KIRSTYN SIMPKINS: Throws a discus for a change
If anyone was beginning to think that simply every event in track and field meant running, let the throwers show the alternative.
Senior Kirstyn Simpkins is a thrower. She participates in both the discus and shot put event. Although she participates more in the discus event. She said being apart of a team was a really different atmosphere to experience. “I wasn’t going home and to bed I was actually doing something.”
This is her first year doing track and field. She has never done a sport before but “really wanted to do something (her) senior year.”
The coaches didn’t sugarcoat anything for her she said. They were straightforward when they told her she needed to work on her throwing techniques. “I’ve never had anyone to yell at me to do better,” she said.
Track and field has taken Simpkins out of her comfort zone. She used to be afraid to mess up in front of people but having an entire team see her mess ups has helped her be less afraid to make mistakes. Simpkins also used to be sensitive to criticism but it has challenged her to go above and beyond. As difficult as the sport was she said “I got support from teammates” to help her through the season.
During practice they would, at times, scream dinner. The saying “scream dinner” first started off as “you make this goal you get food,” she said. “I guess they found out I love food.” They would do this saying to make her do her best and when she heard it she knew it was time to throw her best.
At first she was only chucking the discus 10 feet and comparing it to the others — “it was disappointing, sad, and I felt bad.” But later in the season she made a personal record. Her normal throw for discus was lower than 70 feet but after she p.r it was 70 feet. And her shot put p.r was over at least 27 feet compared to her normal throw which is a good 23. She was surprised and felt good. “At first I was barely throwing it, now it’s twice that.”
She tried harder because she was out there for a reason — to go all out her last year of high school. She said everything is “good in the end, if you go with all that you can.”
