College Sport: Shot put power on the rise

Maddison Wesche is eyeing qualification for next year's World Junior Championships and the 2018 Commonwealths. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Lynfield student already No 5 senior after carving path through rankings

Maddison Wesche brings explosive power and meticulous preparation to a growing body of achievements as a shot putter of real promise.

The 16-year-old, Year 11 Lynfield student tops the junior and youth female national rankings and is No 5 overall in their senior women's rankings. No prizes for guessing who holds the No 1 spot.

And unlike another celebrated Lynfield old girl, Wesche has not followed in the footsteps of Beatrice Faumuina and thrown the discus out to great distances. Instead she is carving her own path through the youth and junior shot put ranks. On November 28 she is a good chance to win the ASB Young Sportsperson of the Year female category in athletics, the sole finalist from Lynfield.

Her immediate focus, other than NCEA exams, is the schools athletics nationals in Timaru (December 5-6) where she will be moving up to the senior ranks after cleaning up in the junior competition in 2013-14.

Her main opposition at these nationals is likely to be Auckland Girls Grammar's Ofa Hakeai and Marist's Ivanja Po'uhila.

"There are a couple of girls out there who are really good. I was used to competing against younger girls before," says Wesche, who comes across as humble but quietly determined.

Coached by Walter Gill, father of Jacko Gill, she often trains under him at the Millennium Stadium on the North Shore, but you will also find her at Trusts Stadium where she is a member of the Waitakere club. On Sundays she will often be with the other Throw for Gold athletes (part of the Field of Dreams programme) in Papatoetoe where Nigel Edwards puts her through her paces.

"I love going there and having the Sunday competitions. I enjoy being around the people there because this is such an individual sport," says Wesche.

Strong through the legs and hips, like all good shot putters, Wesche is also a technical thrower. She thinks about what she is doing. "I'm a pretty good technical thrower. I like to go right through the motions and think whether I should be doing this [or that] with my legs. It's not just about the speed in the circle."

Wesche's 2015 calendar year has seen consistent achievement. Back at the North Island schools champs in April, she broke Val Adams' 15-year-old intermediate age throw of 15.35m, to which Adams replied with a complimentary text.

Her personal best of 15.70m came in January. Not for nothing is she part of the Pathway to Podium. She has a long-term eye on the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. That will be her first year out of school.

Her first real taste of high-pressure international competition came at July's World Youth Championships in Colombia. Though she placed just 17th -- the winner from Germany recorded about 3m further than Wesche has ever thrown -- it has given her a focus and hunger as she eyes up qualification for the 2016 World Junior Championships, where she would throw the 4kg shot. At Under-18 level (which is Youth) the 3kg shot is used.

Wesche enjoys strong family support -- her Mum travelled to Colombia for the World Youth Champs and more of them were on hand when she threw her PB.

Of late she has tweaked her technique with Gill, nothing major, but just relating to her rotation in the circle. She focuses on herself in competition, rather than the competition itself.

"Walter tells me it's not what everyone else can do, it's what you can do. I train for me, not to beat anyone else," Wesche declares.

While shot putting is a big part of her life, it is not all-consuming. She knuckles down with her studies when she has to, and will take a day off training if it all gets too much. But when it's time to work, Wesche works.