Thoughts From the Summer of 2003

I often found that the couple of weeks after a season came to a close was a time to reflect on all that went well, what didn’t go as planned, and how much of what didn’t go as planned was in my direct control.  I didn’t think much about these types of questions until the summer between my junior and senior year of college.  I was coming off of a pretty good year athletically, but lots of changes were looming before the start of my senior year.

This particular summer of 2003 was spent in Fredonia.  I was taking a couple of Math courses because I was more focused on throwing the weight far during the indoor season as opposed to going to my Math for Elementary Educators classes.  In-between classes I worked a couple of part-time jobs that supported me enough to live in my apartment off campus.  I would go to class in the morning, work, and then train.  It wasn’t a bad lifestyle.  I got more accomplished that summer in the classroom than I probably did the whole 2002-03 academic year.

In late July 2003 I met my next track and field head coach, Adarian Barr.  I didn’t know much about him besides what was included in his bio.  I knew he came from Wisconsin, competed in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Trials as a jumper, and had some experience as a throwing coach.  I’ve written about our first meeting in the past, but it’s worth mentioning here again that Coach Barr and I didn’t really hit it off well.  I was informed that our throwing coach would not be returning, and that he would be coaching me and the other throwers on the team.  At this point in time the only other thrower on the team would be a freshman that I hadn’t met yet.  I wasn’t that enthusiastic that my throwing coach would not be returning, but it wasn’t my place because I was an athlete and it wasn’t my decision.

I left Coach Barr’s office feeling a bit dejected and put off that he would basically be coaching everyone on our team except for the jumpers.  My one takeaway from this first meeting was that he told me to, “Think about what you want to do this year.” 

What I wanted to do this year?  Well, of course I wanted to win a SUNYAC championship and qualify for DIII outdoor nationals.

Up until this point in my throwing career, I had been a somewhat competitive SUNYAC conference thrower.  I didn’t score any points my freshman year.  In fact, my worst seasonal performances of the 2000-01 season occurred at both our indoor and outdoor conference championships.  In my sophomore year, I finished 2nd in the 35lb. weight throw and 5th in the shot-put at indoor SUNYACS.  I also finished 5th in the weight throw at indoor states.  I scored in the hammer at outdoor SUNYACS my sophomore year.  In my junior year I finished 2nd yet again in the 35lb. weight throw.  I also scored in the hammer again as a junior.  Until now, I had yet to really make a real impact as a competitor on our men’s team.  Those two second place finishes really haunted me that summer of 2003.  I hated that feeling and knew that I didn’t want to finish in that runner up spot again.  The person who won the weight and hammer in 2003 just graduated.  The person who won the weight in 2002 was going into his senior season, much like I was.  He finished 2nd in the hammer in 2003.  I knew I had a chance to win both the weight and hammer.  I also knew that I couldn’t control what other competitors would be doing or how they would compete, so I needed to put myself in the best position possible.  

Starting that summer of 2003 I started training with a group of powerlifters in a small gym in Fredonia called Darwin’s.  I really learned what training was supposed to feel and look like that summer.  I went to class in the morning, worked, threw, and trained pretty much everyday from the end of the 2003 season through the start of the fall semester in 2003.  I got much stronger, my conditioning went up, as well as my confidence.  In my fall physical I weighed in at 235lbs.  That is up about 15lbs. from the end of my junior year.  I was in the best shape of my life.

I wrote Coach Barr’s question to me in my training journal.  I still couldn’t come up with a reasonable answer.  I wanted to win a conference championship and set myself up for a chance of going to outdoor nationals.  As I previously mentioned, I knew I had a chance to win both the weight and hammer championships.  Realistically I knew that going to indoor nationals would be a stretch, so the focus was on indoor SUNYACS.  

Before everyone returned back to campus in the fall 2003, I met with Coach Barr in his office.  It’s funny how some images and conversations feel like they happened yesterday, and for me this conversation with Coach Barr is one of them.  The office was a bit of a mess as Coach Barr was still moving in.  I shared with him my thoughts about the upcoming season, what my goals were, and how I thought we could get there.  I explained that I would be student-teaching for the second half of the fall and spring semesters, along with having a part-time job on campus.  

My goals for the 2003-2004 season were:

1. Win the 35lb. weight throw at indoor SUNYACS
   
2. Win the hammer throw at outdoor SUNYACS
   
3. Qualify for nationals in the hammer throw
   

This was the first time in my career that I didn’t include a distance because after speaking with Coach Barr earlier in the summer the distance might not be good enough to win.  Nobody ever explained that to me before.  I guess I could have suggested I wanted to throw the hammer 55m, but that still might not have resulted in winning the conference championship.  

I left off some very critical and important pieces to my goals for the 2003-04 season.  First, I left off a willingness to try new things.  Second, I didn’t take into consideration how much more recovery time I would need.  Third, I realized too late into the season that I wasn’t taking care of my nutrition.  And lastly, I should have considered trying to get more than 6 hours of sleep a night.

Our first official practice of the season wasn’t until the last week of October.  It was also the same week I began my first student-teaching placement at Pine Valley Elementary School, 4th grade.  When I walked out of Coach Barr’s office that late August afternoon it would be the last time I spoke to Coach Barr until our first practice.  

I knew where I wanted to go.  I didn’t know how to get there.  It took me a long time to become accepting of Coach Barr’s training ideology and coaching philosophy.  It took a couple of missed opportunities for me to fully buy-in to what Coach Barr really had in store for me.