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Table of Contents:
Discus Clinic Notes from the Iowa Throwers' Clinic 1999 - Graphics Completed! 9/4/99
Track and Field for the Masses 8/25/99
Why has Track and Field decreased in popularity over the years? 8/11/99
The Perfect Track and Field World 7/30/99
Iowa Throwers Chain Mail 1995-1998 7/27/99
Discus Clinic Notes from the Iowa Throwers' Clinic 1999 9/4/99
Click here to view my discus clinic notes from a presentation I did at the University of Iowa on March 14, 1999. The graphics are now complete!
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Track and Field for the Masses 8/25/99
Now that we are in the midst of another World Championships, there is the inevitable moaning and gnashing of teeth regarding the media coverage of this sport.
I am of two minds on this issue. Sometimes I think I like the sport the way it is, and if getting mass appeal is going to change it, then I don't want it. Keep the sport sane with a small group of controlled, knowledgeable fans.
But sometimes I wish that the sport was more popular, so that I could easily read about it in the paper, or watch it on TV, or be able to discuss with others, as I would with basketball or football.
So what has to happen to get track and field to become more popular, so that the more casual observer may become more interetsted?
This sport must become spectator-friendly, and have events that people can relate to. It also must be organized in a fashion that is easily understandable. To that end, I have a list of "improvements" that would propel track and field into the upper echelon of the sporting world, instead of being categorized as "other" sports.
1. Change all running events to yards. Right or wrong, Americans relate to yards, like in football, not meters. Similarly, record heights and distances in field events in feet and inches.
2. Reduce the number of running events. This would make meets run more quickly and thus more spectator friendly.
3. The 40 and 100 yard dashes should be in. Definite football connection. The 40 would draw considerable interest. The 220 should be out because of the relative closeness to the 100. My argument against the 220 is that you may as well have the shotput with a 16lb. shot and a 25lb. shot if you are going to have the 100 and the 220.
4. The 400 should be in. One time around the track. The 880 should not. It is simply twice the 440 or half the mile. Too repetitive.
5. The mile should be in. Definitely. A landmark distance for all time.
6. Some sort of longer distance race, but significantly longer than the 1 mile, perhaps a 5 mile.
7. The steeplechase could be a real crowd pleaser, but make it 2 miles and more barriers. A lot more.
8. 440 hurdles out, 120 hurdles stay. Some of those 440H guys sprint between hurdles, jump and flail, then sprint some more.
9. 4x100 and 4x400 stay. Classic races.
10. Change the high jump to the "high reach". Instead of having a bar and the athlete must get his body over, how about setting the bar real high and they have to knock it off the standards? You'd have the basketball connection, where the person is reaching up to block a shot or dunk a ball. Also, from a spectator point of view, that bar being at 11' , 12' or 13' feet looks a lot cooler than the bar at 7' to 7 1/2'. In terms of running a meet, you wouldn't even have to have a landing pit.
11. The discus stays. Discobolus.
12. The shot stays. Classic big man's event.
13. The javelin goes, replace it with the baseball throw and throw it from a hammer circle. Americans can go their whole lives and never actually see or touch a javelin, yet, everyone has seen or thrown a baseball. Throwing from the hammer circle will reduce the distance thrown and the injuries incurred from all the force involved in the javelin runway.
14. People don't think of a "hammer" as being a ball with a wire. They think of it as someting you drive nails with or smash rocks with. In that vein, the hammer stays, but throw a REAL hammer, a hardware store sledghammer that weighs 16 lbs.
15. Pole vault stays. No other event like it.
16. Long jump stays, triple jump goes. In the long jump, have some sort of drop off right after the takeoff board. like maybe a water pit or something like that. Something to reduce fouls. Every jump the spectators would see would be a fair jump. Fouls would be obvious - splash!
17. Decathlon stays - but do it all in one day.
18. Create 8 or so teams, have a draft and have a season of dual meets. Have colorful uniforms, trash talking, and cash prizes. Competition!
19. Make those Europeans travel for once! See how they like it. Make them come to the U.S. for some major meets. They can just hop on a train and make it all these meets and then be home at night to sleep in their own beds. Americans have to live out of a suitcase.
20. Have the World Championships and the Olympics finals (of my new events of course) all in one day. Fans want one day to shoot for, instead all these days that they have to figure out when the coverage is on TV. Talk about excitement! All finals, all the absolute best all in one day!! It would of course have to be in an indoor venue, which would mean that it would have to be in the U.S.!!!
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Why has Track and Field decreased in popularity over the years? 8/11/99
Interest in track and field as a sport in the United States has declined in popularity. This is a fact that has been discussed over and over again. Buy why did this happen?
It is more than just money. Many have said, in essence, if someone somewhere, would put up the money to promote this sport, it would take its rightful place in the group of major sports. Sounds good, but there is a reason why no one has come forward with the funding to "save" the sport.
Perhaps it's the way it's presented say some. Meets are too long, too many things are going on, too many heats, too many throws, etc. etc. I think there could be something to that, but people aren't going to suddenly start paying attention if they only have to sit for 2 hours instead of 4.
Track and field is a tough sport. It is much too objective for the average spectator and the average athlete. A person can go out for a sport, and sort of be anonymous. 22 people on the field for football, 10 for basketball. They can get lost in the shuffle. But in track and field, especially field events, when your turn is up, it's just you and the tape measure and it's all up to you. You cannot shift the blame for failure, or share the success with others.
Our culture now is one of blame and fault-finding. Also, there's a fear sometimes of judging one too harshly, so as to damage one's self-esteem. If a team loses, someone didn't get the ball enough, the coach did a lousy job, the officials were rotten. If a team wins, everyone and their brother takes the credit.
In the throws, I've seen some big studs come out and throw and they didn't have immediate success, like they did in football, so they quit. They did not like seeing themselves look bad. Could they have been good someday? Sure, but as with many things in life, it takes time and practice and planning and perserverance.
Our culture wants results now. But we don't want anyone to ever fail. Failure is unacceptable now. If you make an honest mistake, you get sued. Excuses are rampant in athletics because of that very mentality. This is the message: You have to be successful now, because mistakes and failure are unacceptable, and if there are mistakes or failure, it's not your responsibility.
Now is this completely and 100% true? No. But not far off. That is why track and field's popularity is below auto racing, pro wrestling, and soccer.
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The Perfect Track and Field World 7/30/99
The following is a laundry list of things that would make me much happier in track and field if they would occur:
1. The state of Iowa (which is where I live) would adopt the following events in the high schools for both girls and boys: 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m, 3200m, 110/100HH, 400H, LJ, HJ, TJ, PV, SP, DT, HT, JT, 4x100, 4x400, 4x800. The events that I sometimes question myself are the 400H, as most states run the 300H, and the 4x800, which be too much of a drain on the team's resources of distance personnel.
2. The state of Iowa would change to the international standard of 2 false starts and you're out. You can "false start" all you want in football. You get 5 fouls in basketball. Why only one in track?
3. Nationally and internationally, the events would be the same for men and women: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, 5000, 10,000, 110/100HH, 400IH, 3000St, 4x100, 4x400, LJ, HJ, TJ, PV, DT, SP, HT, JT, Decathlon.
4. The Grand Prix events would be all events every year. It seems silly to not have them all.
5. World Championships every year. Why only 3 out of 4?
6. NCAA qualifying: To qualify for the NCAA meet, a person or relay must qualify at a scored meet (with some exceptions like Drake or Penn). In addition, teams should not be allowed to split up on a weekend; the entire team must be together at every meet. There should also be a cap on the number of meets. The top 16 individual events or relays will qualify.
7. In Iowa, the girls track and field qualifying system for the state meet would be the same as boys.
8. Drake Relays girls high school events would all be at the stadium and have the same number of events as the boys. The way it is now is ridiculously sexist.
9. Drake Relays high school division would allow some contestants from other states.
10. In Iowa, all meets would be co-ed. There would also be one varsity meet per week, and one JV meet most every week.
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Iowa Throwers Chain Mail 1995-1998 7/27/99
In 1995, I came up with something I called Iowa Throwers' Chain Mail, which was a very low budget throwers' newsletter that I circulated among throws coaches. It didn't quite work out the way I had planned. My last "issue" was in 1998 and it was in the form of a webpage. It has all of the issues and articles that I wrote for the "publication".
I plan on taking the worthwhile content out of it and categorize my writings my subject so it is easier to access. For now, you can view it by clicking here.
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