Tag Archive for: Competitions

Martin Bingisser

When Good Enough is Not Enough

/by

One of the things I love about living in Switzerland is the respect for quality over quantity. This is in stark contrast to growing up in America. In working at most large US law firms, compensation is tied to the amount of hours an associate bills rather than the quality of their work. In Switzerland the mentality is more that a satisified employee will produce the best work. Weekends are respected, most people take at least a month of vacation a year, and all nighters are much more rare. The result is 3% unemployment, low taxes, and one of the most affluent countries in the world. In this case there is no need to do more than the status quo. In fact doing more would only make things worse by reducing both productivity and quality of life. Doing good enough, that is maintaining the status quo, is not just enough but the best response in the situation. Read more

Martin Bingisser

Episode 4: Peak Time

/by

With the post-season in full swing for high school and universities, it is a great time to talk about meet preparation and peaking. This episode starts off by discussion different ways to approach the days leading into a competition as well as mental preparation for meets. We then turn to the larger topic of peaking and compare both traditional approaches and discuss Bondarchuk’s method of tapering. Read more

Nick Garcia

A Grand Solution

/by

A week and a half ago I went on a major rant about how poorly the throws are treated and how the majority of coaching in the throws at the high school level is very poor. However, I did not go over what could be a solution. I put a lot of thought into how we as a throwing community could rectify each and every problem we have experienced at a meet and this is what I came up with. Read more

Martin Bingisser

5 Things to Remember as the Outdoor Season Begins

/by

The outdoor season is upon us. High Schools and colleges have started their first outdoor competitions. Even the Europeans, who start their season later, have completed their first round of meets with Pawel Fajdek emerging as the first 80-meter hammer thrower of the season last weekend. This is the time of the year that marks the transition to the final phase of the season. This phase may last just six more weeks for some athletes, but it is the most important of the year. Below is a list of five things throwers in any event should keep in mind as they start out down the home stretch. Read more

Nick Garcia

The State of Track and Field

/by

I have been thinking a lot about this since our meet this afternoon. I am a bit worried about the sport I am so passionate about and particularly the events I am so passionate about. Read more

Kibwé Johnson

New Lessons in the Weight Throw

/by

First lets back up. Kamloops has an annual indoor meet called the Van Wryswick Invitational. This year it was on Valentine’s Day weekend and the weight happened to be contested just as we were finishing our second session of the day. Bondarchuk thought it’d be fun if we competed. I threw a result that led me to believe I could make some money at USA Indoors. So I went to Boston! Read more

Jason Young

Competitive Recollections Part II: Brazil with a Backpack

/by

Obrigado!  After a season that started well with 64.26m early on and a lack of competition thereafter, I decided to hang up the shoes for the season and rest. Never have I been is such good shape and competed so little. The USA national championships made only my sixth meet of the year! It was my fourth if you don’t include the competitions that only had five or so throwers (thanks Tim Miller and Jerrod Cook) , which were gracefully put together to give a few of us a chance to compete in May and June. Actually since April 12th, USATF nationals would be my third “real” meet with competitors in other events with exception to my final competition in April while boasting a hefty sinus infection. Along with the lack of competition, I was largely focused on the possibility starting a career in a new field. 2014 was the weirdest and most spread out season of my career, but from it I still learned a lot.
Read more

Martin Bingisser

At the Center of a Scandal

/by

This article from the HHMR Media archives is being provided as a free preview. For access to other archived articles from Bingisser’s Blog and additional premium content from other authors, become a member now.

Recruiting future hammer throwers.

Recruiting future hammer throwers.

The European Championships are not even over, but since my competition finished yesterday I’m already looking back on it. And I can’t help but feel mixed emotions. There was lots of good. I placed 21st in Europe. The support of my friends, family, and throwing community was amazing. I got to represent my country in front of a home crowd, and I helped more people learn about the hammer throw. I will write more about the positives in the future. But unfortunately there was also some bad. Mainly: the media coverage.
Read more

Martin Bingisser

Sweet Number Six

/by

Yesterday the Swiss Championships took place in Frauenfeld and I captured my sixth straight title. And while I again had little competition, this victory felt a extra special. The crowd was small, but with my parents arriving the day before the meet I knew I had fans. The European championships organizers also used the meet to fine tune their preparations, including live coverage and interviews from Schelbi in the infield, a live stream, and the official European Championships hammer retrieval car. My top athlete also made the women’s podium for the first time.
Read more

Martin Bingisser

Fighting Through The Pain

/by

I always have the tendency to want to “man up” and train through small injuries and pain. By my recollection I have missed only one day of training due to injury over the past decade and I’m quite proud of that. I have a very high pain tolerance that lets me put the little aches and pains in the back of my mind and push through. But just because I did train doesn’t mean I should have. Looking back there are many days where taking the day off would have been a much better decision. Just because the pain has been moved to the back of the mind doesn’t mean that it has disappeared. The body adjusts and copes to avoid the pain. And when the pain finally disappears, the body still reacts like a trained dog, bracing itself for the pain it expects to arrive.
Read more