Check out "Throwing Deep" a blog by South Portland thrower Daniel Guiliani. Guiliani was the Class A shot put champion outdoors and finished second in the New England Championship a year. Follow his journey to break the state all-time best this winter.
Hey Everybody!
Only one thing has been on my mind within the last week, and that is the state championship meet. I'm ready to go for my first indoor state title, and I plan on doing so in record setting fashion. A lot of people asked me last weekend, "When Am I going to see that 60?" Or "Can you just throw 60 already?", and all of it just kind of got inside of my head, and I fouled 4 out of my 6 throws. I had one throw that would've been a personal best but couldn't stick it at the end, so I fouled. The state meet record is 59'10", and I enter with a best of 58'7.5", so I'm most certainly going to go all out this week. I've been watching closely at my dartmouth performance, and what I did to reach my PR. It seems as though that I had a nice balance, and acceleration at the end. I also noticed the throw went way to the right, and If I can just keep my balance, accelerate, and be patient enough to keep all my energy going straight, I could have a huge day.
I've been frustrated about my recent meets. I won every one of them but to me it isn't about winning as much as it is bettering myself and improving week in and week out. I'm working on my last phase of my throw and trying to extend as much as possible with out fouling in practice. I've thrown over the state meet record with ease over and over in practice (some over the Maine all-time best). I wrote down some of my measurements, and it went 61'3",59'11",62'3"61'1", 63'8", 60'11", 62'11" and 64'1". All of those measurements are throws I didn't foul, and I know I have it in me to be the best performer this meet has ever seen, and even the best performer all around, but I just need to remain calm like I do in practice, and just make it happen!
This meet in outdoor is where I proved I can perform well under pressure. Ironically, during the week of practice before states in outdoor, my PR was 48', and I had consistently hit 52 or 53 (53'6" was what I had thrown at the meet). Now I have a PR of 58', and I'm consistently hitting 62 or 63 practicing, so It would be nice to break out like outdoor and perform at a big meet such as this and finally achieve my goal. I'm excited for this meet, and New Englands then Nationals to follow. I'm ready to excel at states, and I'm ready to take down the meet record, but most importantly my personal record.
Good luck to everyone competing at states!
-Daniel Guiliani
