. Understanding why you have chosen this journey will make the difference in where you go. If you were a collegiate athlete that was an All-American or National Champion, maybe you want to continue throwing because you feel as though you haven’t reached your full potential yet. Maybe you feel you have more to prove. You feel as though you haven’t reached your peak, and that continuing on with your throwing journey will help you realize a goal you have for yourself. Figuring out your why and purpose will make your decision to continue as a post-collegiate thrower. Second, what sacrifices are you willing to make in order to realize your dreams. This is an idea I encourage you to really think about. If you were the athlete that was on the cusp of becoming an All-American or National Champion at the collegiate level, but didn’t just quite make it, think about everything you went through to get to that point in your athletic career. If you don’t have a strong purpose as to why you want to continue on with the post-collegiate journey, you may find yourself surrounded by more obstacles than you initially anticipated. Think about it like this for a moment. In college, you had all the luxuries you may have ever wanted. You probably had access to a gym/training center. You had access to a sports medicine team. You probably also probably had access to all of the implements you would ever need to throw. You also had medical insurance provided by the college/university. You also probably had a coach. Now that you are a post-collegiate, you lose access to some of these amenities. If you transition to a career, you’ll need to think about how you will find balance between your career and throwing. This is where you’ll really need to think about how much you really want to achieve your post-collegiate goal(s). I was teaching full-time, enrolled in graduate school full-time, coaching, and trying to compete as a post-collegiate thrower. I put a lot of obstacles in front of myself. I somehow managed to throw over 10m farther as a post-collegiate from the time I graduated in 2004 and to when I hit my last personal best in 2008. I was not a collegiate All-American. I was barely the best thrower in my conference, but when I graduated I realized I had wasted so much time as a collegiate athlete that I wanted to see what I could achieve as a post-collegiate. I was determined to give myself an opportunity to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Trials. Even with all the life barriers around me, I thought I could make. Did I sacrifice a lot, not really. I was teaching full-time. I earned my graduated degree in one year. Reflecting back now, I probably didn’t think I was really ever going to throw 70m, so I had a back-up plan. I wanted to move to a different area to surround myself with other likeminded individuals, but I didn’t. I held back. Partly due to what my family would think. Partly due to the significant other I had at the time. But mostly because I was afraid. Making the sacrifice doesn’t mean that you need to move someplace, live in your car for a year, and only train. That may be a bit on the extreme side. Yet, you do hear of Olympic medal winners that moved to a certain location to train with a coach and did indeed live in their cars for an extended period of time. But in all honesty, you do need to think about what you are willing to give up in order to achieve your goal(s). Are you willing to move someplace to train with a coach or a particular training group? Are you willing to hold off on a career until you feel as though you’ve given yourself the best opportunity to be successful with your post-collegiate throwing? Are you willing to give up time spent with your family, friends, and significant other to travel to meets, complete training sessions, or go find a circle and throw? These are some of the initial questions I would ask myself if I was thinking about making the transition to post-collegiate throwing. Making these sacrifices doesn’t necessarily ensure you will accomplish your goal(s). Making these sacrifices may put you in a better position to reach them, but I think you also need a support system to do so. Third, do you have a support system around you that is nurturing, supportive, and understands why you are continuing with your post-collegiate throwing career? This may be the most important factor of all-certainly one of the most important factors when it comes to the mental aspects of throwing. Are you surrounded by individuals that are as interested in your success as you are? Do you have family and friends around you that support your goals and why you want to achieve them? Do you have friends that understand your travel schedule, training schedule, and throwing schedule? Do you have a significant other that supports you in this endeavor? Answering yes to these questions will make the transition easier. Speaking from experience, answering yes to most of these questions won’t always ensure your success, but it will give you the peace of mind to know that others in your circle understand why you are doing this and most importantly that they want you to achieve your goals as much as you want to achieve them for yourself. For anyone making the transition to post-collegiate throwing this year, I hope what I’ve discussed here brings you value and shines some light on what might otherwise be a murky endeavor. When you sit down and think about your purpose in post-collegiate throwing, ask yourself if you are committed or interested. Answering that question first will help all the puzzle pieces fall into place a little easier! 
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About 16 years ago to the day I began my first student teaching placement in Pine Valley Elementary School. I was placed in Mr. Saxton’s 4th grade classroom. As was customary back then, all students that were student teaching would have the opportunity to visit the classroom they were going to be placed in that fall during the first week of school. I was very fortunate to be placed in Mr. Saxton’s classroom. At that point, he had been an elementary teacher for 15 years. I was nervous, excited, anxious, and concerned all at the same time for very different reasons. A lot of my close friends were also student teaching that fall 2003 semester. For some reason though, many of those friends that were also varsity athletes decided that they wouldn’t be able to compete in their respective sports and student teach at the same time. Essentially, they quit their sports because as they said, “needed to focus on their student teaching and didn’t have enough time for their sport.” I couldn’t believe it. These were some of the best student-athletes on campus at the time, and for real reasons they only knew, decided they couldn’t balance athletics and student-teaching. Reflecting back on that time in my life, if I wasn’t able to student teach I probably would have failed out of SUNY Fredonia. I made it through student-teaching in both the fall and spring semesters and accomplished all of my athletic goals and then some during my senior year. I did so because of three things I incorporated that I didn’t specifically do before.  October, 2004 senior picture taken for the SUNY Fredonia website. This picture was taken on my first day of student teaching. 1. Structure and Routine For the first three years of my collegiate experience, I did not follow a routine that was going to lead me to having academic success. I didn’t study that much. I went to class on occasion. I did well enough to remain academically eligible and compete on the track & field team. The only structure I had to my day was between the hours of 3pm and 7pm. Track practice would begin at 3pm and typically last until 5pm. We would then hit the weight room for a couple of hours, have a late dinner, and play video games. This went on until the summer between my junior and senior year. I received a letter from SUNY Fredonia suggesting that if I didn’t get my act together I’d be at risk of becoming academically eligible. That stopped me in my tracks. I made it through three years of courses in the education program and would have been stuck if I wasn’t able to student teach and graduate with my degree in childhood education. I realized that summer that if I didn’t crush student teaching I would have wasted four years of college. Student teaching and methods courses saved my professional and athletic careers. Our method courses were scheduled between 10am and 2pm. We didn’t have any classes scheduled during the early part of the morning because it was encouraged that we complete group work before classes started later that morning. Missing methods courses was not acceptable. If you missed more than three courses you would have been dismissed from the course, not allowed to student teach, and pretty much dismissed from the program. This schedule built-in a structure/routine that I hadn’t incorporated before in my academic career. To prepare for student-teaching, I would get up every morning at 6:30am, have breakfast, and arrive on campus by 7:30am. I then immediately got to work with my classmates. At 3pm I’d go to practice, be done in the weight room by 6pm, be done with dinner by 7pm, work on class projects, and be in bed by 9pm. The routine not only helped me academically, but it also made me feel more comfortable with my senior season in track & field. I kept a similar routine once student teaching began. Since I was really close to campus, I would be at practice by 4pm. I would get my reps in with my coach, be done with the weight room by 6:30pm, have dinner by 7:15pm, then I would grade my students’ work and prepare for the next day. I would be in bed by 10pm. For a couple of months that fall and spring semester, I pretty much did the same thing in the same order every day. For the first time in my collegiate career I had established a routine that left me feeling as though I was making positive progress with my academic and athletic goals. 2. Process Focused Goal-Setting The first three years of my athletic career at SUNY Fredonia I was driven by outcome goals. During my freshman year, I was happy to have qualified for both of our conference championships in the 35lb. weight throw. I simply wanted to throw far enough to qualify for those two championship meets. I had a teammate that was a senior that was one of the best shot-putters in our conference. I knew I couldn’t get to his level in the shot-put, so I focused all of my attention on the weight. I managed to sneak into the SUNYAC championships ranked 12th as the top freshmen thrower. I threw in the State meet on my birthday in 2001. I finished 15th out of 16th. Through my sophomore and junior seasons, I had a few meets in which I finished 2nd in the weight throw and placed in the top 3 in the hammer. I still hadn’t quite figured out the discus and shot-put, but I was making small improvements. My initial thoughts were that I was making progress because I was working hard. I wasn’t working smart however. I was so focused on distances and places that I lost track of the little things I needed to do in order to achieve my goals. Up until this point in my college career, I had wasted a lot of time doing things that ultimately did not help me achieve my throwing goals. In no particular order, those things were; playing video games, not sleeping enough, not paying attention to what I was eating, and partaking in a vibrant social scene with my teammates. The summer between my junior and senior season was a time of change. The coach that recruited me to Fredonia was replaced by someone that came from Wisconsin. I was excited because the Wisconsin schools are known for having top tier throwers every year. When I learned that our new head coach was a long/triple jumper I immediately felt concerned. I knew this was going to be my final season at achieving my goals, and now I was stuck with a jumping guy as a head coach. I also found out he was going to be my throwing coach. I had a lot of negative thoughts and feelings built up inside of me before our first conversation that August, 2004. I went into the track office and introduced myself. We made some small talk, and then he started asking me questions about my training habits and my outlook for the upcoming season. I told him that I wanted to win the 35lb. weight throw and hammer throw championships that season at our SUNYAC championship meets. He then asked me about my previous performances and finishes. At this point I was more concerned about the season because I didn’t think he did his homework. He was inheriting a decent roster, I was one of a couple of returning scorers, and finished 2nd twice the previous season at SUNYACS. Yet he didn’t know that. I guess I thought he should have known that. As we were discussing my training habits, he asked me a lot about why I did certain things and if I thought they aided my performances. The sense of anxiety I had before our conversation was beginning to go away. In that moment, I knew this was going to be a good season. I felt as though he cared about me. Not just about the throwing me, but the person. I told him I was going to be student-teaching in the fall and spring, and that my schedule would be structured. In order for me to accomplish my goals, the old me (staying up late, playing video games, and not taking training seriously) needed to go. I explained all of this to Coach Barr. I told him I wanted to win two championships and go to nationals. I didn’t care how far I threw, as long as I won! He told me to start writing down what I thought I needed to do in order to achieve those goals. As he explained to me, and as I have related to my athletes in the past, falling in love with the process is much more important and will have a greater impact on performance as compared to chasing numbers. I didn’t understand that before. I thought that if I worked hard I would accomplish what I wanted to accomplish. In 2003, I learned that there is so much more to it than that! 3. Focus on the Things You Can Control
I was all-in on working with Coach Barr. The lifestyle that I had led before the summer of 2003 was not going to help me accomplish my goals. In fact, after I left my meeting with Coach Barr I was flooded with emotions. I had wasted three years of my collegiate throwing career. I didn’t make much progress between my sophomore and junior year. Even though I placed in the 35lb. weight throw, hammer throw, and made the finals of the shot-put competition at our conference meets, I wasn’t getting better. As I previously mentioned, all I was doing was chasing numbers. What I didn’t realize is that I was really focusing more on what others around me were doing. Depending on how you look at it, I was fortunate to have competed in the pre-social media era. We had to wait days for results to appear from meets across the country. Today, results are posted live. On our first official day of practice in late October, 2003, Coach Barr addressed our team before we began our workout. I don’t remember word for word, but he shared his thoughts about focus and that we should only focus on what was within our locust of control. Nobody had ever told me that before. At meets I would always pay attention to what others were doing, how they warmed up, how long they took, what they were wearing, etc. I really couldn’t get out of my own head. After a few weeks of practice, I met Coach Barr in his office. I asked him to go into more detail about the focus stuff. It was new to me, and I wanted to learn more. He shared some stories of his jumping days, specifically when he competed at the Olympic Trials in the long jump and triple jump. He said that if I wanted to be great, I needed to only pay attention to what I was doing because that was the only thing I had control over. He also asked me to keep a journal of my throwing sessions, lifting sessions, and to write down my thoughts about how a particular practice went. By our first meet in the beginning of December, I thought I had figured some things out. That is, until I saw who we were competing against. For a couple of months, I thought I was on the right track of focusing on what I could control, but at that meet, I reverted back to my old throwing self. Rather than focus on what I needed to do in this meet, and focus on the plan we had for our first meet of the season, I got nervous and become very anxious. It was a long three-hour ride home that Friday night. The one thing that Coach Barr told me to work on during the long break was my locust of control. I started writing about it in my throwing journal. For each session, I would write out everything that was in my control. Ultimately, by mid-January it became very clear that a pattern had emerged. I had control over my attitude, effort, and mindset. I couldn’t control a lot. And as we transitioned to our outdoor season, the list of things I couldn’t control became quite large (weather/elements, the time it took to get to the meet, who was competing with me, etc.). When reflecting back on my senior season, I accomplished one of the three goals I set out for myself. I won the 2004 SUNYAC hammer championship, held at SUNY Cortland. I also finished 6th in the discus, scoring 11 points for my team. I set a personal best in the hammer and discus throw’s that weekend. Unfortunately, I did not win the 35lb. weight throw championship that winter. I finished 4th at the SUNYAC meet, although I did throw a personal best that day. I didn’t qualify for nationals. Far from it actually. Even though I did not accomplish all of my personal goals, I learned more about life and coaching that season from Coach Barr that I could ever thank him for. All of the long nights of practice together, the road trips, and conversations at meets prepared me for my career in coaching. I didn’t know it at the time, and he probably didn’t either, but in a way, it was as though he was mentoring me to become a future coach. In May, 2004, coaching was the furthest thing from my mind. I was enrolled in graduate school and would be beginning my teaching career that fall. All of the conversations we had I kept track of in my journal. The little nuggets of information that I do think he realized he was dropping. His outlook on coaching and teaching was different than all the previous coaches I had worked with. He spent a great deal of time discussing focus and mindset with my teammates. Before he arrived, we never had conversations like that. I’ve told Coach Barr in the past that I cannot ever repay him for guiding me through my senior collegiate track & field season. Thank you, Coach Barr! Thank you for believing in me, inspiring me, and teaching me not only how to throw farther, but about life and how to stay focused on myself and not those around me! I’m not really sure how to answer this question. Since our outdoor season began a few weeks ago, some of my athletes have asked me what is a good hammer, javelin, shot-put, and discus mark for the outdoor season. My initial thought is it depends on the event and that it tends to move year to year.
I started writing this article a week ago, and I still cannot come up with a reasonable response that I think is sufficient for the audience. If you look at just Empire 8 marks over the course of the past seven years, men’s distances have gone up exponentially. For example, Luis and Brandon scored in the men’s weight in the 2013 Empire 8 Indoor Championships with throws under 40’. Luis broke the meet record in 2016 with a throw of 18.83m (61’). If a male thrower hits 50’ in either the shot or the weight at the conference championship, there is a very good chance they will win the meet. It begs the question, is the mark more important or is it more important to win? On the women’s side, last year at our Outdoor Empire 8 Conference Championships, only one female thrower threw the hammer over 40m (131’). The conference champion ended up earning an All-American award in the hammer at DIII Nationals. I think good comes down to what the consensus of individuals agree on. The exact mark may change from year to year, but the top 20 athletes are selected to compete at Indoor Nationals and the top 25 are selected for Outdoor Nationals. From my coaching perspective, I believe good marks are going to vary from individual to individual. I currently am coaching five freshmen throwers. They each have a different perspective on what they think is good. That is what makes it difficult to suggest a hardline on a distance. The Empire 8 Conference takes the top 16 individual athletes per event group to compete at the indoor and outdoor championship meet. The minimum distance to throw to qualify for the meet varies from year to year. If a thrower qualifies for either the Indoor or Outdoor Championships, I believe that to be a good throw. What do you think is a good throw? As always, thanks for reading ~ Charles  With the close of the indoor season that occurred this past weekend for most of my throwers, I thought it would be a good time to reflect upon their impressions of their first collegiate indoor seasons. As customary, over the past weekend I sent them all an email. In the email, I asked them to think about a couple of questions that we would discuss answers to at practice this week. The questions were:
I’m sure some of you are probably thinking, “This coach. Why does he spend so much time on this nonsense? How does this help his throwers throw farther?” Some might be thinking that this is an important step for the athletes to take as they continue on with their throwing journeys. I am particular to the latter. I am because at the time I was a collegiate athlete, I was never asked anything of the sort. I never felt as though my opinion or thoughts mattered. I was just there to fill a jersey and throw. That is painful for me to write, but in my heart of hearts I believe it is true. For the most part, I had a wonderful collegiate experience. Academically, Fredonia prepared me for the position I am in today. I was given an opportunity to coach. I will forever be grateful for the chance to coach in 2004-05. Without that break, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I think it’s important to have that specific type of conversation with your athletes. I think it’s important for them to be a part of the process. It offers them a sense of autonomy and some control over the path that they want to take. It also offers them ownership in the process. It assists in developing trust and respect between the coach and athlete. When athletes are part of the process, they are more apt to buy into the process as a whole mechanism, be able to view the bigger picture, and understand that the path and journey (process) are more important than the outcome. On Monday and Tuesday I had this conversation with my throwers. I spoke to two of them on Monday. I spoke to two more yesterday (Tuesday). I will be speaking to the fifth thrower tomorrow (Thursday). We discussed goals they have for the upcoming outdoor season, their expectations for the remaining couple months of the semester, and which events they would like to prioritize during the course of the outdoor season. Most of my throwers are main event discus throwers. Two of them competed at their respective state championships last season (one in the discus and one in the shot). One will be a main event hammer thrower. I’m not quite sure about the other two yet. One thinks she wants to be a main event hammer thrower, with the discus coming in a close second. The fifth thrower wants to try all four events and, “Let’s see what happens.” I don’t like that very much, but we will see what happens. The importance of figuring out main events or top two events is twofold. First, where do the athletes and I think they have the best chance of performing well. Second, we have a time and daylight issue until the middle of April. Due to their extremely time consuming and hectic course loads, we need to end practice a little earlier than I have in other seasons because they have labs either at 4pm, 5pm, or 6pm. This varies based on the day, and not to mention the classes they have that finish at 3:50pm and 4:50pm. Things get a little tight, so by establishing main events and second events, we can have more structured practice days and weeks that should provide each of them with the individualized time they are due in order to reach their goals. It is confusing at times, even for me, but that is why we write everything down and keep track of the number of throws per event to ensure they are dedicating the right amount of time to the right event. As coaches, how do you engage your athletes in conversations like this? Do you feel it’s important to discuss expectations and goals with your athletes? If so, what does your process look like? I’m always interested in learning more about how high-school, collegiate, and post-collegiate throwers discuss the goal-setting and expectation process with their athletes. I’ve been having these types of conversations with my athletes since I first started coaching in 2004. I hope you consider taking the time to share your experiences with this process. Rather than write, it may make for a better podcast. Let me know if you are interested, I’d love to have a discussion about this topic or any other you’d like to talk about. As always, thanks for reading ~ Charles  This year marked the first time that the Empire 8 Indoor Track & Field Championships would be held over the course of two days. For the throwers, that meant we would be throwing the shot-put on Friday and the weight on Saturday. We usually don’t practice both events on the same day, so I thought our practice schedule replicated our championship meet schedule. We arrived a couple of hours before the men were to start throwing. In both the shot-put and weigh throw, the men threw first followed by the women. My kids (my throwers, but I prefer to refer to them as my kids) were loose and very relaxed before the start of the competition. We really didn’t throw hard this week. Not much in regards of technique can be gained, but I believe a lot can be lost if the right technical aspects of the throw or lead up to the throw are not really focused on. If you’d like to go back and read a previous post about focus, you can do so by clicking here. Overall, Gabbie and Ally had really good training sessions leading up to the women’s shot competition. The conference takes the top 16 declared throwers. In our case, there was a tie for 15th and one of our throwers did not make it in. She was the 17ththrower. Ally was throwing in flight one. She was the last thrower in the flight of 8 women. She warmed up really well and looked pretty good through the rounds. Her best of the day was 10.11m. It was her third meet of the season in which she had multiple throws over 10m. Ally would have needed to hit a personal best of about 1’5” to qualify for the finals on this day. In flight two, it was the first time we have had a Nazareth College female thrower in that flight of any event in my six years as coach. Gabbie was seeded 4th coming into the meet. A solid performance with a throw anywhere over 11.25m would have placed 6th. Gabbie had multiple meets in which she had a performance better than 11.25m. I was enthusiastic that she would have at least made the finals and given herself an opportunity to score a point for our team. However, the best laid plans sometimes go off track. Warm-ups looked really good. Gabbie had a couple of throws at right around the 12m line. Once the competition began, however, things took a turn. There were a couple of throwers directly ahead of Gabbie that fouled their first throws. Nothing significant, they walked out the front of the circle because they didn’t like their distances. I wasn’t sure what went through her mind until after the competition, but her first throw was a very passive 10.49m, about 5’ less than she warmed up with. I walked over to her after her throw and asked what she thought of the throw. But before I tell you what we discussed, we’ll continue with the competition. Her second throw also went 10.49m, about 3’ out of the 8th and final position to make the finals. Again, it was a passive throw. The same about throw number 3. Overall, Gabbie finished 10th.  After the flight was over, Gabbie and I discussed the competition and what we each thought happened. I’m not going to share what Gabbie and I shared with each other in detail, but we did discuss the notion of rising up to the competition and feeling confident in yourself as an athlete about the abilities you possess and how to bring them out when it counts in a championship meet. We spoke for about 30 minutes on the bench within the throwing area. After our conversation, Gabbie spent some time speaking with her family. I spent that time speaking with my other three kids that were going to throw the weight tomorrow with Gabbie. This is what I shared with them:
We spent the better part of the rest of the competition discussing these five topics above. They probably would have been better served on Thursday, the day before the competition, but we had a really good week of practice so I didn’t think it was necessary to have a conversation like this the day before. Reflecting back on my collegiate experience, I never had a conversation like this with my coach. Well, I have four throwing coaches back then, and not once did we have a conversation that included the above mentioned items. It was pretty much go on and throw (not that inspirational). I mentioned item five because our current throwers are not at the point in their careers that they can have an off day and still qualify for finals at certain meets. In the case of our conference championship this weekend, two throwers needed big time performances just to make the finals of the weight. Saturday morning started out really well. Our kids had a good breakfast, woke up in relatively good spirits, and seemed more engaged in what was going on than they did the day before. We arrived at the facility about an hour before the men’s competition began. All four throwers were much more relaxed than they were the night before. I wish I could take credit for that, but unfortunately only one of the four really enjoys throwing the shot, while the other three prefer the weight, which is why they were probably more amped up than the night before. Gabbie got things rolling in flight one of the women’s weight. She warmed up really well, and hit a big third round throw of 12.88m. That throw won the flight and was a 77cm personal best throw. She came in clutch with round 3, but most importantly she was aggressive through all three rounds and was visibly more amped up than she was the night before. She got things going for us in a big way. In flight two we had Ally, Bailey, and Grace. There were 9 throwers in this flight, so we knew that they had to at least throw as far as Gabbie’s first flight throw to give themselves a good chance to make the finals. Bailey and Grace came out throws blazing in round 3 with a personal best of 13.74m for Bailey and 13.66m for Grace. Bailey’s throw broke our school record and was a personal best by close to 90cm. Grace was 7cm from her personal best. Ally hit a second round best of 12.67m, good for 10th place right behind Gabbie in 9th. With 8 throwers advancing to the finals, Grace qualified in 7th and Bailey qualified in 6th place. As of this placing, we knew we had a good chance of at least earning one point in the weight. Grace came out very aggressive through all three of her final round throws, but didn’t hit a mark better than 13.66m. Bailey hit another personal best of 13.85m in round 6, securing herself a 6th place finish and setting a personal best by 97cm on this day. Bailey came in with a throw of 12.88m, and threw very far when it mattered. This marked the first time we had multiple throwers make the finals in a women’s event. In the past we had a thrower make the finals of the women’s discus in 2016 at the Empire 8 Outdoor championships. Saying I’m a proud coach is an understatement! I’m more proud of the adversity they all had to overcome throughout this indoor season. Gabbie is continuing on and will be competing at our regional meet this Friday at 3pm at Ithaca College. Gabbie and Ally joined us in the middle of November due to other sport seasons (soccer and volleyball respectfully). Grace hadn’t ever thrown a weight before this season. And Bailey increased her personal best from high school by over 5’ in the weight throw. Everyone achieved lifetime bests in the shot-put and weight throw this season. Bailey became our first female thrower to score a point at the Empire 8 Indoor Track & Field Championships. I’m really looking forward to the start to the outdoor season. As always, thanks for reading ~ Charles   Last week our collegiate team competed at Ithaca College. It was one of the bigger meets we were going to attend all season. Coming back for the spring semester, it was the third meet we had competed in. Thus far, we have competed at meets in Houghton, Utica, Ithaca, and most recently at SUNY Brockport.
This article will focus on happenings from Chipotle after our Ithaca meet. In all honesty, our Ithaca throws weren’t what I thought they were going to be. Four of our five athletes competed at the meet, and for the most part all of our throwers had a really good week of practice. Unfortunately, sometimes the best programmed plans don’t go the way one would expect them to. It was the first meet of the year that none of our throwers made the finals in either the shot-put or weight throw. After the meet, we stopped for dinner. I took a group of athletes to Chipotle. While we were waiting in line, I overheard two of my throwers ahead of me have this conversation. Thrower 1—I’m not sure why I didn’t throw farther today. Thrower 2—Yeah, I worked hard this week. I was expecting bigger throws. Thrower 1—I thought I worked hard too. I’m not sure. I’m paraphrasing a bit, because there were more colorful words than I can write in this post. My initial thoughts were thoughts of concern. First, I’m glad that two of my throwers had a conversation about this. This line probably wasn’t the first time the conversation between these two throwers occurred. I have a suspicion that this conversation began back at the fieldhouse in Ithaca. Second, even though I only caught this quick snippet, there is a lot going on here. Up until that point, it was the best week of practice we had since we returned for the spring semester. Their coursework was pretty light. Their training sessions in the weight room looked really good. Their technique looked pretty good as well. So, what happened? Before I share my thoughts, I’m interested in hearing your thoughts? For any coaches out there that may have experienced something like this, what was your initial reaction and why do you think your athlete performances did not meet either your or their expectations?  When I first started coaching in 2004, I was tasked with coaching my friends. Most of the athletes on the SUNY Fredonia team at the time were my teammates from the season before. For the couple of senior throwers on the team at that time, we had a history together. I only had a couple of freshmen that season. I also had an athlete that decided he wanted throw, with no prior throwing experience.
For the athletes that I was teammates with in the past, I didn’t find it that difficult to coach them. Initially things went pretty well. It wasn’t until they didn’t throw as far as they wanted at the beginning of the season that we ran into a couple of problems. I found it difficult back then to have difficult conversations with my kids, especially since they were my previous teammates. I failed to lay out expectations for them. I didn’t ask them what they expected of me. It was difficult. It wasn’t difficult with the new throwers on the team. Tim, Nick, and I worked really well together that first season. The same can be said for Alex and Garrett. We had some good chemistry. It took until the outdoor season, but we finally figured each other out. It took time. It also took a lot of work on my part. I wasn’t sure where the proverbial line was. I didn’t treat them like my friends, however I did make some mistakes. First, I trained with the kids a couple of times a week. I wanted to continue my throwing career, and there were times where I wasn’t cognizant of what I was doing. I was taking away time from them to satisfy my needs. Second, I trained with them in the weight room too. I think they enjoyed training together. It added a little bit of intensity to what we were doing and what we were trying to accomplish in the circle. I made sure to speak to each thrower for a good amount of time at each practice. We only had five throwers my first season, so it was relatively easy to spend a lot of time with each thrower. We spoke about classes, course work, families, and what they wanted to do after graduating. I shared things about my personal life as well. At the time I thought it would show my vulnerability and that I was more than just a coach. I’ve discussed it before, but I was enrolled in grad school and was teaching full-time. I didn’t have a lot free time on my hands, but what I had I tried to dedicate as much as possible to them. Now, I begin each season with a discussion about expectations. You can read more about that in a previous article I wrote about expectations. I believe that the more time we spend sharing and discussing expectations gives everyone the opportunity to share what they want to get out of the season. More importantly it tells me what I need to do to help my athletes realize their dream(s) and vision, whatever they may be. The conversation also brings a sense of accountability. If either person in the coach-athlete dyad deviates from the expectation, it helps hold us to what was previously discussed. This part takes some time. It takes trust and a willingness by the coach to have these difficult conversations with their athletes. Now they may not always be difficult to have, but if you have an athlete that is not meeting their expectations, you as a coach need to know how to approach and begin the conversation. Some of my athletes prefer this type of conversation before we throw. Some after practice. Others can have a conversation during (but I prefer to not have that conversation during a throwing or lifting session). However, once your athletes know that you as a coach want them to reach their goals, it helps establish the relationship and make it stronger. Speaking about expectations also provides your athletes with some autonomy. It gives them a sense of control over the conversation, what they expect from their coach, and how they want to get to their destination. Autonomy is important. There is an abundance of literature out there about the relationship between autonomy supportive behaviors provided by the coach and athlete outcomes and performances. Athletes that perceive their coaches to provide more autonomy supportive behaviors feel more comfortable with their coach and tend to have more rewarding athletic experiences. As coaches, do you give your athletes an opportunity to be a part of the process? What would your athletes say about you? Would they perceive you to be autonomy supportive, or would they say that they don’t have a voice in deciding and/or planning out their athletic endeavors? As always, thanks for reading ~ Charles This is a difficult topic for me to write about. I’ve had other coaches ask me on multiple occasions how we ‘do’ things at Nazareth College. Up until a couple of years ago, I never really spent that much time thinking about it. We just did ‘it’. Unable to define what ‘it’ is up until recently, I’ll give it a shot today.
As our throwers were arriving to practice on Monday, I asked them how their weekend was. We had a meet the Friday before, and going more than two consecutive days without seeing my throwers is very uncommon. As we were discussing the practice format for the day, they told me they got together on Saturday and had a potluck lunch. They organized this on their own. I was very pleasantly surprised that they organized such an event, on their own, without any prodding from me or any of the other coaches. Like I mentioned, up until a couple of years ago, I didn’t really pay attention to our team culture. It ultimately ended up coming back to bite me in 2017. I was left confused, shaken, and distraught in the fact that I had lost my kids. No, not at a track meet. But lost in a sense that they didn’t believe in me and our program. I assumed (it is never ok to assume anything) that everything was ok. The year prior our seniors handled anything that may have come to the surface. If there was an issue brewing, they let me know. Otherwise, they handled most of the team bonding and culture building on their own (another big mistake). After that 2016-17 season, I tried my best in 2017-18 to approach things differently. I was more positive at practice. I was more cognizant of my words/phrasing of things in conversation. I always thought I expressed an interest in their majors, life activities, and other happenings that college students have to face and deal with on a regular basis. Unfortunately, a lot of what I tried to implement was viewed in vain. I had one senior athlete that had been with us through the very best of times and the very worst of times. My attempt at being a more positive and nurturing coach faltered. Thinking back to the 2014-15 season, I called or emailed some of my former throwers while I was working on my doctorate. A lot of our presentations and group projects were focused on our leadership abilities, decision-making skills, and ways to overcome adversity. I presented about situations I faced as a throwing coach at two very different NCAA Division III institutions. I asked my former throwers to create short videos about times we agreed, disagreed, handled adversity, and overcame obstacles together to realize their (the athletes’) goals they had set out for themselves. A lot of what came back centered on positive coaching skills. They shared their thoughts about open communication, goal-setting, and transferring track skills into life skills. Getting back to coaching at Nazareth, I spent a lot of time over the summer thinking about how I was going to approach this 2018-19 season. With a new group of throwers, I wanted to make sure that we shared our expectations for the season, goals we wanted to achieve, and plan out how we were going to do that. Before our season officially started, I met with each thrower individually. I asked them to share their ideas for the upcoming season, how they liked to be coached, and how we could balance their coursework with practice times. Most importantly, we shared expectations. I asked each person individually to share their expectations they had for me and what I expected of them. This part of the conversation is what I believe has helped establish our Nazareth College throwing culture. Let me correct that, these conversations shaped our culture because each thrower shared their expectations with everyone else. We kept those expectations posted in our practice area. Every day we had practice, they were reminded of what they expected of themselves, what they expected of me, and what they expected from the group. Each day we talked about our expectations. What we expected from ourselves and our team. It wasn’t until we started discussing recruits and who they would stay with for their overnight visits that I realized we had come together as a group. As I was sharing details about how overnight trips typically went, one of the athletes asked me if the recruits had to throw with us if they decided to come to Naz. I was caught off guard, and wasn’t sure where this conversation was going. Another athlete said, “Yeah, if we don’t like her can we tell you? We don’t want anyone to come that isn’t going to fit in with our team.” It was at that moment that I realized we had finally come together as a team and had established our culture. We established our culture by:
When I first started coaching, the 22-year old me would not have felt comfortable with my athletes sharing what they expected of me and what they expected of their teammates. There were times during my first couple years as coach that I did not feel comfortable having difficult conversations with my athletes. I was afraid to have the discussion. I remember my stomach getting tied up in knots at the thought of having a difficult conversation. Now, I encourage my athletes to share their thoughts on a daily basis. We had just finished our weight room session this afternoon when I asked them what they thought of the past couple of weeks. They shared what they liked, didn’t like, and what they wanted to try differently. The younger me would not have wanted to change course. But, I value their opinions and only they know how they feel after a training session or weight lifting session. I also met with a couple of throwers individually. For some, plans have slightly changed. For others, we are staying the course because, as they told me, they feel comfortable with how things are going and that they are making progress every day. For the couple that asked to make some changes, we are going to do so. It’s not what is supposed to make me feel comfortable, but what makes my athletes comfortable. You never really know how a group of individuals are going to gel when brought together for the very first time. This season, unlike any other of my career, brought five individuals together in October, and were declared teammates. The first time in my coaching career that my whole group of student-athletes were freshmen.
Now, just because they come together because they are teammates does not necessarily mean they are going to become a true team just for the sake of doing so. It takes a concentrated effort by the coach to create a culture that will indeed bring everyone together. Unlike more traditional team sports, track & field is a little different. Yes, we are a team striving to win a team championship. However, each individual has their own goals they want to accomplish as well. It takes a balance between managing each athlete’s goals with the larger expectations of the group. I didn’t need to bring this group of individuals together. They brought themselves together. Now we met often before the start of the season, but two of the five were playing other sports at the start of the season. Another athlete missed the first week for other reasons. We started with two. Grew to three. Then really gelled with five. I realized they were a tight group that had bought in when they told me if it was ok to tell me if they didn't like a potential recruit if they thought they wouldn't fit in with our team. As I coach, I knew they had definitely come together after that moment in December after one of our practices. For their first semester experience involved with collegiate track & field, I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised with how they each managed their own expectations of what collegiate track was like as well as the academic rigors they experienced in their specific majors. A couple of interesting things about this group of athletes. First, they are a very focused group of individuals. They understand the importance of their academic successes, but are able to put those thoughts aside for the hour or two that they are at practice. Second, we did not have any issues with cell phones during practice. Unfortunately, I have had that issue before. We spoke about at the beginning of the season, and that was it. Ultimately, they are able to eliminate distractions for a couple of hours and focus on what they need to do. Third, they are goal-oriented. At the beginning of the season I asked everyone what they wanted to accomplish by the end of the fall semester. To my pleasant surprise, not one of them wrote down a distance they wanted to throw before the semester was over. Rather than write down outcome goals, each individual wrote down process goals. Again, in the past a typical goal that may have been written was more about throwing a specific distance in the shot-put or weight throw. Not with this group. They concluded the fall semester having broken the women’s indoor shot-put and 20lb. weight throw records. I wasn’t surprised the records were broken. The fashion they were broken did catch me a bit off guard. First throw by Gabbie broke the shot-put record. Similarly, first throw by Ally broke the 20lb. weight throw record. Gabbie increased her record in round 6. Three throwers threw farther than the previous weight throw record. Three girls over 40’ in the weight (a coaching best for me), as well as three over 10m in the shot-put (a coaching best for me). I cannot say enough positive things about our six pieces of five (if you know, you know). I’m very proud of how dedicated they were to learning how to throw the weight, increase their understanding of shot-put mechanics, and the patience to take each practice one at a time. When I was an athlete, I couldn’t wait to throw in our first meet. Now, as a coach, I wish I could slow time down in order to have more deliberate practices completed. Most importantly, I’m most proud of their academic accomplishments. They all performed well this fall, and all earned a GPA greater than my first semester GPA. It isn’t difficult to achieve that feat, but I have shared some of my collegiate academic stories with them. Another piece to the collegiate puzzle, and what I feel is most important, is the opportunity to develop a positive, supportive, and nurturing coach-athlete relationship with each individual. I’ll put my research hat on for a moment, but past and present empirical literature suggests that the coach-athlete relationship is the number one most important factor from the perspective of the athlete that led them to achieving their successes in athletics. I can provide a detailed reference list if you would like, but 20 years of literature in team, individual, professional, youth, and Olympic coach-athlete dyads suggests that the more powerful and real the relationship is between the athlete and coach, the greater success the athlete feels they have achieved. We will continue to build our culture at Nazareth College. We will remain steadfast on accomplishing our academic and athletic goals. Our telescope vision is in place. Our microscope goals have been carefully planned and discussed. We know what we need to do this semester to take another step closer to realizing our visions. We are ready. Ally, Bailey, Gabbie, Grace, & Katie, I look forward to another great semester of growth, development, learning, and long throws! Welcome back! Your Coach ~ Coach Infurna I’m sitting just outside my five-year old’s wrestling practice, and I just got a little emotional. Well, actually a lot of emotions are running through me as I try to capture these thoughts. My wife and I have encouraged him (our oldest son, 5 year’s old) to try out a variety of different sports. We have played t-ball, a little run of gymnastics, indoor soccer, swimming, and now wrestling. Parents are not allowed to sit inside the gym and watch practice. Tonight he asked me to stay. I told him I would love to watch him practice wrestling. There are a couple of families here with me, sitting outside in the hallway. We can hear the young wrestlers (K-6th grade) talk, engage in some laughter, and transition from drill to drill as they warm-up for tonight’s activities. I’m not sure what the flood of emotions is right now. Maybe it is because I’m watching him through a small window in the door. He caught me watching once, stopped mid run, and blew me a kiss. I’m getting teary eyed just writing this down. He hasn’t been afraid to try anything new. We ask him if he is interested, and more often than not he says yes. He wasn’t interested in trying Lacrosse. He isn’t interested in Football. Basketball, well not quite. This past weekend my wife and I took our two oldest boys ice skating. It was my first time being on skates. And to be perfectly honest, I was terrified. The assistance apparatus they have is built for young kids, not adults. My kids took to it well. My wife knows how to skate. I, on the other hand, held onto the side glass for dear life. I made it around the rink a couple of times. I got the biggest right tricep pump of my life. I could not have held onto that little lip around the glass any harder than I did. I also got the biggest cramp in my left hamstring (probably from trying to brace myself and stabilize). Like I said, I was scared to death. My kids fell a couple of times. They got right back up and continued on their way. I couldn’t keep up with either of them. Even the three-year old was moving faster than I was. I’m 6’1”. It’s a long way down if I fall. Not as much of a distance for my little guys. I was so scared, in fact, that I registered for ice skating lessons with my two boys. They said they wanted to learn and try it. My wife is already a pretty proficient at skating. So, at 36 years old, I’m signed up for ice skating lessons. Similar to my kids, I’m registered in the most novice section they had. I’ll be skating with a group of three to six-year old children. Not just because I’ll be learning with my children along the way, but because, much like them, I have absolutely zero experience ice-skating. They say that age is merely but a number. My number isn’t that big. I’m going to turn 37 in February. This is the first time I’ve signed up for something new at this stage of my life. I’m excited to learn something new. I’m especially excited to learn something new with my two oldest boys. As always, thanks for reading ~ Charles  |
Dr. Charles InfurnaCharles Infurna, Ed.D., is the owner and lead coach of Forza Athletics Track Club. Dr. Infurna has coached National Record Holders, National Champions, All-Americans, and Conference Champions at the Post-Collegiate, Collegiate, and High School level. Archives
January 2020
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