Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #27: Gill1918 presents Ken Kemeny and Dan McQuaid "Throwing Education"

Transcript

#27: Gill1918 presents Ken Kemeny and Dan McQuaid "Throwing Education" · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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  Welcome to the Gill 1918 Project, a podcast series by
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  coaches, for coaches powered by Gill Athletics.
• 0:06
  Think of this as the Ted Talks of track and field coaching.
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  Short, insightful, and packed with valuable strategies to help
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  you grow as a coach. We'll bring in the once a year
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  track clinic straight to your ears daily.
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  Interested in creating your own episode?
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  Everyone's welcome to participate.
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  Check out the show notes below For more information.
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  Now let's get into today's topic.
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  All right, hey everybody, this is Ken Kemeny.
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  I am the throws coach at Saint Charles North High School.
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  I'm also the throws coordinator at the for the Illinois Track
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  and Cross Country Coaches Association, and I'm the
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  director of Throw Big Throw Far Chicago.
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  Today we're going to be talking about educational throws
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  resources. And to help me out here so I'm
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  not just talking to myself and the ether, is my good buddy Dan
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  McQuaid, who is the longtime throws coach at Wheaton North
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  High School and also helps me out with ITCA stuff and helps
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  with club stuff and does a whole ton of things.
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  Dan, how we doing today? I'm doing great, thanks for
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  inviting me on. This is cool.
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  So Dan, I wanted to kind of talk about some different throws
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  educational resources and break it up into like free stuff as
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  well as and then like things that you got to pay for.
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  You got a site, there's webinars, there's articles.
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  Can you talk a little bit about your site?
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  MC Throws mcthrows.com. Yes, my friend Roger Einbecker
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  and I started mickthrows.com quite some time ago.
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  I was writing for a paper publication called Long, Long
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  and Strong Throwers Journal. And then when that went out of
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  business around 20, maybe 2012 or something, Roger and I opened
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  the site. And so we post articles about
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  the throes. So I've been really lucky to to
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  be able to go around and culvert track meets live.
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  So I write about those things. And if you look through the past
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  articles, there's there's there's articles about technique
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  and training during the pandemic.
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  We did a bunch of really interesting webinars with folks
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  since coaches had a lot of, you know, time on their hands.
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  So those are on YouTube still. And those I think are all one,
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  they're kind of interesting if this is your thing and two, that
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  you know, they can be instructional as well.
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  So yeah, I'd like love to invite people to check out that site.
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  Cool. Yeah, I know there's a lot of
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  good webinars with like I think Eric Worsky was on there and
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  Roger was on there and Jamaicans was on there.
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  There's a lot of good stuff there.
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  Speaking of of free stuff you're doing, you along with our good
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  friend Joe Frontier are are podcasting.
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  You've got that throw big throw for podcast that you are Co host
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  with a lot you guys have done like talks about the throw time,
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  Ramona, the Olympics, you've had a bunch of cool interviews.
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  Any insight you want to add into that or or specific things to
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  look for on that? Yeah.
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  And you know, the credit for that goes completely to Joe.
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  He started that podcast and he keeps going in spite of being a
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  full time teacher and coach and father and husband.
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  And how he does it, I don't know, but he has interviewed,
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  you know, the the best throwers in the world and, and he always
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  asks them for insights into how they got started and how they
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  approach training and sometimes technique.
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  The latest 1 he posted was with Maddie Denny and they talk about
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  some of the things that Maddie does technically.
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  So those are, you know, also similar to the stuff we do on
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  Mick throws. I think fun and interesting for
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  fans of the throws, but also useful for us coaches.
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  Yeah, 100% there. Speaking of, of, of coaches and
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  some of our our close friends, our buddy Jim Aikens, who was my
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  high school coach and good friend of yours.
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  There's there was a blog. Do you remember the blog he did
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  when he started When he went from Friend High School to like,
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  Burlington Central? I remember it well because he,
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  he needed a really handsome younger guy to edit it and make
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  sure the commas were in the right spots.
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  And so I, I don't want to reveal that person's identity, but he
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  found the right guy. So yes, I know those know those
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  blogs very well. Yeah, so he he had built this
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  sort of throws powerhouse at at Friend High School in Chicago
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  area. And then he retired but moved to
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  a different school to coach. And he has this blog.
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  I believe you can still find it on Itka.
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  And I think if you just Google Aikens on throws, it's just sort
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  of like a blueprint of like how to start a throws program.
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  And they were not in the best situation when he got there.
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  And like three years later he had a state champ.
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  So I think that's kind of must viewing.
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  Speaking of must viewing, you kind of got to know like the
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  Throes University guys a little bit at at Thro Town and like
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  they've got a great website with a lot of free stuff as well,
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  right? Yeah, Throes University is
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  associated with Garage Garage strength and they are run by
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  Dane Miller, who's, you know, coach and trainer and really
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  interesting guy and a great guy. And yeah, they dispense a lot of
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  information, a lot of it for free.
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  And there's things you know you can subscribe to, but they just
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  do a fantastic job of producing content about training and
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  technique and, you know, just updates on the throwing world.
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  I would they they are. They are a must view for us
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  throws geeks. Yeah.
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  And, and I knew Dane from like back in college, him and I were
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  throwing together the thing that that I really enjoy.
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  As I look through their stuff, I think they do a really good job
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  of sort of programming the throws with the gym stuff with
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  the, you know, the weight room and the jumps and everything.
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  And, and if you check their stuff out that you know, stuff
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  that they have posted for free, they give you a lot of
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  information on that. Yeah, and one big difference
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  between the stuff that Dane posts and stuff that Roger and I
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  post is Roger and I keep our shirts on.
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  So you don't have to be worried about that, Dane.
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  Well, we're all disappointed we're all this and and so Throws
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  University does also offer like some premium stuff that that you
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  got to pay for. So everything that we've
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  discussed so far has been free. But now getting into stuff that
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  is not super expensive, but you might throw a few bucks at our
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  buddy Scott Kappos. He's part of the Throwrex site.
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  More on that in a second, but his his mentor wrote a great
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  throws book back in the day, George Dunn, I believe the
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  throws manual and a couple of weeks ago Scott came out with
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  the shot put in discus throw coach's manual that I think is
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  just an awesome book. You can get it on his site
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  Throws Pro for about 40 bucks or so.
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  Great book there. Yeah, it's excellent.
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  But then our our buddy Scott Capos and Joe Frontier and Ryan
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  Whiting, they they work together for thrower X, which I'm not
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  sure how much you've checked out Dan, but it it's a a great site
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  that gives you everything you need to know for a thrower or a
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  throws coach. There's drill progressions for
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  glide, spin, hammer, discus, weight throw.
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  I believe there's javelin stuff on there.
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  Great stuff for coaches and for for athletes.
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  Another thing that that I think is a is a good educational
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  resource for for coaches to check out.
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  That again is not in the in the free tier.
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  There's so many good clinics around here.
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  Dan, you and I helped put together the the and coordinate
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  the throws presentations at ITGA, the Illinois Track and
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  Cross Country Coaches Association.
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  We've had some awesome, awesome sessions the last few years.
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  Yeah. And I, you know, I think if, if
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  I can pat us both on the back, I think we've done a nice job of
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  having big name throws coaches. You know, we had back Wilkins
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  there last year and and and also, you know, more high school
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  level coaches like we had Josh Freeman and new coaches that
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  carry grow, you know, in our in our neck of the woods.
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  So guys that are guys and gals that are hands on with the high
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  school kids and also, you know, the higher level coaches.
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  Nice balance I think for us and they've done a also a fantastic
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  job in Wisconsin if you're in the Midwest they're they're
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  coaches clinic in Madison every year out fantastic and then
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  there's one in what's where what town is Mark Harsh is in in
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  Indiana it's. Portage.
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  Portage IN, so also really close to the Chicago area.
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  Those guys have done clinics and camps and so.
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  So, at least in our neck of the woods, those are three solid
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  options for folks. Yeah.
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  And I, I think along with those clinics, one thing that I've
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  noticed is is throws coaches, you know, it, it's not all
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  glamour and limousines and private jets and you know,
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  champagne, like we're usually pretty down to earth guys.
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  And if if you just reach out to a coach, usually though they
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  will be pretty generous with their their time and their their
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  expertise. Yeah, absolutely.
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  And I, you know, I think in, in looking back on my career, I
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  think the most important thing for me this besides going to
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  clinics and all the things we talked about is, is developing
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  relationships with some fellow throws coaches.
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  Like, you know, Jim and I had a, a great coaching, you know,
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  relationship for, for many years where, you know, I could send
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  him video or just take him aside and show him a video.
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  Done that with, you know, Roger Reinbecker.
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  There was Bob Niles for a long time at, at Lake Park and my
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  friend Sean Schleiser at different schools.
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  But so I've been really lucky, you know, for many years to have
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  those, those kind of, you know, compatriots and, and I and I, I
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  don't think that's unusual. I think most of us, you know,
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  really enjoy talking about the sport and technique and are
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  always happy to, to do that with other coaches.
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  So if you're a young coach just starting out, don't, don't be
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  afraid to do that. The you know the the most of the
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  people that are doing well at this are really good people and
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  would be happy to to be to assist you.
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  Yeah. And kind of along those lines,
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  last year we started with with the help of Joe Frontier that
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  throw big throw for Chicago in in the burbs here.
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  And we've had a lot of coaches just come by and and hang out
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  and watch. And if you want to come check
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  out our, our club, you can, you can check out our website,
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  throwbigthrowfar.com. And then that'll take you to
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  some registration where you can find where everything, the times
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  and the dates and locations and everything.
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  But you show up and, and, and hang out and watch and we'll
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  probably put you to work. But it's, it's all good and we
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  have a good time there. We also have clubs in Madison
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  run by Joe Frontier. There's, there's a Milwaukee
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  club, there's a central Illinois club, there's a central
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  Wisconsin club. So those are all educational
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  resources worth, worth checking out.
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  Also, any final thoughts, Dan? There's a lot of information out
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  there and you know, some of it you'll come across and you, you
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  won't, you know, you just won't have any use for you might go to
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  a clinic and say, oh, that was a crappy clinic that was a waste
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  of time. But keep, keep going because
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  there you will have some experiences.
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  You, you'll read a, an article or you'll go to a clinic or
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  you'll, you'll have a conversation with a fellow coach
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  that'll really make a difference to you.
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  And so I encourage you to just stay out there, stay curious,
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  and keep reaching out to folks. All right.
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  It's cool. I think that does it.
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  Again, we're just covering educational resources for
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  coaches. I'm Ken Kennedy.
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  That's Dan McQuaid. Thank you guys.
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  Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here. Hey, I hope you enjoyed this
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  episode of the Guild 1918 Project series.
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  amounts of value and I hope this one hit the mark.
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