Copyright © 1999 The Seattle Times Company
Posted at 05:46 a.m. PST; Friday, April 2, 1999
Boys track and field
Sumner all-around athlete tries dabbling with the discus
by Steve Turcotte
Special to The Seattle Times
SUMNER - On the football field, Nyle Chambers always has been the one who was hard to tackle.
On the wrestling mat, Chambers was the one who couldn't be taken down.
On the baseball field, Chambers was the one pitchers couldn't strike out with a fastball.
But last year, when Chambers decided to try to throw the discus for the Sumner High School track team, he was the one who couldn't throw it 90 feet.
In fact, during his first meet last year as a junior, Chambers threw the discus all of 88 feet - and he looked rather uncoordinated, stumbling before letting it fly.
"It was a humbling experience, trying to throw the discus for the first time," Chambers said. "Usually I can pick sports up pretty quick, but the discus killed me."
But he became a quick study. He learned from the coaches, watched other discus throwers and experimented with different techniques.
In his third meet last season, Sumner coaches saw that Chambers was holding the discus wrong. They threw in some technique advice, and soon Chambers was a 157-foot discus thrower who placed third at the Class 4A state meet.
"Getting better was a lot of work, more work than I thought it would be," Chambers said. "The discus isn't something you just pick up and expect to fling out there 150 feet."
This year he already has a throw of 161 feet, 5 inches - third-best mark in the state.
In football, Chambers was one of the state's premier running backs. He rushed for 1,450 yards and 20 touchdowns his junior season and last fall piled up 1,100 yards and 25 more TDs to lead Sumner to the South Puget Sound League playoffs.
Those numbers helped him earn a scholarship at Western Washington University, where he hopes to play running back but might end up at linebacker.
In wrestling, Chambers placed second at the Class 4A state meet as a junior and senior at 215 pounds.
In February, he lost to another football player-turned-wrestler, Tyree Clowe of Central Valley, in the 215-pound championship match.
Now, Chambers is trying to excel further in his newest sport, a sport he's likely to give up after he graduates from Sumner, but a sport he's had fun trying since watching his older brother, Adam, spin around the discus ring at Sumner.
"Throwing the discus is one of the first sports I've really had no clue about when I started," Chambers said. "But it's been fun to learn and get better."
He has developed his own technique in the discus ring. He spins quickly and releases the discus with a loud grunt - so loud that teammates sometimes stop what they're doing and take notice.
"I don't know where that came from, but it helps," Chambers said. "My teammates think I'm too loud, but it gives me that little bit of extra adrenaline."
Chambers hopes he has a 170-foot throw in his right arm. That probably would earn a state title and give him nearly a 100-foot improvement from the day he first stepped in the discus ring last year.
"I think 170 feet is a realistic goal," Chambers said. "The way I'm going, I think I can get there."
|
