The Bigger Picture

As my indoor season came to a close this weekend, I try to stay positive. The Stevens Point Final Qualifier may not have gone to my liking, but I can't let it put a damper on all that I have accomplished this season.

 PFQ Final Results

I may not have made nationals, but I sure as hell gave it my all this season.

I need to remember where I started this year, and look at how I finished it. My weight throw personal record coming into this season was 15m, now I hold the school record with a throw of 16.27m. That's insane! I wanted to break the school record this year, but that was always just a dream until I actually did it. I didn't know that I had the capacity for such a feat.

I had become discouraged about my shot put abilities. I was at a stalemate, neither progressing or digressing. There were many times when I almost wanted to give it up to just focus on my weight throw. But I stuck with it, and I even got better at it. I finished the season with an indoor pr of 11.86m, besting last years indoor pr of 11.60m. Now that may not seem like a lot, but to someone who thought they were never going to improve its a world of a difference.

Indoor Season Progression

I've grown a lot as an athlete and as an individual in the short expanse of this indoor season. I have come so far from last year. From having no coach, and having our teammates coach each other, to having two coaches has been amazingly beneficial for the throwers progress so far this year.

My teammates have kept me motivated to keep improving myself. I owe a lot of my success to them, and my coaches. I may be putting in all of the physical hard work, but they're keeping my mental game strong.

 

Photo from Cardinal Classic

 

There are so many things that I have to proud of, and so my main thoughts as I leave the indoor season are that I need to look at the bigger picture at not get caught up in the details. This was an amazing season for me, and I just need to accept that and know that there is more in me for outdoor and next year. And now, it's HAMMER TIME!!!

 "Sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture."

- Eddie Montgomery

CCIW Indoor Championships

What a wild ride this weekend was! North Central College hosted the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin(CCIW) Indoor Championships on Friday and Saturday. It was quite the meet to remember. Many amazing performances all around.

 Image taken from one of my teammates instagram accounts

The men's team came in a very close second place. The women's team may not have been as close, but we were supposed to get around 140 points. Illinois Wesleyan was banked to get about 240 points, so we took quite a few of their points away from them.

Team Scores

Our women won the 3K, 5K, 60H, DMR, High Jump, and PV, which shows you the diversity of our team. We picked up points in almost every event, and some were unexpected which is always a great surprise. We started out strong on Friday, which gave us great momentum going into Saturday.

The weight throw took place on Friday, and shot put on Saturday. I came out swinging with a pr and new school record on my first throw of the day. It was an amazing feeling, and got me hyped for the rest of my throws.

Twitter Post 1

I placed 2nd right behind Mia Bennett from Carthage College who had a huge pr of 17.47m from her seeded 16.65m. 

 

Weight Throw Final Results

Friday went by with great enthusiasm amongst our team, and gave us a great push into Saturday.

Shot put was later in the day, about 2:30pm, so we had quite a while to wait before we competed. The throwers cheered for the other events that were going on before ours, and helped keep the energy up.

Once shot put finally came around, Naomi Yamane and I had fantastic performances. Naomi finished in 4th place with a lifetime pr of 12.42m. I finished in 6th with an indoor pr of 11.86m. Both of us were seeded lower, and we both moved up in places to score more points for the team.

 

Shot Put Final Results

Twitter Post 2

We finished out the two days in quite amazing fashion. 

Twitter Post 3

Now begins an interesting time in the season. Some people will keep training indoors for the final qualifier and nationals. Others will move on to outdoors and begin their training for all of the new events that are added on for outdoors.

I will be continuing on indoors this week in the hopes that I can qualify for DIII Indoor Nationals.

"It always seems impossible until it is done." 

- Nelson Mandela 

The Benefits of the Ice Bath

I have recently been converted to a firm believer in taking advantage of the ice bath. At the beginning of this season, I was peer-pressured into participating in an ice bath for the first time ever. Now that sounds kind of terrible... But it was a good kind of peer-pressure. It was something that opened my eyes to the advantages of taking an ice bath.

Google Image of an ice bath

The first I took an ice bath, I thought I was gonna die. Ok... that might be a little too melodramatic, but it sure felt like it at the time. They're not lying when they call it an ice bath. It's freezing! It might be about 60 degrees in the water, but that's way lower than our natural body temperature.

Now that I've experienced it a few times, my body accepts the cold because it knows what it is doing for my body. The cold water seeps into my skin, reducing swelling and tissue breakdown. My athletic trainer has us only stay in the water for 10 minutes max because our bodies could start to think we're catching hypothermia and warm us back up to fight it off. This would be very counterproductive.

 Google Image of a typical ice bath

After the 10 minutes are up, I get out and my skin loses contact with the cold source. At this point, the underlying tissues warm up and cause the return of normal blood flow. This helps my body to recycle efficiently.

Since Conference is this week, I decided to take one today and it was so worth it. It helped to relax my body after a very stressful week of classes and training. Now I feel ready to go throw some weight throw tomorrow and then shot put on Saturday.

"Relax. Let every moment be what it's going to be. What's meant to be will come your way, what's not will fade away." 

- Anonymous

Big Things to Come

This past Friday, North Central College hosted its annual Cardinal Classic track meet. The meet, technically, went well. I placed 1st in weight throw by almost a meter and a half, and had a season's best throw in shot put. You would think I would sound more excited, right? Well, I am excited, but something happened that I'm even more excited about. We'll get back to that soon.
 
Like most meets, we started off with weight throw. The men went first, which went really fast. They only had seven men entered, and one of them was unattached only six went on to finals.
 

Men's Throws

 

There were only nine of us women, mostly NCC women, so we also went fairly quickly.

 

Women's Throws

 

During warm-ups, something amazing happened. I had an amazing two turn throw, probably around 17 meters. It was absolutely incredible. Unfortunately for me, I was then psyched out and could not for the life of me hit that throw during the meet.

 

I had too much energy and hype going into the throws. I needed to stay more relaxed, but I couldn't shake the excitement. As you can see from the results above, my throws were all over the place. I wasn't able to stay consistent in my throws at all.

 

Shot put went a little better, I was way more consistent. I'm finally able to throw in the 11 meter range consistently again. Which is super exciting, cause that means I still have room to grow, whereas I believed that I had peaked last year.

 

At practice on Thursday, I discovered that I had been throwing shot put wrong for the last eight years of my life. So, I'm supposed to start off of my heel and tuck my leg under to get onto my toe for the finish. Well, this whole time, I've been starting on my toe and finishing on my toe, which is why I've been having trouble tucking my leg under me to get a better finish.

 

I didn't want to try the new technique the day before the meet, so I decided against it. On the day of the meet, though, I gave it a try and it worked! Who would have thought?  I threw a season's best off of it, and had some decent finals' throws with it.

 

Women's Shot Put

 

Now, back to the exciting stuff!

 

After throws were all over, we found out that we weren't going to be able to throw inside for morning practice on Saturday. A few of us decided to take advantage of the cage being up, and throw some more.

 

My coach and one of my teammates made two slight edits to my form, and then all of a sudden I was throwing 17+ meters throw after throw! I was so pumped! I kept telling myself to stay relaxed because I knew if I started to get too excited I would just pull the crap out of the weight, and it would be like starting from scratch.

 

Needless to say, I'm super pumped for CCIW Indoor Conference this weekend! If I can hit the 17 meter mark, I could book my ride to DIII Indoor Nationals. This week, I'm focusing on controlling my emotions and using the same form that I used to throw those 17 meter throws.

 

"Good things come to those who wait. But better things come to those who work for it." - Anonymous









The Glue That Holds Us All Together

With Championship season underway, it's been a stressful couple of days. Homework is piling up, work can be stressful, and sleep is fleeting. My one constant source of stress relief is throwing and lifting. I get to surround myself with my teammates and friends, my encouraging coaches, and a positive mindset.

UW-Whitewater Warhawk Classic

I may not always have a good throwing day, much like today went, but I always have my team to pick me back up again. No matter what, we're they're for each other. Just like anyone, you can be annoyed with them, but we always have each others backs. We are each other's support systems.

2015 CCIW Indoor Conference

We're like a family in that sense. I've been lucky enough to be able to have had amazing teammates throughout my track and field career. From the moment I picked up my first shot put in 8th grade, to the moment I broke the weight school record and more, my team has been there for me.

Grand Valley State University Invite

I've had a different group of ladies along side me throughout the years, but we've always become close like family. These kinds of relationships are essential to your health and happiness, because no matter what happens, you've got your [thrower] family.

UW-Whitewater Warhawk Classic

Today's practice was rough. I was getting frustrated with myself and my throwing. For some reason, I haven't been able to throw my two turns farther than my one turns. Yesterday I hit a few really good two turns, but today they were terrible.

My teammates got me through the practice. They gave me advice and encouraging words. The throws were still bad, but my mood wasn't as sour. I knew my teammates were there for me, and I was there for them.

National Girls and Women in Sports Day

Know that no matter what, someone is always there for you. You may not realize who it is, but they're there.

"You're part of a team. Something bigger. When someone is successful, it's good for the team as a whole. Everyone is in it together." - DePaul graduate Kelsey Reynolds

Hard Work Pays Off

This weekend, North Central College hosted the Chicagoland Indoor Championships. 25 teams from all over the area came to Naperville to compete. We kicked things off with the weight throw.

I had a while to wait because I was in the last flight of four. Two of my teammates were in the second flight, and one was in the third flight, so while I was waiting I cheered them on. There were amazing prs, but also some upsets. Naomi Yamane and Allison Shulski both had outstanding throws which led to some great prs.

Teammates' Throws

 
While, Monica Smith had a rougher go. She gave it her all, but was jipped out of her last throw. The officials declared her last throw a scratch because she supposedly touched the top of the board, when in fact she didn't. We take videos of everyone's throws, and her foot clearly passed over the top of the board without touching. Unfortunately, we have no way of challenging the call because there are no official cameras to double check that kind of thing.

These things happen though, and she'll move on and throw great next week.

Now it's my turn. My flight is finally up, and I am pumped to start things off a positive note. Right out of the bat, my first throw is a pr, and it was with a one turn(much to my coaches dismay haha)! This is fantastic, and it gives me momentum into my next throw. On the next one I power out a two turn, and land another pr. My final prelim throw doesn't go as planned, but doesn't get me down because I know I've got three more throws coming in finals.

Prelims

After a couple of the throwers do some pre-finals warmups, we're ready to get things moving. I'm currently standing in 6th out of 41. When it's finally my turn, I over-rotate with large steps and spin right out of the ring. It's all good though, I know I've got more in me. 
On my next throw, I completely shank it and it flies into the cage.

 

At this point, I made a decision to throw a one turn for my final throw. I ask my coaches, and they agree. Taylor, aka Coach Taylor Trockmorten, tells me to just get it out there and have some fun with it, and that's exactly what I planned to do. I've been having really solid one turns all week at practice, so I knew that I could really do something with this last throw.

I step into the ring and just build up all of the energy that I have in my body for this last throw. It's a go big or go home moment. I put on my big girl pants and just go full out.

That throw you see right there, got me the school record of 16.07m and bumped me up to 3rd place behind Amy Blucker of Olivet Navarene University at 19.12m and Mia Bennett of Carthage at 16.26m.

 

Final Results

"Hard work + dreams + dedication = success" - Anonymous

(Sorry this post is longer than usual! I felt the length was necessary to tell the whole story.)

Don't Let Your Head Get in Your Way

One concept that I've struggled with for a long time now, is that you don't need to PR every week. Some times it's better that you're being consistent. This is something that I've had a hard time ingraining in myself. I'll get really frustrated with myself, and throw off my enter practice or meet. I can get way too into my head at times and be really hard on myself.

I'm finally starting to realize that, no matter what happens, I give it my all. There is no reason to be so hard on myself. I've been putting in the work, but some times there are just off days.

This last Saturday was a partially off day for me. North Central competed at the Olivet Nazarene University(ONU) Invitational. Weight throw was first up. My warm ups were looking decent, solid 15s consistently. When it came to the actual throws, I couldn't get out of my head; I was stuck in a funk.

 Prelims

 

Finals

It wasn't even that I was throwing very poorly, I was just not being patient. I tend to move too early in the beginning of the throw, and this causes me to be too far ahead of the ball.

As you can see above, because I started early, I have to pull the crap out of the weight to get it around me to finish my throw. I've been working at this little(aka huge) problem for a while now. After I had changed my start, I had seen some improvement, but all the things I had changed went right out the window on Saturday. At least for the most part, anyway.

I got 5th place out of 31 throwers, finishing at the same seed I came in as. So, technically, it wasn't too bad of a weight day. It just wasn't what I wanted to happen.

Shot put on the other hand went better than it has in a while. One of my teammates gave me a tip to stay closed, and it really helped. He told me to over-rotate my upper half so that I was overly closed, and that the overcompensation would even out when I finished.

By following his advice, I was able to stay closed more and tuck my feet under me for some more powerful throws.

1st Flight Prelims

 

Overall

I may not be exactly where I want to be, but I'm definitely headed in the right direction.

 "A little progress everyday adds up to BIG results."

- Satya Nani

Focus Is Key

This weekend was the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawk Classic. There was great competition to keep everyone motivated throughout the meet. NCC men competed on Friday, and the women on Saturday. Some many people competed, that it the meet would have lasted late into the night if we had competed on the same day like we usually do.

I took a break from shot put last week to focus on weight throw for the meet, and it sure paid off. I had three throws over 15 meters, which means I'm getting more consistent in my throws. Soon enough, I'll have all of my throws be over 15 meters.

 As you can see above, my throws series was very consistent from prelims to finals. I threw better every throw within each flight, and this shows that I'm progressing well in my throws.

My last throw was a small miracle of sorts. I went up to throw, fumbled on the wind, and had to reset. I was nervous because I've never been able to come back from a reset and throw well. Through concentration and focus, I was able to use my one minute time limit to my advantage and relax before picking the weight back up again. By staying in a relaxed mind set, I was able to pull off a great last attempt and finish with a PR.

As I mentioned before, I wasn't throwing shot put because I wanted to focus on weight. While that is true, I was also taking a short break from it. I haven't been throwing very well, relatively, and I just need to step back from it for a little while.

I've gotten into a funk, and I needed some time away from shot. This is something that just has to happen some times. If I ever feel like I just can't do it anymore, that it's too hard, and that I haven't thrown well in a while, I just take a week off of throwing that certain event. I'm stilling training and throwing the other events, but stepping back to get some perspective on the event that I'm struggling with. I always come back, though. 

After a week away from shot, I came back this Monday with a clear mindset. I knew what I wanted to accomplish, and I threw better than I have all season. Some times, taking a break is the best way to help you to refocus. So, if you're ever in a rut, just take a step back. It could be the difference between quitting or not.

"Never give up. Stay focused. Stay positive. Stay strong."

Breakthrough

Every thrower has that instance where something just seems to click. You realize that you need to do "this" instead of "that." It can happen at any time, where it be a practice or a meet. Some times you don't even realize that you've fixed something until you see the implement fly a lift differently than it used to. Other times it's very noticeable because your form could be completely different.

I had a major breakthrough yesterday while at practice. My main hindrance for weight throw is that I under-rotate and pull the crap out of the ball at the finish instead of having it in front of me and pushing it.

Don't do the above! This particular bad habit has had very detrimental effects on my lower back. By finishing behind myself, I can cause permanent damage to the muscles next to my lower spine. I formed this bad habit over the last year and a half, but I'm finally starting to break it!

I've been working at this problem for a while now, but while practicing yesterday it just seemed to click and I was getting the ball around me. There are things that I have had to change to reach this point, such as: I am now slightly off-center to the left of the back of the ring and I have had to change my high and low points.

The above figures demonstrate what your orbit should look like for hammer. If I was to show my orbit sequence, my low point would be straight off to the side by my right hip and my high point would be off to the right, and I would throw directly into the cage. Now that I've changed some things up, my orbit is finally in a place where I can get some lift at the end of my throws instead of throwing eye-shot range.

Breakthroughs like this are immensely helpful to one's throws. They can happen at any time, but you need to put in the work. You can't just hope that one day you're problems will be fixed; you need to put in the practice hours and the reps in the weight room.

"Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can do what others can't" - Jerry Rice

Inhale Confidence, Exhale Doubt

This past Friday, I had a home meet called the Cardinal Opener. Something things went better than others. When one event doesn't go the way you want it to, you can't let it effect your next event. And that's what I tried to accomplish.

The women started the meet by throwing shot put, while the men were at the cage throwing weight. I was in the third flight of three, so I was waiting around for a while and cheering on my teammates as their flights happened. Finally my flight comes around, and I just can't get a good one out there. The throws aren't terrible for me, but I know I can do better.

Definitely not my best work, but everyone has those days. I was opening up way too early, something I've struggled with since I started throwing. Bad habits are pretty gosh dang hard to break.

But my main point is, you have to move on from the bad throws. You've got to push past them, and make the best of your next event. And that's exactly what I did.

When I got to weight throw, I knew what I wanted to do and I went for it. My coaches and I had been working on various starting positions for me to help me get around more(I've been struggling with under-rotating for a while now), and practicing the new start gave me the boost that I needed to PR(personal record).

As of now, I am currently leading my conference in the weight throw for the first time in my career. And by almost a meter!

So, even if you didn't quite throw what you wanted to in one event, don't let it carry over to the next. Try to start fresh, and bring a better mindset to the next throw/event/practice/meet. You want to make sure you're not hindering yourself by getting into your head too much. I know that this is one of my biggest struggles, and I'm working hard to overcome it.

"Inhale confidence, exhale doubt."

About Me

Hello my fellow throwers!

Let's get these introductions out of the way, shall we. My name is Kayla Etherton, and I've been throwing competitively for about seven years now. Wow. That's longer than I thought. Now I feel old... Anyway! I started throwing in the eighth grade(my last year of middle school/junior high for those of you with different school systems). In seventh grade, I decided that I was a volleyball player. I was very wrong, but my coach was also an assistant girl's track coach. He saw that I had great striking power, and figured I might give throwing a go. Turns out, I love throwing! I fell in love almost instantly. I mean, who doesn't want to throw heavy objects for fun! Am I right? Here's a picture of little ol' me throwing at my first sectionals:

Ooh, look at that shuffle glide. Middle school was interesting to say the least. Those were some rough times. But considering I had a softball coach(yeesh!) teaching me how to throw, I think I did okay. 

Now let's fast forward to today. I am a junior at North Central College*, I am on the women's track and field team, and I have become one of its top throwers. The picture below was taken at Grand Valley State University, where just a few of my NCC thrower family, myself(far left), and a few others from our team were invited to participate in a multiple division(DI, DII, DIII) track meet a little bit ago.

This will be my outlet to express my experiences and knowledge as a thrower. I'll officially begin posting within the week. So until then, throw far, eat well, and feel free to mention any of your throwing experiences in the comments!

*My thoughts and ideas are separate from those of North Central College, and they are no way liable for anything I may say or do