Inspire Kent: Olympic star Lisa Dobriskey helps launch new project to showcase legacy of London 2012
Lisa Dobriskey is many things. An international
standard middle-distance runner being foremost among
them.
She won a glorious gold in the 1,500m at the
Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006 and claimed a World
Championship silver medal in Berlin in 2009.
The New Romney-raised star also finished an
agonising fourth in the final of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing,
missing out on a medal by less than a tenth of a second, aswell as
reaching the Final at London 2012.
Lisa is also a superb sporting ambassador for her
town, district and Kent as a whole and an inspiration to
millions.
What she is not, however, is a shot
putter.
As part of Inspire Kent – a project designed to help
provide a legacy to the Games and Inspire a Generation across our
county to get into sport – the KM Group’s London 2012
correspondent ALEX HOAD took her out of her comfort zone
as they both tried something new.
Believe it or not, trying the
throwing events was pretty much Lisa’s idea. I contacted a host of
prominent athletes from the county with a view to setting up some
Inspire Kent experiences and none have been as receptive to the
idea of trying something new and out of their comfort zone as
Lisa.
We arranged to meet on a sunny morning at the Julie Rose
Stadium, home of Dobriskey’s club Ashford AC, and scene of many of
her junior triumphs.
Now Lisa might be a giant in terms of international running but
physically she is slender and lean and looks like a strong gust of
wind might blow her over. If you think of shot put you do not think
of Lisa Dobriskey. Until now.
After some brief warm-ups from legendary Ashford AC coach Ted
Hawkins, who has seen Lisa’s journey from promising 11-year-old to
fully-fledged star at close hand, we were introduced to the
equipment trolley. And away we went.
SHOT PUT...
So. Shot put. Ted showed us the technique, which involved
contorting into position with right hand underneath jaw, left arm
bent up, as if checking a watch, and legs bent toward the back of
the circle, with the intention of exploding backwards, toward the
front of the circle and pushing the shot through with a high
follow-through.
Like any sport, getting
the technique right is half the battle, but while it took me half a
dozen goes to turn these separate movements into one fluid motion,
I was heartbroken to see that Lisa had it nailed within a
minute.
Now her biceps might be the size of my wrists and her shot may
have dribbled just a couple of metres out of the circle but, my
word, she looked the part.
My erratic style, which loosely resembled the tips Ted had
given me, enabled me to propel the shot to about the seven-metre
mark but he put it into context by saying the shot I was using
weighed the same as the one which the women’s gold medallist had
launched over 20m at London 2012. Hmmm.
HAMMER...
Onto the hammer. Now even I can see how important technique is
with this one.
Basically you have to spin a shot put on a metal wire around
your head and then let go at the precise time needed for it to land
as far away from the circle as possible.
We spent a long while just standing there, swinging the hammer,
getting used to it, trying to get the circles tighter and
faster.
When I was eventually allowed to let fly, it felt fantastic and
was only dulled slightly by the fact that it landed about 20m away
– some 66m short of the world record.
But still, this was more like it for me. I had another go, a few
metres further this time. Lisa was impressed, I could tell from the
way she was looking surprised. I think she expected me to trip
myself up with it.
A couple more goes, I spun faster, I rotated tighter, I added a
grunt to my release which sounded professional, even if it didn’t
add the extra 30-40m I was looking for to challenge for Rio
Lisa once again perfected the technique annoyingly quickly. I
was beginning to realise that she was just much better at taking
instructions and putting them into practice than I was. I guess she
has had plenty of practice, being a professional athlete and
all.
While her throws were
travelling half the distance of mine, they looked the real deal,
they went straight and true. If she put on about eight stone
of muscle then she would be incredibly, good, I have no doubt.
DISCUS...
Discus was the one I was most looking forward to. How pure an
Olympic sport it is. Launching a disc as far as you can, no
technology, no super-duper clothing, nothing except a man in a
field with a heavy disc and a dream.
I’ll admit, I expected to be ok at this. I have always been
great at frisbee and when I played football in goal, I could throw
the ball well over the halfway line.
But I should have forseen, technique would once more come into
play. This time I was permitted to use the same 2kg disc which
Lawrence Okoye and the Olympians lobbed around in London, while
Lisa settled for a 1.2kg junior version. Again, she only needed to
be told once, before she was spinning through the circle and
launching the disc up and out into the field.
My sheer brute strength and uncontrolled momentum across the
circle allowed me to launch it a long way this time. I was well
over halfway towards Okoye’s British record of 68m, however,
despite giving me about 10 stone and eight inches in height, Lisa
again nailed the technique and was flinging her lighter disc out
beyond 20m.
Picture Gallery
Alex Hoad and Lisa Dobriskey try the throwing events as part of Inspire Kent, coached by Ashford ACs Ted Hawkins
Wayne McCabe
Lisa Dobriskey tries shot put as part of Inspire Kent - coached by Ashford ACs Ted Hawkins
Lisa Dobriskey tries the shot put as part of Inspire Kent
Lisa Dobriskey tries the shot put as part of Inspire Kent
Lisa Dobriskey taking part in the shot put with Alex Hoad looking on
Coach Ted Hawkins gives Alex Hoad shot put guidance
Alex Hoad tries the shot put with Lisa Dobriskey looking on
JAVELIN...
There was still the javelin, made glamorous by Kent’s own Steve
Backley, for us to tackle.
Let me tell you, he made it look far easier than it is. That’s
my first observation. The pointed pole might be light and
aerodynamic but the grip and the shape in which you need your
shoulder to bend, is alien to me.
Ted seemed perplexed as he tried to physically contort my
shoulder into the shape which it should go, while I giggled like a
ticklish schoolgirl as I insisted I just didn’t bend that way.
Lisa
eventually came to the conclusion that my lifelong routine of
sitting at a computer for nine hours a day has led to a rounding of
my shoulders, a revelation which scared me more than the hammer
had.
We quickly abandoned the javelin, though Lisa once again showed
flashes of picking up the complex technique required to launch
these missiles 60-70-80metres. Unfathomable.
THE VERDICT...
LISA DOBRISKEY said: "It was really fun, I really,
really enjoyed it.
"I thought I picked up some of the techniques quite well but I
just didn’t have the power or the strength to throw very far.
"I think if it was done on technically looking good, if there
were stylistic points, I’d have been alright.
"Apparently, it was my best but I don’t think I’m going to have
a great future in discus. I don’t think I’ll give up running just
yet."
ALEX HOAD said: "I really enjoyed my morning
and trying all of the new sports.
"I have to say, the hammer and the discus were even more fun
than I had expected but I have a lot to learn in terms of
techniques.
"The technical side of the shot and javelin, in particular, were
complex but I am sure with a bit of dedicated training, the
improvements would come quickly.
"I was secretly hoping I might be a natural at one of the
throws, given my size, but unfortunately this morning has probably
just ended any 0.1% hope of being able to compete at Rio 2016."
INSPIRED TO TRY THROWING EVENTS? CONTACT YOUR LOCAL CLUB
BELOW
ASHFORD AC
David Fox - famfox3@yahoo.co.uk
www.ashfordac.org.uk
01233 613131
DARTFORD HARRIERS AC
Anne Goad - dartfordharriersac@gmail.com
www.dartfordharriersac.co.uk
07815 557839
INVICTA EAST KENT AC
Michael Gallyer-Barnett -
clubsecretary@iekac.org.uk
www.invictaeastkentac.org.uk
MEDWAY & MAIDSTONE AC
Linda Neeves - mandmac.org@gmail.com
www.mandmac.org
MEDWAY PARK PHOENIX
David Walker- info@medwayparkphoenix.com
www.medwayparkphoenix.com
07554 377908
PADDOCK WOOD AC
Richard Elliott - paddockwood@btinternet.com
www.paddockwoodac.co.uk
SWALE COMBINED AC
Richard Scoones - scoones123@hotmail.com
www.swalecombinedac.wordpress.com 07960 973496
THANET AC
Linda Hardy - linda@thanetac.co.uk
www.thanetac.co.uk
TONBRIDGE AC
Ann Czarnowski - ann@tonbridgeac.co.uk
www.tonbridgeac.co.uk
TUNBRIDGE WELLS AC
Stuart Smith - info@tunbridgewellsac.co.uk
www.tunbridgewellsac.co.uk
07760 406513
18/10/12
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