Mac's Mission

Mac Wilkins. Photo courtesty of
USATF

Mac Wilkins is on a mission.  He wants to return his event to the status it once held in the US.  "I came from an era when the discus in the US was successful because there were a lot of entrepreneurial geniuses," Wilkins said.  It was the era of Olympic and World Champions who were from the US, not Germany or elsewhere.

Since that time--Wilkins was the last Olympic medallist winning a silver medal in the 1984 Games along with John Powell's bronze--medals have been hard to come by for US male throwers.

Stephanie Brown Trafton won a gold medal in women's discus at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Prior to that for the women there was only Leslie Deniz's silver from 1984. The peak of US women's discus throwing came in the 1928 and 1932 Games where Lillian Copeland won a silver in 1928 and a gold in 1932 where she was joined on the podium by Ruth Osburn who won the silver.

One medal in 30 years for the men is not acceptable for Wilkins, who has made a commitment in his post competitive life to attempt to change that.  He coached at Concordia College in Oregon and also created a throws center there to help train elite throwers who were attempting to fulfil their dreams of World and Olympic glory in the discus.  He also made frequent trips to the SPIRE Academy in Ohio to conduct clinics and teach the next generation of throwers and coaches. The rationale being that you want to tutor kids at a young age about the correct technique, so they don't have to attempt to relearn or retrain themselves later.

The discus is unique on the Olympic program as the only event at either the World Championships or the Olympics where a World Record has not been set in those competitions.  Wilkins knows a bit about setting records as he broke the men's discus record three times in one day back in 1976 becoming the first man to throw over 70 meters.

In 2013 Wilkins took a position at the USATF High Performance Center in Chula Vista to continue the work he began at Concordia through at least the 2016 Olympics in Rio.  "I'm a resource for anybody who's attempting to follow their dreams...to help set up the best out-of-college throwers to go pro."  Throwers are not the "rock stars" of track and field, and there is very little financial support to allow those with Olympic aspirations to be able to reach the top of their sport without significant financial hardship.

Wilkins is hoping that USATF's recent talk of using some of the increase in sponsor money for the athletes results in monetary support for those who need it most.  That attempts, such as the staging of the shot put competition in the shadow of the Capitol Dome in Sacramento, improve the image and public recognition of the throws.

Wilkins is putting his efforts into the fundamentals, teaching the coaches and athletes of today at a young age the basics of training, the road to success in the event.  His trip to the Minnesota High School Track and Field Coaches Clinic is part of that effort.  Wilkins wants to spread around his love for the event, his passion.  "It's an act of love, an act of passion," he says about his "evangelical" mission to spread the gospel of discus throwing.  If you have  that passion, says Wilkins.  "You are compelled to share your passion.  It doesn't do any good to keep it to yourself."

Wilkins will be presenting four sessions at the clinic, two on Friday and two on Saturday.  The full schedule is HERE.