Throw for Gold Programme Bags a Sack of Medals in Year

Throw for Gold Programme Bags a Sack of Medals in Year
One to Enable Young Athletes Fulfill a Sporting Dream …

10 May 2011: It hasn’t taken long for the newest programme established by Sir John Walker’s FIND YOUR FIELD OF DREAMS Foundation to hit the target – with future athletic champions very much on the horizon.

Throw for Gold, a junior throws development project aimed at unearthing more Valerie Adams’ in the Manukau region, was the 7th and most recent programme launched last October at Jellicoe Park in Manurewa by Sir John, the former world mile record holder, 1976 Olympic 1500 metres champion and Auckland City Councillor.

Six months later, after fielding athletes in three pinnacle events – the New Zealand, North Island and Auckland Secondary School Championships – the Throw for Gold team finished the season with one national, six North Island and eight Auckland Secondary School titles, and a host of junior and senior records.

“What our Throw for Gold youngsters achieved after such a short build-up period was nothing short of amazing,” says head coach Nigel Edwards, himself a former representative athlete. “And it far exceeded expectations.”

Edwards had set what he calls a “stretch target” for his largely inexperienced young team to “pick up 25% of ALL throw medals at those three targeted championships. We ended up collecting 17 medals which equated to 32% of all medals available in the shot, discus and javelin disciplines and 45% of ALL golds. You couldn’t do better than that.”

An initiative bought to the Foundation by SPARC CEO Peter Miskimmin, who saw real potential for Manukau, with its large Polynesian population, as the ideal base to produce a new generation of male and female champions from the throws disciplines. Funding was provided by The Lion Foundation and SPARC, with Athletics New Zealand delivering the programme.

It was back in early 2010 that Edwards, who was coaching a group of youngsters including then promising Auckland Girls Grammar shot and discus thrower Siositina (Tina) Hakeai, was contracted as head coach, and with two assistants began the task of canvassing Manukau high schools in search of talent.

They ended up with 39 to take forward into an intensive winter training programme – a first for many of the youngsters – all Manukau based though some like Tina went to school outside the area. Eventually eight dropped out of the programme for various reasons. Throw for Gold went into the athletic summer just gone with 31 youngsters fully committed to the programme, headed by Tina Hakeai.

Edwards says that watching an athlete like Tina “thrive from the intense training served as an inspiration,” with Tina going on to improve her discus throw by around 7 metres, with a best throw of 53.16m – 2nd in the world at youth level behind Cuba’s Rosalia Vazquez.

He also says North Shore 16-year-old Jacko Gill and his record-breaking throws are also providing all the incentive his group needs to “make throwing a serious sport choice which they won’t regret.” And he expects Tina to further stamp her class on the world stage later this year at the World Youth Athletic Championships, and by the end of the season to have eclipsed 55 metres in the discus, which would qualify her for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

But, he says Throw for Gold “isn’t only about Tina. For instance at the North Island Championships just over a month ago, as well as the six gold medals, we also won two silvers, six bronze and had another six athletes finish 4th. And in the junior boys shot put our squad finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th – a fantastic effort.”

He now has 46 enthusiastic youngsters going into the 2011 winter training programme – assisted by six coaches. The funding support provides uniforms, competition footwear and equipment, plus paid gym membership with specialised programmes for each youngster going on to competition.

And they have a more challenging target to achieve next athletic season. “50% of all medals in the shot, discus and javelin events they contest, which I’m confident they will attain.”

That enthusiasm is shared by FIND YOUR FIELD OF DREAMS Foundation chairman, Sir John Walker, who sees Throw for Gold as “creating a new pathway for young people in Manukau to pursue a sporting goal and achieve a dream – just like Rod Dixon, Dick Quax and I did in our day on the track.

“But I see these youngsters, and others who follow them, as our future champions. For years our young people in Manukau seeking a future in sport were channeled into sports like rugby, league, basketball, netball, softball and cricket – all team sports – which suited their natural physique. Many of our young Polynesians in particular are big, strong and naturally talented. As Valerie, and more recently Jacko and Tina are showing, athletics also provides them with great opportunities to reach the top.”

Sir John’s Foundation has three strategic goals – to ensure young people in Manukau are provided the opportunity to engage in sport and recreation; to create a pathway from sport at school through to club level and beyond; and to develop a new generation of future sporting champions.

“That makes me very excited about what this programme has achieved, since the launch last year, and the Foundation will leave no stone unturned to ensure youngsters with potential and determination get the opportunity to go all the way.”

ENDS

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