Recruiting & Scholarship Offers For Javelin Throwers
- Mar 3
- 4 min read
The best way for Javelin throwers to get recruited is by putting yourself out there,
working hard, and showcasing not only your talent but your willingness to improve.
THROWING ACCOUNT
A great way for young throwers to get
noticed in today’s day and age is by
making a throwing page on instagram
or twitter to show coaches you love
throwing, training, and are doing the
things necessary for you to improve on
your own before arriving to the college
campus. Tons of coaches get kids that
are talented but inexperienced in the
throws, so by training in high school
and documenting that progress, you will
set yourself apart from others and give
yourself the opportunity to message
coaches and have them put not only a
face to a name, but training and throwing videos to a name.
Please DO NOT put your practice PR in your bio. It doesn’t mean a thing unless you can
do it in competition! This is a bad look and shows you are not able to replicate this in
competition.
DO YOUR RESEARCH!
The next thing you can do is to email coaches. When you email, go on TTFRS website to
look at the current athletes and what they are throwing, and what they were throwing
when they were in their freshman year. This not only gives you a sense of if you are
good enough to be considered on the team, but also how the college develops the
athletes over the course of their career. If you notice all the throwers stayed the same
throughout their 4 years at that school, it may be a coaching red flag.
But by doing your own due diligence on the research of that team, it shows the coach
you took initiative to see how their team is, what is acceptable, and what conference /
division they are in. This will also give you an idea of if scholarship money is available for
your current skill level.
SCHOLARSHIPS
When considering scholarship money as a javelin thrower take these things into
consideration.
Many states do not have javelin at the high school level, so a lot of coaches do not
have a javelin background and value javelin athletes as much as other events.
Another reason it is hard to get scholarship money is because javelin throwers only
compete outdoors, whereas track runners and jumpers compete for the team indoors
AND outdoors, and XC runners compete in all 3 seasons.
So when giving a 10k scholarship to an athlete who only competes ⅓ of the year,
oftentimes is a very big ask, and you need to be at the top of the top to get money,
especially as an incoming freshman. A good idea is to walk on to a school and try to
earn scholarship money as you improve and show value to the team. Also keep in
mind, D1 will have the most money available, then D2, and D3 does not offer athletic
scholarship money. So when looking at athletic scholarship money and skill level for an
opportunity to be on the roster, those are important things to consider.
Another good thing to do is to compete unattached over the summer to give yourself
more chances to improve your PR and show you are interested in competing in the
sport for more than just your high school season.
Working With A Private Coach
Working with a private coach will help accelerate your progress past that of others
your age and will allow you to get a head start on improving before you get to college.
A lot of throwers who never receive coaching go into college getting coached by a
throws coach for the first time when they arrive on campus. You can get a head start
on that by working with someone starting in high school, and going into college with a
high javelin IQ.
SCHOOLING
Get good grades and SAT scores - this never will hurt you, only put you at an
advantage. You never want to be ineligible going into your dream school because of
grades. If you can get into the school without the help of athletics, that is a coach’s
dream so they don’t have to pull strings for you, especially if you are not a top recruit.
A lot of times if you are already accepted into the school and email the coach, it
increases your chances of being on the team exponentially.
HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT SCHOOL
When choosing a school for javelin, I would recommend 1 of 2 options:
Choose a school with a great javelin program, or choose a school with no javelin
program. Stay away from the in between.
The great javelin programs will develop you and turn you into a great thrower.
The terrible javelin programs will most likely allow you to work with a private coach
during your time at the university. This gives you the team funding and camaraderie
of being on a college team, but the flexibility to work with an expert privately and still
make amazing progress.
You want to avoid the in between: the in between is an inexperienced or out dated
javelin coach who will be upset when you look to outside resources, they won’t
develop you themselves, but when you look to outside help, will be offended and
possibly hurt your relationship, which could result in an uncomfortable situation for
both parties. I have seen this over and over again and it leads to the athlete oftentimes
transferring or leaving the team and competing unattached.
To view a video of me explainint this in moire detail, click below.
To view my free course click here
To sign up for online Javelin Coaching click here
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