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BONUS: The Podcast About Podcasts – Featuring Throw Big Throw Far · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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  It's bonus time. Here we go.
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  This month in February of 2025, we are doing a podcast about
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  podcast. We want to introduce you to
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  other track and field themed podcasts that are out there that
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  might be great for your listening pleasure.
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  So all month we're introducing a new podcast each and every day,
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  showing you who they are, what they are, how they are, why they
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  got started and even their favorite episodes and most
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  popular. And hopefully this adds to your
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  podcast listening library. So here we go.
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  Let's get started with today's podcast about podcast.
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  Let's hop right into it today. Why don't you start with
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  introducing yourself kind of a 30,000 foot level of your
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  participation in this great sport?
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  And then what's the name of the podcast that we're talking about
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  today? Absolutely.
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  Thanks so much for having me, Mike.
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  So I'm code show Frontier and I do the Throw big throw Far
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  podcast. I started it well, I started
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  back in 2018 and we're almost 250 episodes in and I interview
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  the best shot put and discus hammer javelin coaches and
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  throwers from around the world. And I started that project
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  because I love track and field. I coach track and field.
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  I'm a high school coach in Madison, WI.
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  I run a club that is now turned into 5 clubs in Wisconsin and
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  Illinois and I do a lot of educational coaching for
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  throwers and throws coaches. And the the podcast really
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  started because I just wanted to keep learning and it has been
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  just that. I'm learning every episode and
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  then I get to share these great conversations that I have with
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  throws coaches and throwers and and track and field enthusiasts
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  around the world. It's it always shocks me who's
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  listening to the show and I really appreciate the listeners
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  that keep me motivated to keep doing this.
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  And remind us of the name of the podcast.
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  Throw big Throw far the throw big Throw far podcast.
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  Love that and this probably is a softball question is but what's
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  the significance of that name? Yeah, so when I started Madison
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  Throws Club, which is almost 25 years ago now, basically
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  coaching high school kids from around the state.
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  And now it's kind of become around around the Midwest and
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  people fly in. It's become a big thing that I
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  never could have conceived 25 years ago.
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  But I think on our second T-shirt, like the tagline was,
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  you know, Madison throws bub, throw big, throw far, you know,
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  like, you know, we want to, we want to get better every single
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  day and we want to throw a big throw far.
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  So it's just been this thing that kind of has always been
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  around and or on the tip of my tongue or on a salutation of an
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  e-mail. And I think it communicates a
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  lot about what throwers are trying to do, what coaches are
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  trying to tap into and get their athletes to do.
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  It's pretty straightforward, man.
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  It's it's like it's killing a family with a sledgehammer.
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  That's what we're trying to do is throw big and throw far.
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  I love it. And what style do you primarily
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  focus on? Is this a solo podcast?
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  Are you doing interviews? Do you have a a panel every, I
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  don't know, weekday what, however many times you publish?
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  What kind of style can we expect?
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  That is a fair question. It it changes depending on the
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  podcast. Most of the time it's me with
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  one person, with one guest, either a throws coach or a
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  thrower. We've had biomechanists and
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  sports psychologists and other people on the show, but
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  predominantly it's me and a thrower and a coach in a long
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  form. We kind of get into the journey
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  of how they started. And then we talked about
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  technique or coaching philosophy with throwers.
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  We talked about, you know, the season that they've had and, and
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  the moments that the, the high points and the low points and
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  how they how they found success and how they sustained success.
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  From time to time. My good friend Dan McQuaid, who
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  writes about the throws at mcthrows.com and has wrote
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  several books about throwers and coaches, comes on and is kind of
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  a a guest, a guest Co host. And it's always fun when Dan's
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  on the show too. But usually it's me and a
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  thrower or coach. And knowing that there's can be
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  min and maxes, you know, higher and lower standards here.
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  What's the average length? Just the average length.
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  The average length is about an hour.
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  And you know, sometimes I get it's, it's so long I can't.
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  And I think that there's something in every episode for
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  everybody. I've certainly have some shorter
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  episodes, especially when guests come back on.
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  So, you know, Leonardo Fabri was on, we did a long podcast his
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  first time on. We kind of get into his journey.
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  And then, you know, he threw 2290 last year.
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  And it was like, I got to talk to Leo again.
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  Tell, tell us about this throw. And it's much more specific and
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  kind of a direct talk about what just happened.
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  So, but usually they're about an hour.
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  And forgive me, you said either 2016 or 2018 when you started 2.
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  1018, yeah. So 2018, you've been you've been
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  coaching for teaching for a long time.
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  Why in 2018 did you start a podcast?
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  What was your original motivation?
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  Yeah, well, the original motivation was super simple as
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  as kind of track and field and throwing took over more and more
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  time of my life. My wife basically said, you
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  know, we have two small kids at that point.
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  So in 2018, my my daughter would have been five and my son would
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  have been 3. And so they were just getting
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  into the like, we got to take them to things and they're doing
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  gymnastics or swim practice. So life started getting more
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  complicated. And I used to travel to every
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  clinic or every conference I could travel to.
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  And my wife was like, you can't do any more.
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  Like we can't fit anything more into our schedule.
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  So the podcast was really a way for me to like bring a
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  conference speaker into my own house rather than me having to
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  fly and be gone for three or four days.
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  And I could do it after my kids were in bed.
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  So it was really almost invention of necessity.
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  I. Like that has it, You know,
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  you've been doing this now 6 almost seven years.
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  Has it kept its original idea in form or has it any evolution?
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  It has, I'd like to think that I got better at it.
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  The evolution is me not sucking at being a podcast person.
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  The, the, I mean, I think the biggest revelation is, you know,
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  originally I don't think I could have perceived 25 or 250
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  episodes the first year. I was just kind of like, I'll
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  interview all the people that I know, you know, and the throwing
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  world, and I think you probably know this.
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  I think the track and field world is it's pretty tight knit
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  group and you're like one, you're one person away from kind
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  of knowing almost everyone. And I think the biggest
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  evolution of the podcast is as it has grown, I feel like I, I
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  can almost get to everybody that I could dream of getting to.
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  And when I started it, I couldn't, I would never have
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  dreamed that I would get, you know, with just bringing up
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  Leonardo Fabri. You know, a guy from Italy is
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  going to be on a podcast while I'm sitting in Madison, WI, or
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  Paulo Desalio, who is an Olympian himself and is Leonardo
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  Fabri and Zane Weir's coach. Those were not conceptions that
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  I could have foreseen when I started.
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  And it's been delightful to have this kind of world expand.
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  Or maybe it's actually closing in, right?
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  It's like getting smaller as as I do the show.
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  And so that's been a really cool thing.
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  I love that in business, all businesses, bigger and big and
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  small, there's what's called an ideal customer profile.
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  So like here at Gill, we have tons of different types of
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  people that will order from us. We have moms and dads that will
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  order, you know, discuses for Christmas contractors, buy
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  equipment from us, athletic directors.
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  But our ideal customer, the person that we're always
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  thinking about when we design new equipment market, what trade
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  shows we're going to go to. It's the high school and college
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  track coach that is our main, main focus.
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  And other people might also buy, but that's our main focus.
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  In the podcasting world, it's very similar.
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  There is an ideal listener profile, someone that will get
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  the most benefit from your podcast.
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  Who would that be for you? I, I think I, I, I can't
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  disagree with you. I, I think it is high school and
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  college coaches who probably would benefit the most, who
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  would feel like hearing kind of the insights of other coaches
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  or, you know, someone talking about, I had this mental hurdle.
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  It wasn't even a physical hurdle or a technical hurdle.
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  And once I got over that, it unlocked, you know, the
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  potential that I was kind of missing for years in my career.
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  I think high school coaches and college coaches would benefit
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  the most from listening to the show.
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  Although, you know, near and dear to my heart are the high
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  school athletes and the high school alums that are college
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  throwers. And, you know, they've got busy
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  lives. I wish some of them, some more
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  of them would listen to some of these athletes speak about
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  they're, they're not much different from, you know, the
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  high school kid. And especially, you know, I just
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  talked with Rajindra Campbell, who was the bronze medalist from
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  Jamaica in the shop at the Olympics this year.
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  And, you know, he was a junior college guy who then transferred
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  to a division two and is now an Olympic medalist.
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  Or I think about Rodger Steen, who's been on the show as a
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  Division Three athlete. He threw maybe 50 feet in the
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  shot put when he was in high school, ended up throwing 60
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  feet in college and now he's a 22 meter shot putter.
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  Like, I wish some kids, more kids would listen to the show
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  because I think there's some stories here that would be
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  incredibly motivational for them to hear and be inspired by the
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  journey of some of these athletes.
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  And, and I think listening to them makes it feel like that
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  it's doable, you know, that that this world is not only held on
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  to the keys of the of the athletes that maybe are
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  predestined to be great. There are there are people who
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  are really successful in track and field in every event who are
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  grinders. They have some talent, but also
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  some will and determination and some grit.
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  And there's just some really inspirational stories.
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  But back to the point, I think it is mainly high school and
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  college coaches probably is in the show the most.
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  And even down one more layer, high school and college throws
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  coaches. Right.
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  Yeah, that's right. OK.
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  So sure, yeah. Yeah, every once in a while,
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  someone's like, you have a podcast, what's it about?
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  And I just, as I say, you know, is a nerd out on what I do.
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  And I can see them recoiling. Like boy, I really regret.
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  Asking not ever. Gonna listen to that.
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  Well, Joe, this is kind of A2 parter question here.
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  What you know for 6-7 years here, there's lots of episodes
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  and you've been involved in every one of them.
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  What has been your favorite episode And it's probably not
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  the same episode. What's been your maybe your most
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  popular, the most downloaded episode as well.
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  So kind of A2 parter there. Sure.
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  You know, there's so many athletes that I've talked to
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  that, you know, when they let their guard down it, it it's
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  becomes this magical thing where all of a sudden instead of kind
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  of the standard, I've got a microphone in my face after a
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  track meet. And I give the politically
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  correct answer that I've said many times, we have a lot more
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  time to kind of get into things. So it's almost hard to pick.
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  I mean, Kara Wingers been on the show and and she's super
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  inspirational athlete and has become a a good friend and and
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  so I think some of the Kara winger episodes.
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  But you know, I think about like Sam Mattis was on the show and
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  he was incredibly inspiring. I could I should, I should have
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  like a laundry list of who my favorites are and I almost
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  apologize to everyone I'm not mentioning, but there's just so
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  many good ones in in terms of mouse mouse downloaded.
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  I'm finding that medalist from the Olympics get a lot of
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  downloads. I will say that.
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  And the other ones are when I interview college coaches, I
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  think a lot of coaches want to hear what other coaches are
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  thinking about as they coach. And so I think about like John
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  Smith or just recently John Newell.
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  And and that's a fairly newer podcast.
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  So I'm sure it doesn't hasn't surpassed some of the older
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  episodes because people go back and listen in the archives.
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  But some of those have been a very popular Mitch Krauser was
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  on the show. I know a lot of people listen to
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  that show as well. So I think some of the coaches
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  shows are probably the ones that people gravitate to.
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  Now some of our listeners, a few have been there since day one
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  and have listened to every single 250 plus episodes there,
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  but most come in and out depending on what the episode is
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  about or tied in. Throughout the.
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  Year. Yeah, absolutely.
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  But you have been behind the mic on every single one of them.
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  I know you well enough. I know you as a coach and how
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  you always work to improve your athletes.
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  What have you learned? What have you improved when you
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  think about episodes one through 10 and now 250 plus?
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  What have you learned being a podcast host?
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  You know, one thing that I think I still is, is a weakness of
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  mine is, is I want to be conversational when I when I'm
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  doing the podcast, But I think when I listen to podcast as the
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  host, my job is probably just to kind of, you know, put softballs
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  on the tee and then get the hell out of the way and let people
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  swing. And so trying to be more
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  insurgent with my questions and then back out and, and let
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  people talk. I know I'm not perfect at it
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  yet, but I know it's something that I've learned to do and, and
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  I'm conscious of and that I'm trying to do it better for sure.
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  Is is ask questions, be prepared, you know, and I think
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  that's something that I wanted maybe comes from like my
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  teaching background. It's just like, you know, do the
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  research, know, know their stories a little bit so that
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  when I ask a question and maybe they don't answer something that
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  I think would be really interesting that I could kind of
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  poke, poke again and try to get them to elaborate on an area
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  that I think would be interesting for the audience.
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  And, you know, like anything, I think I'm still trying to figure
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  out what I'm doing. And so I'm evolving as I go.
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  And I hope the show continues to involve evolve and I hope to get
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  better at it. So it's been a fun journey
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  though. Yeah, I love that.
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  Well, last two questions here. Where can we find you now?
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  We I always kind of start with the big three, Apple, Spotify
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  and YouTube. OK, Apple, Spotify, yes and
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  everywhere else you can find a podcast pretty much I've gotten
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  a lot of requests to get the show on a YouTube.
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  And The funny thing is and and maybe you know this, but like my
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  first kind of stepping into like sharing kind of what I've
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  learned about throwing and trying to be in coaching
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  education person was YouTube. And The funny thing is, is I'm
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  just starting to realize like I probably need to put the podcast
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  on YouTube And it's such another like layer because I now we're
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  thinking about how does it look? And, you know, should I put some
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  graphics on there? And there's parts where I edit.
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  And so I'm jumping around, do I go back and take just the
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  original raw podcast? Long story short, there are some
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  episodes on YouTube, but not nearly as many as people have
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  requested me to put on YouTube. And perhaps in the future I'll
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  get to that. Yeah, I love that.
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  And then the last question here, you know the average podcast
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  listener listens to between 7:00 and 10:00 different podcasts out
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  there. Assuming since you host a
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  podcast, maybe you listen to podcasts, what is your favorite
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  podcast that's not your own and not track related?
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  This is, this is the easiest question you've asked me all
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  day. So I, I'm a, I'm a movie, a film
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  fanatic. And so when I'm not thinking
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  about track and field, I'm either watching a movie or
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  listening to the Cinephiles, which is 2 guys in California
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  who basically super in depth will break down, you know, some
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  of the most famous and, and popular movies in the world.
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  But you know, they'll do literally scene by scene, kind
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  of talking about, you know, the filmmaking and the kind of
• 16:51
  behind the scenes stuff, but also, you know, what are the
• 16:54
  characters motivations? And so, you know, if you want to
• 16:57
  listen to the Godfather, they'll talk about the Godfather in
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  three episodes over like 6 1/2 hours.
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  Usually you'd listen to it at like 1 1/2 speed.
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  Otherwise I don't have enough time.
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  So they just did like episode 3 of the Sound of Music, which I
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  thought was interesting around the holidays.
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  It's not really a holiday movie, but I'm in the car.
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  I'm usually listening to the cinefiles.
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  I love that. Very cool.
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  All right, well, listeners, as you can see from your own
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  podcast app that you're listening to right now, we're
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  done with this episode. So here is my challenge to you
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  hit pause. Whatever you're listening to
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  this right now, whatever app that you're you got this one
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  going right now. Just hit that search button and
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  put in throw big throw far. And that'll bring up his
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  podcast. And the way I like to explore
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  new podcast is 1 is I like to listen to whatever the latest
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  episode is kind of gives you where they are and their style
• 17:44
  and flavor of of of where they are today.
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  But then go back. You heard some of his favorite
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  episodes. Kara, Kara Winger, come on.
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  I mean, how can you not listen to her?
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  She's amazing. Love her to death.
• 17:54
  Mitch Krauser, great guy. I love him.
• 17:56
  He's a great friend as well. And then his most popular ones
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  like Mitch and John Newell is doing real well, which, you
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  know, that's my, my birthday twin.
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  We're born in the same day. So my challenge is to go listen
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  to those episodes and the latest one.
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  Make sure you hit that subscribe button because that'll let you
• 18:09
  know when his latest episodes come up so you don't miss them.
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  And hopefully it is a podcast to add to your your repertoire,
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  your listener, or maybe one to suggest maybe you're a distance
• 18:17
  coach or a Sprint coach listening now and you're like,
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  well, maybe, maybe my throws coach should listen.
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  You heard his ideal listener profile.
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  Maybe share that over spread the love there and maybe bring value
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  to someone else. So go listen to that podcast
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  now. And Joe, thank you so much for
• 18:30
  being here. Thank you for the value that you
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  bring into the Track World. It's greatly it's it's great,
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  it's awesome. And we we love it.
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  And I'm so thankful for you. Thank you Mike Cunningham, love
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  what you do and appreciate you. Thank you boss.