A Heart 'Pounds'-ing Experience
4/16/2004 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
April 16, 2004
To most observers, the 2003 Florida Relays would have been an unlikely place to begin a track and field career. For a special young lady, it was what one might call a heart pounding experience, with an emphasis on pounds.
Typically, every collegiate competitor at the Relays has already had some high school track and field experience in their chosen event(s). Traditionally, the Relays are held in the early spring and mark the beginning of the track and field season. So, it probably seemed a bit farfetched to Tom Jones, the nationally respected women track and field coach at Florida, when the Air Force Academy's field coach, Scott Irving, boldly suggested that he had a potential NCAA All-American for the women's javelin competing at Percy Beard Track, albeit she had never thrown the javelin competitively.
The Florida Relays would mark her javelin debut. Jones might have been even more suspect when Irving pointed out his prot?g? - the diminutive Dana Pounds, at 5'2" tall.
His suspicion may have even grown when Pounds managed a mere 117' in her collegiate javelin opener, but he also knew of Coach Irving's reputation for creating javelin throwers, including the Gator's own standout and SEC Javelin Champion and NCAA qualifier, Ruth Ann Brooks, a high school All-State softball player, whom Irving had recruited and coached while he was an assistant coach at the University of Florida in the mid-80s. Despite Jones' respect for Irving's past javelin success, Irving could not help but wonder if the Florida women's mentor was not secretly laughing inside.
If anyone was laughing before, no one is laughing now. Pounds steadily improved during the 2003 outdoor season and ultimately placed fourth and ninth with lifetime bests, respectively, at the MWC Outdoor Championships (146') and the NCAA Regional Championships (149'). She also established a freshman record without a full year of training.
"I worked with Dana in nine throwing sessions during the fall of 2002", Irving recalled. "She could not throw the javelin straight when she started. She reminded me of the hacker in golf: lots of hooking and slicing. However, blessed with athleticism, explosive power and a never say die attitude, she showed promise even in the first few sessions. I also knew that these sessions would be short lived, because Dana was a point guard for the USAFA women's basketball team. I would not see her again for another technical session in the javelin until March of 2003."
What did Pounds think of her early lessons throwing the javelin?
"Coach Irving put numbers up of what he thought I could eventually throw in terms of distance", Pounds noted. "I did not really believe him until the MWC meet (2003 Outdoors). God blessed me with the ability to throw and Coach Irving showed me the way, technically, to perfecting my skills in the javelin."
While Pounds had been honored as a Fab Five high school basketball star in the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. metropolitan area and was recruited by the Falcons, she made a difficult decision in the fall of 2003 when she chose to give up the basketball court and concentrate her energies on the javelin runway.
In high school track and field, she was accustomed to keeping busy in two events, so it came as no surprise to Coach Irving that during the 2003 season she kept asking if she could throw the discus or the shot put - events in which she had garnered Florida State high school championship honors.
Always humored by these requests, Irving was convinced that she had the tools to be a national class javelin thrower if she concentrated solely on that event. Maybe it was her brother, Eric's (a top swimmer in his own right at USAFA) insistence that his sister had a rocket arm as a catcher in high school softball, picking off runners attempting to steal second base that convinced Irving he was coaching someone special with the spear.
Or, maybe the softball throw testing in the fall provided certainty. Pounds has now thrown 224' with the small ball. More likely, it is the fact that Irving has coached over a dozen female javelin throwers beyond 180', including six national champions and an Olympian.
"Call it intuition or a gut feeling", Irving contends. "I've been coaching javelin throwers for nearly three decades. I think you get a sixth sense about who has potential to throw far and Dana has that potential."
2004 has certainly shown Irving can be prophetic about the javelin.
Pounds gained national prominence at the Stanford Invitational in late March when she uncorked a throw that broke the existing Academy record by nearly ten feet. Her mark of 167'3" presently ranks fourth in the NCAA, leads the MWC and also qualifies for this year's Olympic Trials.
"I am so excited for Dana," Irving confessed. "She has worked hard to perfect technique and become a student of the javelin. She has trained intensely in the weight room. She trains and competes with such fire and heart that I am absolutely convinced she can and will one day be a NCAA All-American. In one short year, she has done what it takes other javelin throwers a career to achieve."
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"I tend to be a punster with the team and try to butcher their names in well meaning fashion", Irving points out.
In typical pun mode, Irving suggests that, "Dana Pound's career thus far has been what one might best call a heart "pounds"-ing experience, because she does compete with such fire and heart. I have no doubt that it is one of the main reasons that she will excel at the very highest levels in the javelin."
The 2003 Florida Relays almost seem like a distant memory now, but if Coach Irving thought that was a heart "pounds"-ing experience, just wait until the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships this June and the Olympic Trials in July!
