Pirate's success a stone's throw away

Ever see those athletes chucking stones during track and field meets and wonder what that’s all about?

I decided to investigate.

Shot put has been around in Olympic competition since the first modern Olympics in 1896, and throwing stones first became popular in the first century during throwing events in the Scottish Highlands.

That’s how long this tradition has been around. It’s both primitive and advanced and the techniques used today create much longer-distance throws, but it’s still launching rocks all the same. There’s beauty in that.

It’s a beauty Braden River High senior Emani Smalls knows well. She’s participated in the sport for two years, following in the footsteps of her brother, Eric Smalls, who is now the throws coach at North Carolina Central University. Emani Smalls won the event at the Manatee County Championships on April 3, hurling her shot put 31 feet, 1 inch.

It was her second win in a row, and the second win of her career, after setting a personal-best mark of 32 feet, 2.5 inches at the Manatee Hurricane Invitational March 21.

Smalls’ successes almost didn’t happen. Despite her brother’s career in the sport, and a brief flirtation with shot put in middle school on the AAU circuit, Smalls didn’t try it in high school.

“I was scared to do high school sports,” Smalls said. “I was like, ‘they’re more advanced.’ There were bigger people and more competition. It was just different than middle school. But I finally grew the courage to do it my junior year. I had a lot of motivational talks with my brother and my dad (Everett Smalls). They said, ‘Don’t worry about what other people think.’

"I had to do it for me.”

Since then, she said, her self-confidence has risen, and in the past year, so has her distance. There are a few reasons for that. She started lifting weights for the first time in her life, actually joining the Pirates’ weightlifting team and reaching the regional meet. But Smalls said the shot put is not solely about strength. She said there are girls much smaller than her who throw the 8.8-pound stone just as far.

So what makes the difference? Technique does. Smalls said the biggest change she’s made in her two year shot putting is in her “glide.” It sounds like the next big dance craze, and it almost looks like it, too, as Smalls got up from the Braden River bleachers to demonstrate. The glide sees throwers use their right leg to hop into a power stance, with their bodies still turned backward. It looks awkward, but it’s crucial.

I’m not smart enough to know if Smalls’ glide is good, but coach Victoria Diaz says it is, and I trust her opinion. Smalls worked with her brother over the summer, in the shot put circle and through film study, to refine her glide and give her more available power. Now, Smalls is able to explode and “let all the energy out,” she said.

Smalls finished second at Braden River’s district meet on April 13, not the result she wanted but still good enough to send her to regionals on April 26 at Charlotte High, where she’ll look to reclaim the top spot.

What’s the lesson in all of this? It’s a lesson that’s as old as the sport of shot put itself. Don’t let fear get in the way of your goals. Work hard and there’s no obstacle too big to overcome.