Youth Hammer Throwing in America

Last month I promised to write a little about what I think are some of the causes for why Americans are not as internationally competitive as they should be (for other discussions on this topic, see here and here). This post will focus on the role youth hammer throwing might play.

In the early twentieth century, hammer throwing was an official high school sport in 23 states. America also won the first six Olympic gold medals in the event, as well as four silver and four bronze medals at those games. Since then, things have changed. Now, only one state (small Rhode Island) has hammer throwing as an official high school event and America has won only one Olympic medal in the past 50 years (Lance Deal‘s bronze in 1996).

In recent years, however, the tide has begun to turn again. Youth throws groups have sprouted up across the country and produced quick results. On the boys’ side we had just 5 high school throwers over 200 feet and 19 over 175 feet back in 2000. This year we had 13 boys over 200 feet (and a record of 19 back in 2007) and 42 over 175 feet. This improvement in youth throwers has also translated to success on bigger stages. For instance, I began throwing as a high schooler in the state of Washington after seeing some athletes try it out at a summer Junior Olympics meet. A few years later, four of us, from less than 100 miles from each other, placed in the top 8 at the 2007 NCAA Championship. Last year, New Yorker Walter Henning and Californian Conor McCullough swept first and second place at the IAAF World Junior (U20) Championships. This year, New Yorker Alex Faldermeyer placed 6th at the IAAF World Youth (U18) Championships. (Plug: to follow youth rankings and results, visit my other website HSHammer.com)

This youth movement has clearly helped America gain some footing at the international level and should continue to grow if America wants to win a medal again. However, efforts to get the event added at the high school level have proved futile in the face of reluctant athletic administrators. The key to the future is following the model set by coach Mike Judge’s Throw1Deep club in Georgia: find a good coach, provide athletes from different schools the opportunity to train together, put on some meets, and let them have fun. The hammer throw is an addicting sport and once kids are introduced, they stick with it and start bringing their friends out to try it. Word of mouth has spread the hammer in several locations and everywhere it has been introduced it has stuck. Washington, Georgia, New York, California and other states now all consistently have a large number of active youth hammer throwers.

That being said, it is easy to just say the problem is a lack of youth throwers and everything will be perfect if there are more throwers and everything will fail if the youth throwing movement stops. Both statements are not true. Starting young surely helps an athlete reach their potential; it is hard to imagine an elite tennis player, golfer, or even football player that did not play the sport as a youth. Furthermore, when athletes learn at a later age, they tend to improperly rely on their strength while young athletes can focus on technique before they gain strength. But no matter how young an athlete begins to train, they still need proper technique, strength, and guidance. In fact, with improper coaching as a youth, an athlete can develop bad habits that will hinder their long term development and could even lead to injury. It is important the we not only get throwers to start young, but also establish a support network that will allow them to continue to grow as athletes for the next decade. I’ll write more on this aspect in future posts.

As an advocate for youth throwing, I hate to admit this, but we should not forget that athletes can also be successful without starting young. Two examples come to mind: silver medalist Lance Deal and, my coach, gold medalist Anatoli Bondarchuk. Deal first picked up the hammer in college, but only began to get results when he focused on the event after graduating (he was a three event star at Montana State University). Bondarchuk was a discus thrower until his mid-20s when he first picked up the hammer and began to revolutionize the sport. Both of these athletes will readily admit that they would have thrown further if they began throwing at a younger age. However, they both show success is possible when you begin older. Of the top 10 male throwers in the US this year, only three had significant youth throwing experience. What is keeping them from the world’s stage is not just that they started throwing in college, but also that they lack several other factors needed to throw 80 meters. It is naive to think that America would be truly internationally competitive if we only had more youth throwers. We have more youth throwers in the discus (and even the mile) and yet still haven’t been competitive in those events recently. America has had no male discus throwers and only one female win a medal in the past six Olympiads. Youth hammer throwing will help us, but several other things need to be changed as well.