Neumann enters the 2003 outdoor campaign
with the top mark in the javelin from last season |
1. You placed third in the javelin at the 2002 NCAA Championships throwing a school record and personal best of 244'08" (74.57m) on your final attempt. Describe your performances overall at the meet and what you can still improve on.
After throwing 74.50m in Tennessee at the Sea Ray relays, my best
meet before NCAA's was a throw just over 70m at our conference championships.
I think that lots of people didn't take me seriously going into
the NCAA's, thinking that my throw in Tennessee was a one time thing.
I was in the first flight of two at LSU and my best throw was again
just over 70m. Because of the strength of throwers in my flight,
and the potential for everyone in the next flight to surpass my
mark, I wasn't even sure if I would make the finals at that point.
My 1st throw in the finals was 71.98, and then my final throw moved
me into second place before the next thrower Junius threw his second
personal best of the meet passing me with 74.61. Waiting for Sakko
and Wszelaki to throw before Russell was real stressful, as I knew
that both of them could pass me and push me down to 5th place. It
was the closest and most exciting meet I've ever been a part of.
There are still lots of things that I need to improve on. It took me three days to straighten my elbow after the meet, any javelin thrower who reads this will know what I've got to fix, and that, along with staying injury free are two of my most important goals for this upcoming season.
2. Do you consider yourself the favorite in the javelin heading into the 2003 season considering you enter as the top ranked collegiate from last year?
I may consider myself to be one of the favorites, but there are a lot of great throwers coming back this season. Trevor Snyder, Wszelaki, Minnitti, Craig Smith, Chaput, Steigler, and many more kids will be back and looking to throw some bombs this season. Not to mention any sleepers that will step up and have a huge breakthrough year and really turn some heads. Anyone remember what I threw my freshmen year?
3. How much has your coach Scott Cappos helped you to be where you are today at Iowa?
Coach Cappos has helped me very much. We work very well together and I really enjoy his coaching style. He knows an incredible amount about the javelin and other throwing events, but at the same time remains open to new ideas and thoughts about training for the throws. If I bring some new thought to him, we will discuss it, try it out, and if it's not working we'll trash it, or vice versa. His knowledge and his openness make him one of the best coaches I know and he is a big part of the reason I am beginning to throw well.
4. Among your other accolades, you also won the 2002 Big Ten title, finished third in the Canadian National Championships this past summer and was a former two-time Canadian National Junior Champions silver medalist. How much are you looking forward to representing Canada if you can make the 'A' standard at the 2003 World Outdoor Championships?
Wouldn't that be something! In order for me to qualify to go I would have to throw Canada's 'A' standard that will probably be near 82 meters. Scott Russell will represent Canada and will do well at that meet, but it will be a few years before I'll be on that trip! I am, however, hoping to represent Canada at the World University Games next August.
5. How do you prepare yourself for the javelin during the fall and indoor season when the event is not contested until outdoors?
In the fall more emphasis put on general conditioning, activities like swimming, soccer, biking, and running are done much more in this part of the year. Longer sprints, (up to 200m) are done, and there is a more volumised approach to weight training. We do much less throwing if the actual javelin, but do throw weighted balls, indoor javs, and do lots of medicine ball throwing. Having a motivated group of throwers here at Iowa and having great training partner in Joel Storm makes this part of the season quite a lot of fun. The most difficult part of the season is when the indoor meets start up in January. You get the feel of competition starting to circulate through the team and it's easy to get impatient and want to get into your competition phase of training and want to throw in meets before its time.
6. For someone who is considering giving the javelin a try, how much technical work is involved in preparing yourself for the event?
The javelin is probably one of if not the most technically demanding event in track and field, and technical work is probably the single most important part of being a successful javelin thrower. As in any event, it is very important for someone just starting out to have proper coaching that will allow them to learn the event from the ground up, and not get started out in the wrong direction and pick up bad any bad habits. Technical work is done throughout the entire training year. There are hundreds of different drills done for everything from the dynamics of your approach, to the position of your follow through and everything in between.
Along with the incredible volume of drills done yearlong to help develop sound technique, I believe that becoming a student of your event is one of the most beneficial things you can do. Reading, talking with other throwers, watching video, and asking questions all the time helps develop your understanding of proper technique and will make training your technique much easier as you will have a better understanding of what perfect technique is like.
7. Do you think the new NCAA regional format will help or hurt your chances at qualifying for the NCAA Championships?
I don't think that the regional format will help or hurt my chances of qualifying for the NCAA Championships. I'm not totally sure of who will be in my region, but I know that Nebraska's Artur Wszelaki will be there and I'm sure that there will be a number of other strong throwers there. But if I'm healthy and ready to throw there is no doubt I will qualify. I like the idea of the regional qualifying meet. It puts emphasis on head to head competition, and that will make for some really exciting meets which will also lend opportunity for more athletes to go to the NCAA meet if they rise to the occasion and throw big for their school when it counts.
8. What are your goals for this season and how far would you like to throw?
Going into last season, I had a personal best of 67.80m, that didn't even get me to the NCAA meet. I'd told myself that this year will be my 70 meter year, and decided I wanted to throw between 70 and 72 meters. Our third meet of the year was Sea Ray, I threw 74.50, and toe fouled what we later measured to be an even bigger throw on my last throw. After that I decided that putting distances in with my goals was not a good plan as they can be limiting. I now prefer to set my goals in my training. I set strength, speed, and technical goes because I know if that I get faster, stronger, and better technically I will throw farther, there is no question.
9. It bothers me when meet organizers especially at large events have the javelin and other throwing events outside of the main venue where people can't see what's going on. Does this bother you in any way since the spectators are not involved in this case?
The shot put, javelin, hammer, and discus belong in the infield. Given the choice of throwing in a big meet like the Drake Relays where the runway and hammer/disc circle are blocks away, or going to Mt. Sac where the javelin is right down the middle of the track, who wouldn't rather throw at Mt. Sac? It definitely adds to the atmosphere of competition and pumps energy into the air that can spawn huge throws. With that said, you can still have that type of atmosphere develop at somewhere like Drake. You've got a group of people who all love throwing as much as you do and any time you've got a concentration of people like that, things can get energized in a big way. But regardless of the venue, crowd, or any other variable, the one thing that really gets me up and ready to throw far is the competition itself. I've always had my best meets when the big guns are out; it pushes me to the next level, and then its time to throw big.
10. Did you participate in any other sports in high school and did they in any way help you in the javelin?
In high school I played volleyball and basketball along with Track.
With only beach workouts, my high school personal best was 64.70m
with just about the worst technique imaginable. Playing volleyball
and basketball kept me very athletic, and being very athletic is
very important to the javelin throw. I had also played baseball
my entire life up to and including 10th grade, but throwing a baseball
for all those years probably hurt my javelin technique as in that
time I had picked up many bad habits that have taken a long time
to get away from.
Hours and hours of time spent with my father throwing rocks into
the Bay of Fundy and playing catch since I could walk put the throwing
pattern into my head from a young age and also made for some great
times.
11. What are some of your favorite movies, books or music?
Anything with Bruce Willis or John Candy is worth watching, and Clint Eastwood films on a Sunday afternoon are the best. 'The Hindmost', by Barry Kennedy is a great book, and the former Oklahoma Sate standout Garth Brooks is one of the greatest.