So you want to be an athlete?

[Alan H]

Check out the videos and pictures at http://www.kiltedthrower.com

Study the body placement, footwork, and head placement of these top throwers for big hints on how to do it all....

[HeathBar]

OK...What would be the perfect kilt for throwing. Please consider the rise, the material weight, the amount of material (4yd, 5yd, 6yd....) and fasteners. Or does any of this even matter?

[Alan H]

OK...What would be the perfect kilt for throwing. Please consider the rise, the material weight, the amount of material (4yd, 5yd, 6yd....) and fasteners. Or does any of this even matter?

I've seen everything from what are clearly *very* nice 16 ounce, custom-made kilts, to wraparound plaid material with a belt on it from Joanne's fabric. The upshot is, nobody really cares.

I happen to wear a Scottish National casual 5 yard, that's from one of those distributors around here that everybody loves to hate. I've also worn my USA Kilts casual, since it's often pretty hot out there on the field, here in California.

One guy wears a nicely made 8-yard kilt made out of black and white cow print material! I"ve seen a couple of utilikilts on the field, too. One guy (who happens to be Chinese!) wears a What Price Glory military kilt! Notice that Yaish is wearing a utilikilt in some of his videos. However, by far and away the most popualr manufacturer at the Novice and Intermediate levels here in California is SportKilt.

I would say that you shouldn't wear your gorgeous 16 ounce tank. I'd hate to have one on and drop a stone on the apron and mess it up, you know? I personally think that the USA Kilts casual is just about perfect for a kilt to throw in, especially when it's hot.

Footwear is important. You want ankle support and you want traction on the grass. High-top cleats are great. The only time they're not is during the open stone throw. That's becasue if you do a South African spin, you need to rotate on your forward foot, when it's planted. Most guys actually take off the cleated shoe on that foot and replace it with a basketball shoe or other rubber-soled, but not cleated shoe.

[Yaish]

Alan has good advice on the footwear. I wear regular soccer cleats, but I have high ankles so high tops dont fit me. I really only need the cleats for the caber and hammer, I like good boots for the remaining events. They provide the ankle support I need and usually more than enough traction.
Wearing cleats for eight hours can also be extremely tiring on your feet, which slows you down by the end of the day.

As for kilts, I really like the Utilikilts because they fit snugly on my hips (no shifting) and the narrow apron means I have just that little bit more freedom of movement for my legs.
Be aware that many people use an extremely sticky sort of tacky on some of the events, and it will likely get all over your hands and clothes even if you don't use it yourself.

I usually wind up with a bit of tacky on my shoulder from the caber, my hands, and then to my kilt from transfer. I don't mind this on my UK or my Stillwaters, but I would be upset if it was a tank.

If you dont like the UK idea, then it's hard to go wrong with a Stillwater Kilt. All the good looks of a traditional, but at a price you don't mind getting dirty.
Sportkilt also makes a fantastic product for this purpose, especially as this is what it was designed to do. Lightweight, elastic waist, and relatively cheap are hard to beat.

[Alan H]

HEADS UP!!! Unique opportunity to see how it's done and get some coaching from top amateur athletes...

The HURST BENEFIT CLINIC

Longtime Nor Cal Master Athlete Wade Hurst has been having a rough year this year. To show Wade and Cheryl that they're not alone and to help with their finances, a bunch of Nor Cal throwers are putting on a Heavy Athletics Clinic...

October 27th, at 9:00 AM
2800 Twitchell Island Road, Rio Vista, CA
Clinic fee, all of which goes to Wade and Cheryl, $50
phone: Morgan Adams @ 925-639-8233, or 925-429-05330

There will be a potluck lunch so bring something to share. The site is right next door to the Brannan Island Campgrounds, so camping is available if you want to. Phone number for the campground is 1-800-444-7275

the big draw....they are planning to have sheaf tossing equipment on hand. I've never gotten to try that! They encourage everyone to bring home-made equipment and training ideas. A bunch of top amateur Class A athletes will coach groups of 3 - 8 athletes in the techniques of each event. You can specialize in just a few events during the day. There's supposed to be a raffle. What they're gonna raffle off, I dunno.

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I wanno GO...but I can't. My Band is doing a Bar Mitzvah that day, and the Luminous Joan has an evening concert that I'm ushering for. DRAT. I bet a day spent doing this would bump my 16 pound hammer over 80 feet.

[Colin]

What kind of fitness regiment do you guys recommend for the gym workouts. I would assume that the legs should get as much if not more of a workout than the arms given that 50% of muscle groups are in the legs.

I may just have to give this a shot next year. The only thing stopping me is that most of the guys that participate every year are bloody huge and a lot are in the strong man competitions year round. We don't have a lot of amateurs.

[katmills2005]

This is some great information.

I've been trying to help my son who is 12 start into the athletics. He is too young to do any of the adult competition stuff so I've been looking to find ways of helping him. He took it upon himself to use my weed eater for the hammer throw. (weed eater is now dead) With that in mind I've found a friend to help train my son. He uses smaller weights that are more age appropriate.

While many classes including womens are out there, I have not found anything for my son's age group. Young teenagers are simply out of luck when it comes to the games. They usually have something for smaller children, but after about age 10 there really isn't anything until they are old enough to compete with adults at around age 15 or 16.

I'm glad I have some more detailed information to keep his spark of interest alive. Thank you again.

[Shriner]

Gee, I wish I would have read this before Stone Mtn. Thank you guys for the info, lots of great stuff.

John

[Chase]

You mentioned that there were age classifications...Are there weight classifications like in boxing? and if so, what are they...I am almost 50, but would like to compete, I weigh about 220 lbs (don't know what that translates to in stone), but would also like to know that too.

Respectfully,

Chase

[N. Campbell]

220 lbs would be about 16 stone. As far as weight classes go there is realy only one called the 190lb and under. Other then that you compete as either a Master, Amature or Pro.