The Jenks Throwers

By: Grant Jordison

“HEADS!” As you walk out of the track locker room a circular shadow flies above your head as a big burly thrower yells at you. You look up in horror as a disk flies right by your head. You stand there in shock as another disk flies through the air, thankfully much farther away than the first. As a tall, bulky thrower walks over to retrieve their disk, you scurry back-to-track practice.

What even is throwing?

The throwing events in Track and Field are -

Discus

Shot put

Javelin

Hammer throw

Disks, shot putts, rings, and weird net thingies no one knows about! The throwing events in track and field are so intricate and have lots of rules and techniques that need to be mastered to throw the various different apparatus. Let's take a look at the events Jenks Track x Field athletes are offered.

The Jenks Track x Field program offers two throwing events to its students. The first event is shot put. The process of throwing a heavy metal ball into a restricted area of gravel is very complicated and requires precise body control and strength. There are various amounts of drills and exercises the throwers do to prepare themselves to use all of their potential in the ring.

Let's get into the rings that the throwers do their work in. For shot put, they stand in a concrete ring with a 7-foot diameter, and at the front of the circle is what is called a toe board. The throwers are allowed to hit the part of the board facing the inside of the ring, but they are not allowed to touch any other part of the toe board.

And for the landing area for the shot put, there is a field of gravel that opens up from the center of the throwing ring. If the shot lands outside of the restricted area, the throw is scratched. If the thrower steps outside of the ring at the wrong time or in the wrong spot, the throw is scratched. If the thrower does not execute the proper throwing technique the throw is scratched. If you scratch all of your throws, you are out of the running. Out of the three throws you get, you only need one eligible throw to be put on the board.

Now looking at the discus, the ring used is a little bigger than the shot put ring measuring 8 feet and 2 ½ inches in diameter. Along with the change in ring size for discus, there is also a tall safety net that surrounds most of the discus ring with an open area that opens up to the landing area for the discus. Similar to shot put, if the thrower throws a disc into the net or outside of the designated landing area, the throw is scratched. If the thrower steps out of the ring at the wrong time or wrong spot, the throw is scratched. If the thrower does not execute the proper technique, the throw is scratched.

And instead of throwing a big metal ball, they throw a big metal disk. The technique between these two events is very different. Although they both require precise body control, strength, and flexibility, you have to be able to transfer from the shot put technique to the discus technique.

There are also different weights that the shotput and discus can have depending on gender, age, and competition level.

Discus Weights:

Women, Highschool thru age 74 - 1kg

Women, 75+ - 0.75kg

High School Boys - 1.6kg

International Jr. Men (19 and under) - 1.75kg

Men to age 49 - 2kg

Men age 50 to 59 - 1.5kg

Men 60+ - 1kg

Shot Put Weights:

Women, high school thru age 49 - 4.0kg

Women, age 50+ - 3.0kg

Women, age 75+ 2.0kg

High School boys - 12lbs.

Men, to age 49 - 16lbs.

Men, age 50 to 59 - 6.0kg

Men, age 60 to 69 - 5.0kg

Men, age 70 to 79 - 4.0kg

Men, age 80+ - 3.0kg

Overall, at Jenks, the throwers are widely underrepresented. Although they aren't well known, they are still putting in hours upon hours of work in the ring and in the weight room to perfect their craft. The throwers lift before school and some days after school during their sixth hour at the track. Overall, there is a big commitment to make when being a thrower, both in the weight room and in the ring. So if you ever find yourself at a track meet, look for the overarching net somewhere around the track and give it a visit. You may be surprised as to what these athletes can do.