Junior Olympics... bittersweet

Who would have thought that Kees, at over 4'10" tall and 110 pounds and in the 95% percentile in height and weight for a 10-year old and the second-tallest in his class would be the smallest competitor in his age group in discus?!

The first picture is Kees in the group of the top-8... he's third from the right.

Essentially... what you have here are five-percenters... the kids in the top-5%... with the tallest and eventual winner being over 5'9" and shaving... at ten!!! That kid is in the second picture with his back to the camera and Kees is to his right... you can see the difference in their heights!
























Six weeks ago Kees has never touched a discus... in his first meet he placed second and then won the next three meets to qualify for the district championships... he then qualified for the regional championships... the final step to qualify for the Junior Olympics... and with 70-foot-plus throws in practice knew he had a chance to make the top-four.


















His warm-ups were a little short but then he got into the groove and started throwing long... not as long as he'd thrown in practice but long enough to keep him in the hunt. Only two kids were throwing in a range that he had never achieved before, so he knew he had a chance. Unlike the other kids, Kees was consistent... getting longer with each throw, never foot or sector fouling, and landing within the same section of the sector each time. With his final throw he threw long enough to jump up several places and make it to the final flight.

Under pressure is where Kees shines... and while the other kids starting throwing shorter, or sector fouling, Kees has the longest throw through the first round and then the second-longest through round two.

Unfortunately confusion ensued because while it appeared that Kees had a 70+ foot throw... which was confirmed by the field judge... upon later review of the scoring sheet his long throw was missing. That was not the only scoring problem and it got so bad that the field judge was dismissed during the finals because of the complaints by some of the parents.

In the end it appears that instead of Kees having the fourth-longest throw, he was credited with having the fifth-longest throw... so no Junior Olympics for him. Kees was devastated.

I told him repeated how proud I was of him... his hard work and dedication that got him this far.. . and especially when you consider that he was the smallest, with the least experience (all of the top-8 had been coached for at least 8 months... Kees: five weeks) yet he still threw with all the top kids... he has a lot to be proud of!

It's bittersweet because Kiersten qualified and Kees did not... her time will leave her mid-pack at the Junior Olympics whereas Kees' would probably get him on the podium since this meet had the longest-recorded throws in the country and the winner set a national record!

Next year!