DGTT/Throwing: Struggle, Passion, and Commitment

Throwers! I have not directed a post toward you all in quite some time now. However, in all that I write, it can easily apply to you. This post is going to be specially directed toward the throwers, so gear yourself up and enjoy!

Throughout my seven years being a part of this awesome sport, I have unfortunately made plenty of mistakes. However, I don't think anyone could ever doubt the amount of effort that I have put into all of this time throwing. In high school, I would always be the last one throwing. I would throw until it was too dark to throw. I carried that same mentality into college as well. John Powell's logic of throwing 10,000 repetitions per year was not something that I took all that lightly. I never actually counted how many times I threw each year, but I always went into practice with a mindset of throwing until I could not physically throw anymore. Most people would think that it would be boring to do the same thing over and over again, day in and day out, night after night. For me, the emotion that I felt, and still do feel for throwing, is located on the complete opposite end of the spectrum of boring. It never failed to take me away from the daily struggles of life. I know the older population are probably saying, "Dude, you don't even know what struggle is!" I understand your point, but even as teenagers, the youngins get stressed every once in a while too. Throwing just has a way of relieving all of the stresses that you have in your life. Most of you reading this could probably agree with that statement. Even on a day where nothing seems to be going right, it just plants a seed of passion and excitement.




Last year during an outdoor season practice nothing seemed to be going right. Everything that was working for me in previous weeks was no longer working out for me. It started to pour down buckets of rain in a fast and explosive manner, kind of how I wished the shot put was flying out of my hand. It was freezing all at the same time. There I was in my shorts and my tee-shirt living it up! I refused to stop throwing until I got it right. Eventually, I did get it right. Everything started to click for me! The determination I had that night to get back on track is something that will stick with me for the rest of my life.

As I am spending this time to talk about my own experiences and the passion that I have for this sport, I want to diverge onto the real reason of why I am stating all of this in the first place. I was talking about how I have made plenty of mistakes throughout my throwing career. I have mentioned before that I always refused to lift when I was in high school. That would be one of my mistakes. As I have mentioned in previous posts, you need to lift. Most of the other mistakes involved my mindset of throwing until I could not throw anymore. You're probably saying to yourself, "What does that even mean?" Yea, I get it. I always talk about how much I believe in taking countless repetitions when throwing.

Here's the deal, there is a right way to train as a thrower, and a wrong way. Now, I don't claim to be an expert or anything, I am speaking purely from experience. The point that I am at now as thrower did not come easy and it was not a short fix. It was something that I struggled with, and something that took me a long time to get to where I am at now. I still believe whole-heartedly in the idea that repetition is key to the success of a thrower. I also want to back up the fact that transitioning into a successful thrower requires a lot of hard work and commitment. The bottom-line is this; I took the wrong path to get to where I am now. Obviously, I am out of commission right now due to this tendinitis injury in my right arm. That tells you I didn't do something right. Yet, it's not all about this injury in my arm. What I am talking about is the fact that I was not taught the "right way" when I first started throwing. I developed a lot of bad habits, and it took me a long time to break a lot of these bad habits. For instance:

• My left side carried me through the circle rather than my right side.

• I lead with my knee rather than the inside of my right thigh.

• My arms were all over the place.

• I never, ever turned my right foot.

These are just a few of the basics that I did not do as a high schooler. The list could become real nasty, real quick, if I spent the time really thinking about it. Yet, I was able to manage average numbers as a high school thrower. I honestly think that repetition, hard work and commitment had a lot to do with this. I became real good at what I did. Unfortunately, what I did was not real good. I also had more guidance than most high school throwers do around this area. I was fortunate in those regards. However, I lacked the basics needed to be the thrower that I always dreamed of being. Obviously, once this arm gets all doctored up, I'll be back at it again. Yet, I always wonder to myself what is it that I could have been? What could I have achieved as a thrower in high school if I had that basic guidance from the beginning? When I say basic guidance, I mean everything from training, mental preparation, and technique.

I really think that the struggles that I had to go through is one of the biggest driving factors for me wanting to help out throwers who may be in a similar position to that of what I went through. Since throwing is something that I am so passionate about and knowing that I put all of the hard work in that I did, to now being able to see a clear path that I could have taken if there was the opportunity of someone being there to direct me to that right path; really gives me no other choice but to reach out and help you guys and girls. I see myself work so hard at this for so long, and realize that I have been underachieving for all of these years, because I didn't have the proper guidance from the beginning. I am sitting here wondering what could have been, what could I have accomplished if I had that ever-so important guidance; the experience that is so vital to being the absolute best that you can be. 

I now have this mindset about life where I never want to open a new door to my life and wish that I would have done more. I didn't always have this mindset. I gained it through investing in others. Investing in others helped me realize who I really am, and I think that it is so important to find out who you really are. Some people spend their whole lives trying to figure out who they are. If you ask me, I think that is a waste of your life. Do not let yourself sink into the same hole that I did. The kind of hole where you sit all day and wonder what you could have been if you had the proper guidance. I am putting myself out there to provide that guidance to you high school throwers in the area. Before me, there was no one in the area who could provide what it is that I desire to provide.

I was watching an interview on Zach Even-Esh last night, and he asked the simple question along the lines of, "what is your purpose to be put on this Earth?"

I had a dream last night, where I was walking through a place where I used to hang out as a kid. As I was walking, I looked up and noticed my best friend walking by me. My friend went off to the military so it is always rare occasion when I do see him. It was an exciting moment to say the least. We ended up walking to the movie theatre. As I imagined him to be loaded with cash, he whipped out a hundred dollar bill and bought around 5 tickets for the surrounding people, including myself. We end up getting into the movie theatre, sit there for a little while, and the movie starts. Maybe five minutes into the movie, the movie suddenly stops. Someone starts typing on the screen, listing her accomplishments. Under this list she writes, "thank you Greg Pearson, you saved my life." If you could cry in your sleep, I think that would have been the moment for me. It is not because I am a cry-baby or anything like that. It is because I am so passionate about affecting other's lives in the utmost positive manner through what I do. I want to be the reason why a lost and befuddled teenager, finds their path to success. 

There are so many high schoolers these days who are athletes, that have tremendous abilities, but they don't know who they are. They run around to all of these different groups, they get caught up with drugs, and basically throw their lives out of the window. I see it time and time again. It is this reason why I want to create a family of training and success. A place where these teenagers can always fall back on and know that they always have a place of acceptance built around respect, hard work, and commitment. I feel that as I have grown, this is the major purpose to why I have been put on this Earth. To provide my experience in a way that allows the younger generation to find a successful path.

This is who I am. This is my purpose to live. You're either with me, or you're against me. If you're with me, great! Give me a call. If you're against me, even better. I only want to deal with those who have a desire to the best that they can be.

Before we close this down, I would like to mention that I am perfectly happy about where I am now. I know I spent a lot of time talking about how I wish this and how I wish that. The truth is that without the experiences that I went through, I wouldn't be the person I am today. I wouldn't be here looking to share my experiences with all of you.

Let's Make It Happen.

Learn From Those Who Have Already Experienced.

Save Yourself The Trouble.