Heavy Athletics, tradition and the kilt - questions

[Alan H]

1. Why do you throw at the Games, and not at track meets? What is the attraction of Highland Games versus the simpler, but probably more focused activity of throwing shotput and/or discus and/or hammer?

2. Did you get into wearing a kilt first and then start throwing, or was your first kilt something you got because you needed it to throw?

3. Besides wearing a kilt on the field at the Games, where else do you strap on your kilt? Do you go to other kilt-wearing activities?

[Alan H]

OK, I'll answer!

1. My "first love" when it came to throwin' stuff, was discus, and I still love it. I will probably do 2-3 all-comers meets this Winter, the ones in Los Gatos just started this weekend. I haven't been practicing discus yet, between the knee and the rain so my distances will suck, but that's OK.

it's not that I was throwing at track meets and then found out about HG. I hadn't touched a discus in 20 years before I started throwing at the Games.

2. I got into the kilt-wearing thing first. It all started with Riverdance...seriously. Joan and I went and saw Riverdance up in The City and I fell in love with the sound of the Low Whistle. That led to going to some Celtic music festivals. I saw Tempest, and Mike McMullen, their fiddler at the time, wore a black Utilikilt. I wasn't too sure about those plaid kilts, but I thought maybe I could wear a plain black one. So I visited the UK booth and about died when I saw the price. That sent me searching online, I found X Marks the Scot and then I found Stillwater Kilts and USA Kilts.

One night, 6 years ago, a bunch of the Nor Cal X Marks rabble were hanging out at the Devils Canyon Brewery in San Carlos. We used to get together there on the last Friday of every month, when they fenced the place off and had it open for a big party. One night, Tim C. walked up to me and said "what say we throw at the Woodland Games for s***'s and giggles? I said OK, and here we are.

Kilts came first, then athletics after I'd been to the Games for two seasons.

3. I wear a kilt to work, maybe 2-3 days a week. Usually they're tartan of some sort, but sometimes I wear the digicamo ones. I still own a pair of dress slacks (dark gray) but I don't think I'd fit in them any more, so whenever I have to get "dressed up" I put on a kilt. I backpack in a digital camouflage kilt. I go to concerts wearing a kilt. In fact the only time I wear a tie but NOT a kilt is when I'm on stage myself, and have to wear black. My symphony doesn't wear tuxes or tails, we wear plain black with a "touch of color". For the men, that means black shirt, black shoes, black trousers and a colorful tie. I have a pair of black Levi's, which when ironed, are tidy enough for me to wear on stage.

I think I know most of the "guidelines" for Scottish kilt wearing in North America, so that either I follow them, or if I choose not to, I'm doing so, knowingly. That's what comes from 7+ years of hanging out at X Marks. When I smoosh the velcro closed on my digital camouflage kilts, I understand that I'm breaking the rules, and don't worry about it overmuch.

[Alan H]

Also, I kind of enjoy the fact that the athletes are the "Lebowski's" of the Games. Our pleats are a mess, the kilts aren't "tanks" (except for 01d_dude, who is one of the very few guys I know who throws in a "real" wool kilt) we're sweaty, smelly, dirty and generally disreputable, and up-front about it. When your hands are covered with pine-tar tacky, and your t-shirt front is soaked with sweat, your socks are covered in dust and grime and you're as sunburned as it's possible to get, it's hard to look "natty".

Yeah, I actually kind of LIKE that! Seriously. It makes perfectly good sense that we're a fringe element at X Marks. This is a forum about CLOTHES...one particular kind of clothing called "kilt" and so the guys who spend time here are really "into" clothes. Natty is good. Crisp is picture-worthy. Scruffy is tolerated in the name of cultural diversity...or something like that! If you wander over and look at the Scottish athletes forum, you don't find oodles of posts about pleating styles, eh? It's all about who in the gang has put up the biggest bench press this week. There are two former X Markers who never post here any more, but post regularly on the NASGA forum, because the "kilt" is a good thing, yes it is, but it's really just the thing they have to wear to participate in the whole athletics activity.

[Alan H]

Anyway, it's late and I'm rambling....'night.

[Martin Roy]

1. Why do you throw at the Games, and not at track meets? What is the attraction of Highland Games versus the simpler, but probably more focused activity of throwing shotput and/or discus and/or hammer?

2. Did you get into wearing a kilt first and then start throwing, or was your first kilt something you got because you needed it to throw?

3. Besides wearing a kilt on the field at the Games, where else do you strap on your kilt? Do you go to other kilt-wearing activities?

.
(Note to Alan: Posting at 3:30 in the am is not a healthy endeavor - read a boring book and put yourself to sleep...which is not to imply we don't enjoy your posts.)

Okay, here are my answers:

1. I throw Scottish because the only experience I've had with T&F was shot put in junior high, which I did because it was the only sport available between basketball and baseball, and all of the jocks participated in every sport. For me, it was simply a time filler. The attraction of Scottish throwing is the whole package: the challenge of the activity itself on a personal level; the setting of the overall games
and the kick of being part of the entertainment; the fact that it's off the beaten path to a large extent as opposed to, say, golf; the cool factor when people hear about you throwing (you do that! wow that's sooo cooool!). But, for me, the main reason is that, even though it's an individual sport, it still feels like being on a team because we see the same group of guys/gals at most of the games; and, as a consequence, the drive to practice/drill/lift/log must originate from a strong internal motivation to improve, spiced with the awareness that you have to prove it on the field to the team. Finally, and this is pure ego, I like the idea of doing something that the vast majority of guys my age, 59, wouldn't even consider doing because of the physical demands and the commitment to consistent, disciplined training that is essential to improvement. Plus, it's just plain old get-dirty-in-the-mud-puddle fun.

2. I got an inexpensive Sport Kilt to wear to Burns Night; I started throwing a couple of years later.

3. Other than games, Burns Night.

[The Wizard of BC]

Hi guys and gals of the Athletics section of X Marks.
This is my first ever post to this section. The reason is that Alan H. and I had been talking a few days ago about this whole question of why would there be a throwing section on a kilt forum.

My answer ---- Sweaty, sticky, throwing heavy stuff, and kilts! wow, win-win in my book.

Alan clued me into a little behind the scenes about the other throwing forums and how, there, they have little to no interest in kilts. They view it as "the thing I have to wear 'cause they say I have to."

While here on X Marks we may at times go overboard with the Effeminate Fop stuff on occasion, we truly do welcome anyone who wants to wear a kilt.

My days of throwing heavy stuff ended a long time ago in a far away land with little tiny pieces of metal flying around. So I can only marvel at what you do. And applaud you for being able to do it.

But my question is still, what brings you to X Marks? Did you come here looking for stuff about kilts and then found Alan's little corner of the forum? Did Alan threaten to toss you over a bar if you didn't join up?

Do you want to know all the stuff about kilts that we talk about in the other 183 sections of this forum?

I suspect that it is really that swoon factor from the ladies when they see you braw lads in your kilts.

Or is it "They make me wear a skirt"?

[Martin Roy]

But my question is still, what brings you to X Marks? Did you come here looking for stuff about kilts and then found Alan's little corner of the forum? Did Alan threaten to toss you over a bar if you didn't join up?

Interesting question, Steve.

In all honesty I don't recall how I found XMarks - it could have been several years before I started throwing in 2010 or afterwards stemming from a discussion with Alan about throwing. My brothers and I have been having a Burns Night for about 15 years; my discovery of XMarks could well have happened during research for our annual party. However, it's fair to say I didn't really check it regularly until I began throwing and obsessively reading anything I could find on Scottish athletics. The posts by Alan and others in the Athletics sub-forum were something I followed for quite awhile before I finally decided to begin my own training log a few months ago.

Bottom line, I didn't find my way here looking for kilt info; I fall into the group of throwers who wear a kilt because it's the uniform. That is not to say, though, that I don't really enjoy the chance to wear a kilt. My regular response to the question, "Why do you throw?", is "It's a good excuse to put on a kilt." Nonetheless, I have browsed a number of the kilt-oriented forums and have learned quite a bit - mostly pointing out my myriad fashion faux pas when I dress up my Sport Kilts for Burns Night. Even though I may look like the red-headed stepchild next to someone who is perfectly appointed, I have just a much fun as they have and I can spontaneously recite the Address to the Haggis, with a decent accent, anytime and anywhere, with a minimal amount of prompting, better than most.

And, Alan doesn't threaten anyone about joining the forum; it's more of a persistent nagging sort of approach. But, I'm proof that his method works. In fact, I'm in the process of doing the same thing to my brother who needs to be logging his training right now. (Note to Garry: see how I did that? What are you waiting for?)

There you are, Steve. FWIW, my two cents.

[o1d_dude]

I found XMarks by googling a kilt question and spotted Alan posting here which led me to the Athletics sub-forum and now it seems like I'm a regular.

BTW, the kilt I throw in is not "the whole nine yards". It's a lighter-weight woolen kilt called a Casual Kilt that I ordered from Scotland back about 10 years ago. My first throwing kilt was a homemade thing I put together from a light weight woolen material in a random plaid pattern that I bought at Joanne's Fabric. The pleats are hand-stitched but I never found the hardware and straps which led to me buying the Casual Kilt. Aside from that, my kilt is now of the appropriate Tartan.

Growing up I never knew of my Scottish ancestry and didn't learn of it until I'd been throwing in the Games for a year or two. I always wanted to throw the shotput so that's what brought me into the sport. Once I learned of my background, I finally understood why bagpipe music had always made the hair on my neck stand up. The pipes call to the blood.

Now my purpose is to participate in the Scottish culture and pass on to the new lads how things are done. It's always good to be involved in something larger than oneself.

Throwing in the games is not something you learn from reading books. You learn it from other men who in turn learned it from those who went before. 800 Years of this tradition brings us to where we are today.

The ancestors are well pleased.

[RogerWS76]

1. Why do you throw at the Games, and not at track meets? What is the attraction of Highland Games versus the simpler, but probably more focused activity of throwing shotput and/or discus and/or hammer?

2. Did you get into wearing a kilt first and then start throwing, or was your first kilt something you got because you needed it to throw?

3. Besides wearing a kilt on the field at the Games, where else do you strap on your kilt? Do you go to other kilt-wearing activities?

I throw at the games because I love the competition but I think more now because I love the guys we throw with and the great atmosphere there is and maybe even most of all because I love sending a whole day or weekend hearing the pipes play in the background and I'm getting goose bumps just thinking about hearing the mass bands play at the end of the day!

I had never even heard of the games while growing up here in N. California or I would have been all over it. It was during about a ten year sojourn to New England that I first heard about the Highland Games. Even then the only one I knew about was the "big" games at Loon Mountain in New Hampshire. I called to find out how I could participate and was told that I had to be a "Master" thrower and that I had to be "invited" to play. Seeing as I had no experience or skill to be able to wrangle an invitation I figured that was it.


Then about 4 years ago I moved back to California and a friend of mine invited me to the games in Sacramento. I said, "Wait ... do they do all those Highland Games there?" and my friend said, "Yes!" So I looked them up on line and called to find out if there was a chance they'd let an old guy who had no experience at least TRY it once. They said "Sure ... come out in your kilt and hose and you can compete in with the novices in the C class. Well, they didn't have to ask me twice. I was pumped but then I thought about how to get a kilt. I had googled them on line and it looked like a pretty expensive proposition but I DID find a couple of places where they had a "pattern" you could use to make your own. My mom DID teach me how to sew, so I borrowed a friends machine and went at it.

My first attempt was AWFUL. I had NO idea how to sew pleats and I am sure if I had tried to compete in it it would have been a disaster. Then I tried again got some more online tips and came up with an acceptable garment (well, maybe not ACCEPTABLE, but at least not totally embarrasing) that I found out later was actually a cross betweeen a Kingussie and Military pleated kilt. It did NOT have either buckles OR the dreaded velcro. I held it up with a weight training belt! I used that for my entire first year and then made another more regular military pleat kilt for a New Years dance that I alternately threw with my second year.


This last year I found out about Sportkilt and asked my kids for an Air Force Plaid and wore it most of the year to honor my three kids in the Air Force. Over this last year I got the bug and bought a few more Sport kilts and then for Christmas this year my family got me a properly made kilt with my MacAlister clan's dress tartan. I have also made several kilts for my brother and friends who wanted to come out and throw too.


I had only worn my kilt a couple of times before I found out about the games BUT ... WEARING the kilt was how I found OUT about the games here in Sacramento when my friend asked me if I was Scottish and had ever been to the games here. They also told me about their Vetrinarian friend who also threw and that is how I met Frank Lux and then OldDude here who has REALLY helped me learn how to not embarrass myself on the field. He and Alan are also how I found out that while Masters were generally older and more experienced in the game, it was POSSIBLE for me to throw with THEM and learn more than I would continuing to throw with the beginning youngsters in the C Class.

Over the last 3 years I have also worn my kilts to New Years and Valentines dances, Burns Suppers, and on ST, Patricks Day (with my flat cap I got in Galway on a business trip to Irelamd about 15 years ago) and on Proscription Day and St. Andrews day and on a very special day when my daughter asked me to wear it to give her away at her wedding.

However, this last September, I heard about an opportunity to support the efforts against Prostrate Cancer during the month in the same way that we wear pink to support the efforts agains breast cancer in October. So I decided I would wear my kilt every day for the month to support Kilted to Kick Cancer. At the end of the month I decided I really LIKED wearing the kilt and it was about the most comfortable piece of clothing I'd ever worn so I have kept it up. Only wore breeks on a couple of occasions to a wedding (where I won't wear it unless asked to by the bride) and at a funeral where I knew no one else would be wearing one.

[Alan H]

I started out throwing in a USA Kilts casual model in Ramsay, just because I liked the colors. After I discovered my McKnight connections, I got a polyester-viscose kilt in MacNaughton, weathered. I wore that for a couple of years until squats, general lifting and *ahem* bulking up caused me to outgrow it. Recently I've been throwing in a Lindsay, modern kilt which I made from fabric from Fraser and Kirkbright, or a tweed kilt which really isn't a tartan, but nobody can tell from a distance.

I figure, if I'm going to Scotland I might as well throw in a clan kilt, so in a month or two, I'm ordering some weathered MacNaughton tartan....either wool/poly or poly-viscose and stitching up a kilt which will fit me.