Author: ryanhershberger

Lessons from “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership”

I recently read through “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” by John C. Maxwell. It is an excellent read, and I would recommend it to anyone looking to understand developing as a leader. The book is not new, it was published in 1998, but the lessons you can learn from it are applicable in any time.

The very first law of leadership that Maxwell discusses he calls the “Law of the Lid.” As he explains it, your effectiveness or impact you can have is determined by your “success dedication” and your “leadership ability.” He plots the two like this:

The amount of effectiveness or impact you are capable of achieving is “capped” by the amount of leadership ability you have, no matter how dedicated you are to success. For example, if you are a very successful person, but do not have leadership ability, your chart might look something like this:

If someone were to raise their Leadership ability, they would likewise be able to increase their effectiveness. For example:

This “Law of the Lid” concept got me thinking about where else in life we might be limited by our ability in some aspect. One area I think we are limited by in our life is our ability to “be tough.” My favorite definition of toughness comes from author Steve Magness and his book “Do Hard Things.”

“Real toughness is experiencing discomfort or distress, leaning in, paying attention, and creating space to take thoughtful action. It’s navigating discomfort to make the best decision you can.”

Steve Magness, Do Hard Things

Magness says developing real toughness comes from replacing:

  • “Control” with “Autonomy”
  • “Appearance” with “Substance”
  • “Rigidly Pushing Forward” with “Flexibility to Adapt”
  • “Motivation from Fear” with “An Inner Drive”
  • “Insecurity” with “Quiet Confidence”

“Do Hard Things” is a book that I would recommend to anyone, but especially people who are young. Everyone should have the mindset that they are trying to grow into the person that they are trying to become in the world, and I truly believe that people will be limited in their ability to see the positive change in the world if they don’t develop their ability to be tough. Really tough. Not fake machismo-esque toughness, but resilient and able to overcome challenges.

One of the false dichotomies I see people have is that compassion is somehow unrelated to toughness. Compassion is defined as “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it” (Merriam-Webster). If someone is trying to make the world a better place, no matter how compassionate they may be, they will be limited in their ability to make the world a better place unless they are likewise very tough – and I mean the real kind of toughness that is resilient and able to overcome challenges. Just like leadership ability, there is a “lid” to how effective you can be in the world if you don’t develop toughness. I would adapt Maxwell’s chart to look something like this:

If you are incredibly compassionate, you might have the ability to have some effectiveness in making the world a better place. But if you lack the toughness to carry that work on, you will not be very effective in seeing that change take place:

Just like in Maxwell’s example with Leadership Ability, if you develop you ability to be tough, you will increase your effectiveness:

These are just two examples of how people might experience the “Law of the Lid” in their lives. In reality, there are many “lids” we might encounter. Leadership ability and toughness are two qualities that might limit you, but maybe knowledge is a lid, or maybe some other area in life that you identify. Understanding what your limiting factors are can help you increase your effectiveness. Take this and use the information to make the world a better place.

RH

USATF Olympic Trials Qualifiers in the Throws – by Home State

Below is my attempt to make a list of states with the most qualifiers at the USA Track and Field Olympic Trials in the throwing events. Generating this kind of a list is inherently difficult because of what an athlete may consider to be their “home state.” The method to determine this was mostly done by finding MileSplit results for each athlete to determine where they went to high school, and using the state they went to high school in as their home state. Where I was unable to determine a home state in this way, I found other sources for where an athlete is from.

The states with the most qualifiers are:

1) 20 qualifiers – Pennsylvania & California (tie)

3) 16 qualifiers – Illinois

4) 14 qualifiers – New Jersey & Texas (tie)

6) 10 qualifiers – Missouri & Ohio (tie)

8) 8 qualifiers – Kansas

9) 7 qualifiers – Washington

10) 5 qualifiers – Indiana

I also included a “Per 1 million” column – which represents the states with the most qualifiers per 1 million of that state’s population. The top states represented by that measure were:

1) North Dakota – 5.13 qualifiers per 1 million

2) Kansas – 2.72 qualifiers per 1 million

3) Nebraska – 2.04 qualifiers per 1 million

4) Montana – 1.84 qualifiers per 1 million

5) Missouri – 1.62 qualifiers per 1 million

Please feel free to reach out if anything appears to be out of place. RH

2021 NCAA D1 National Championships Breakdown

Below is a breakdown of the entries for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships.

In total, there are 183 teams that have athletes qualified for the meet in Eugene, Oregon – 85 teams from the west region that have athletes qualified, and 98 teams from the east region. 89 teams have both men and women qualified for the championship, 48 teams have only a women’s entry, and 46 teams have only a men’s entry.

Leading the way nationally with 34 combined men’s and women’s entries are LSU and USC. The top 11 teams by number of combined entries are:

1st (tie) – LSU, USC – 34 entries

3rd – Arkansas – 26

4th (tie) – Alabama, Kentucky – 25

6th (tie) – BYU, Oregon, Texas, Texas A&M – 24

10th (tie) – Florida State, North Carolina A&T – 21

Of these top schools – 5 are from the SEC, 2 are from the Pac 12, and one from each of the West Coast Conference, Big 12, ACC, and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

In the throws, the top 10 schools in terms of combined throws entries were:

1st – Arizona State – 9 entries

2nd – NDSU – 8

3rd (tie) – Alabama, Minnesota, Ohio State – 6

6th (tie) – Auburn, Florida State, Kansas State, Kentucky – 5

10th (tie) – Arizona, Iowa, LSU, Ole Miss, Tennessee, USC – 4

If anything looks out of place, please just let me know. RH

2021 NCAA D1 Preliminary Round Entries Breakdown

Below is a breakdown of the NCAA Division 1 preliminary round entries, including both east and west regions, with totals for each school in each event group and for each gender.

In total, there are 115 schools in the west and 163 schools in the east with entries in their respective preliminary meets. Leading the way with a combined total of 69 entries between the men’s and women’s team is BYU from the west. Leading the way in throws entries is North Dakota State with 22 total entries in the throws.

The top 10 schools by number of total throws entries are:
1) NDSU (West) – 22
2) (tie) Auburn (East) -15
2) (tie) Memphis (East) -15
4) Minnesota (West) – 14
5) (tie) Washington (West) – 13
5) (tie) Iowa (West) – 13
5) (tie) Penn State (East) – 13
8) (tie) Oklahoma (West) – 12
8) (tie) Ole Miss (East) – 12
8) (tie) Alabama (East) – 12
8) (tie) Arizona State (West) – 12
8) (tie) Army (East) – 12

As always, if anything looks out of place, please feel free to reach out to me with any comments. RH

Throws Program Rankings – Post 2021 Indoors

Here is a full ranking list of all collegiate throws programs after the 2021 indoor season, including all divisions (NCAA DI, DII, DIII, NAIA, and NJCAA). This ranking is based on the methodology first used by “The Throwers Page” and was used to generate rankings through the 2018 season. You should be able to scroll through the list as well as sort and filter the various columns.

This is based on the same methodology that was used by “The Throwers Page” and is explained in full here: http://throwerspage.125mb.com/stats/rankmethod.php

I followed the same methodology. First, each performance in each event is scored, and then those scores are summed together to get a total for each school. The performances are scored by using a logistic function 100/(1+EXP((m–x)/c)) where:

m – the mean of the top 10 and the top 1000 collegiate performances in that event

c – 1/5 of the difference between the average of the top 10 and the top 1000 performances in that event

x – the mark, in meters

Here are the values used for m and c for each of the events in the indoor 2021 season:

Here are the point distributions for each of the events. The Y-axis represents points, and the X-axis represents the performance in meters:

Because these current distribution curves provide many points for performances in the mid-range, the original parameters used by The Thrower’s Page rewards programs that have good depth. I constructed an alternative ranking based on the same formula, but using slightly different parameters, specifically I changed m to be the mean of the top 10 and the top 100 collegiate performances in that event, and I changed c to be 1/5 of the difference between the average of the top 10 and the top 100 performances in that event. The following are the rankings that what I would call the “National Level” rankings that reward top-end performances more than depth:

And here are the values used for m and c for the “National Level” ranking:

As well as the point distributions for each event. You can see that the distributions are skewed much more to the right, and reward the top performances much more than mid-level performances.

If you have any questions, or if anything looks out of place, feel free to reach out. RH

Multi-Throws Exercises for Throwers

A new video I put up on multi-throws exercises is here:

Multi-throws can be used a variety of ways for throwers. They can be used as part of a more specific warm-up following a progressive warm-up. They can be added into a training session as a safe way to add volume to a program. I really like using them as an exercise following a weight training session, as a method of taking muscle groups that may have just been trained in a separate fashion and tying them together into a coordinated movement.

Multi-throws can be very specific to a certain event, or less specific. For a shot putter, a kneeling throw is an example of a more specific exercise. A “hammer toss” is an example of a more specific exercise for a hammer thrower. Each of these exercises can be used for any thrower, depending on what goal a thrower is trying to achieve in training. Multi-throws all offer a great way to train summation of forces, and even if event-specific coordination isn’t being trained through a particular throw, it will still have a beneficial training effect on an athlete.

Any of these throws could be performed with a med ball just like they are being performed with a shot put in these examples. Some of the throws in the video have a hop added before the throw. This is to enhance and train the eccentric/isometric preparation phases that happen before an athlete performs an explosive movement. The goal is to be reactive through these positions. As Cal Dietz would put it, we are trying to “narrow the V.” Produce more force in less time.

If being used as part of a specific warm-up: Select 2-3 throws for 5-10 reps each.

If being used during a training session to add volume: Select 1-3 throws, and perform 2-4 sets of 5-10 reps.

If being used as an exercise following a weight training session: Pick just one throw (preferably one that is more specific to the event being trained) and perform 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps.

Hop forward + overhead back – 0:03

Underhand forward – 0:11

Hammer finish (right/left) – 0:17

Hop back + chest pass – 0:29

Vertical toss – 0:36

Single arm kneeling throw (on both knees) – 0:50

Single arm kneeling throw (on single knee) – 0:57

Single arm seated throw – 1:05

Warm-up Progression for throwers

New video on a basic warm-up progression for throwers here:

The motivation behind this video was to provide a basic warm-up for the throwers I coach that are going home over winter break and may not have access to facilities and equipment that we would normally have. The goal is to progressively warm up all areas of the body along the various planes of movement. In addition, many of the exercises aid in gaining mobility and flexibility in critical areas for a thrower. As opposed to the videos, which are brief to simply demonstrate the movements, exercises should be performed for 15-20 seconds each.

Head Circles (clockwise/anti-clockwise) – 0:06 Warming up the neck muscles and trapezius

Hip Circles (cw/acw) – 0:14 – Hip extension is critical for throwers. Focus on full rotational range of motion for the hips.

Trunk Circles (cw/acw) – 0:26 Gaining some mobility through back extension and flexion.

Ankle Circles (cw/acw) – 0:48 Instead of rotating the ankles in an open-chain pattern, keep the feet on the ground and rotate the ankles together with resistance by using a closed-chain pattern.

Arm Circles – small (forward/backward) – 0:59 Simply warming

Arm Circles – big (f/b) – 1:09 Some upward and downward rotation of the scapulae as well as shoulder mobility is gained.

Arm Swings (f/b) –1:20 Some retraction and protraction of scapulae is achieved.

Leg Swings (abduction/adduction) – 1:29 Abduction/adduction plays a critical role in balance and stability for every thrower.

Leg Swings (hip flexion/extension) – 1:45 Again, hip extension is critical for throwers.

Iron Cross (alternating) – 2:03

Scorpion (alternating) – 2:20 Both the iron cross stretch and scorpions require rotation through the trunk.

Scapulae retraction/protraction – 2:31 Some scapulae retraction/protraction was achieved with arm swings. This achieves the same thing, but in a closed chain with some additional resistance from the ground. Press into the ground while going through the range of motion.

Scapulae elevation/depression – 2:44 Both a shrug up with the traps and pulling down of the shoulders with the lats. Continuing to warm up the shoulders and upper back along another plane.

Pelvic tilt – 2:57 This is a really tough one for athletes to get. Some people have used the illustration of “balancing a bucket of water” on the hips, and you’re pouring out the water as you tilt the pelvis forward and backward. Warms up both the hips and lower back.

Cat/Cow stretch – 3:19 warming up the lower back through extension and flexion of the lower back.

Hip Thrust – 3:38 More hip extension, focus is on glute activation

Fire Hydrants – 3:50 More glute activation, as well as abduction.

Alternating opposite arm/leg extension – 4:13 Great exercise to tie together upper back, lower back, and glute warm up all into one motion.

Try this progression out. Let me know your thoughts through the comments or via the contact section.

The Value of Track and Field

The year 2020 has been, quite simply, unprecedented. COVID-19 has presented incredible challenges to society. Tensions are high in an election year, and we are in the middle of the largest civil rights movement in my lifetime.

Amid everything that has been happening, college athletics has been on shaky ground. Some sports are being cancelled or rescheduled. Almost every athlete is experiencing some amount of uncertainty when or if they will be able to practice or compete. And some athletics departments are making decisions to discontinue programs altogether. Men’s track and field has been on the chopping block at a number of universities across the NCAA. Balancing the budget and Title IX compliance are the reasons that are largely being given for these cuts.

I have mentioned this before on social media, but it needs to be said again. Universities are not just tolerating, but they are giddily enabling swelling athletics departments budgets due to the marketing benefit they get from these programs. It is unquestionable that TV time gathers attention. More attention means more applicants. More applicants means more students, and more tuition dollars.

We are selling out. It isn’t just athletics that is selling out. It is educational institutions. Colleges and universities nationwide are being clear through their recruiting materials and through their budget decisions that they care less and less about an education and more and more about an experience. The experience is what sells credit hours. Sports, particularly football and basketball, are an integral part of what is considered the “collegiate experience.” The sports which don’t contribute to this experience are going to continue to be cut.

One of the recent cuts to athletics programs was at the College of William & Mary. I want to share the letter that I sent to their administrators:

“Dear <Administrator>,
My name is Ryan Hershberger, and I am a track and field coach at UNC Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. I am writing to you in regards to the recent decision to discontinue the men’s indoor and outdoor track and field programs at The College of William & Mary.

As a coach at a university in a neighboring state to Virginia at a similar competitive level to W&M, I could choose to view the decision to discontinue the track and field program at W&M as an opportunity to have less competition at the NCAA East Preliminary round, or even to have less competition in recruiting qualified student athletes for my program. I am choosing instead to view the decision from the perspective of someone who deeply values the development of young men and women through higher education and athletics. I am imploring you and all parties involved to reconsider the decision to discontinue track and field for several reasons.

First, track and field is a sport of diversity. When I say diversity, I mean diversity in every respect. The people that compete in track and field come from every imaginable background. Athletes are tall and short, big and small, fast and strong. Students on a track and field team represent a wide range of majors and programs of study. Track and field is for everyone.

Second, track and field is a highly accessible sport. You do not need to be rich to participate in track and field. You do not even need to have a track to be able to train for track and field. This is clearly linked with my first point, and is one of the reasons why track and field is such a diverse sport. Other sports in the youth levels can cost families hundreds or thousands of dollars to participate. Families without those means are still able to find opportunities for sports participation through sports like track and field, and the personal development that is afforded through those opportunities is invaluable.

And finally, track and field is a sport of rich history. Track and field has its roots in ancient Greece. Running, jumping, and throwing contests have been around thousands of years, and they will continue to be a part of human society for thousands more. This is a quote by Jerry Kirshenbaum, a former sportswriter at Sports Illustrated. He is speaking on the javelin throw, yet the quote applies so well to the entire sport of track and field:

“One mustn’t think of the javelin as a minor sport like curling or anything. The javelin represents the glory of Greece and it symbolizes man’s search for his primitive ancestral identity. I can blink my eyes and look out at a javelin thrower and see tens of thousands of warriors marching across the field and I can hear the voices of antiquity. No, the javelin isn’t some minor sport. It is classic. It is beauty. It is excellence. It is immortality.”

I would urge you to reconsider your decision and to continue to use men’s track and field as an agent for positive change and student development within your university community. Track and field, the community around it, and the lessons I have learned through it continue to have an impact on my life. Please see this as an opportunity to make an incredible, positive impact on many of your students’ lives.

Thank you, Ryan Hershberger Assistant Coach, Track and Field University of North Carolina at Charlotte”

I stand by these words 100%. I believe wholeheartedly in the ability of athletics, and in the ability of track and field, to have a positive impact on college campuses.

So, what is the value of college track and field? The more I think about it, the answer depends on what you believe the value of college athletics is. If you believe that college athletics should be about selling tickets, selling apparel, and marketing the university, then track and field has little value. But… if you believe that the value of college athletics is in the education and development of young people, then the value of college track and field is immeasurable.

I believe in the latter, and I think most coaches would echo similar sentiments. But the question is not being posed to coaches. The decision is for athletics department and university officials. The decisions that are made regarding the cutting or keeping of athletics programs in the future will reflect the priorities of that institution. I hope that we all choose to view athletics as the opportunities for education and development that they are. RH

“May the wind…”

The Diamond League made the announcement last week that several events would no longer be contested in their program for the 2020 season: the 200m, the 3000m steeple chase, the triple jump, and the discus. You read that right… the discus. There is some primal human instinct we have in our very soul to want to throw stuff. The discus is a tool gifted to us by the ancient Greeks to liberate that instinct. It is poetry in motion. A symbol of strength and power, yet also finesse and artistry. The Diamond League’s decision is an affront to our human nature.

Even though I love the throws, I enjoy and appreciate that there’s a certain kind of beauty in any event in track and field. When I’m not watching the throws, I particularly enjoy the pole vault and the high jump. As I see it, the high jump and the pole vault have two big positives that make the events notably fan-friendly:

  1. Binary, immediate result – Either the bar stays up, or it falls down. Simple.
  2. Progressively more exciting – The bar keeps getting raised. The most exciting attempts will always happen at the end of the competition.

The format of these events lends itself to being able to anticipate when the most exciting moments will happen. Because the events eliminate competitors as a competition progresses, duels between evenly matched athletes can create an intense atmosphere for the last few bars. In the greater throwing world, we have two competitions that follow a very similar format to this, and both come from the Highland Games: the weight over bar and the sheaf toss.

56 lb Weight over Bar
Sheaf Toss (20 lb)

I suppose my main thought is this – why did an event like the weight over bar or the sheaf toss never make its way from the highland games into the sport of track and field? The shot put and the hammer throw originated from events in the highland games. The 56 pound weight for distance was an event at the 1904 and 1924 Olympics, and the 35 pound weight throw is an event that is contested in the NCAA indoor season. But why did an elimination-style throwing for height event never make its way into track and field? If an elimination-style throwing for height event was in track and field, would the format of the event popularize and save it, or would the powers that be still want to marginalize and push the big guys to the side?

I don’t know or have any of the answers to those questions, but while organizing bodies want to change the sport of track and field through elimination, I can’t help but think that throwing will find a way to innovate, move on, and even grow. It feels like the throws have an incredible amount of momentum in the USA and globally at the moment. There was a group for discus throwers in the early days of Facebook called “Fluat ventus ob vultum,” which translates from Latin as “May the wind flow into your face.” Well, the IAAF seems to be trying to deliver the discus community a strong headwind going into the future. I’m hoping the throws community figures out some way to use it. RH