Softball throw

Last updated

The softball throw is a track and field event used as a substitute for more technical throwing events in competitions involving youth, Paralympic, Special Olympics and masters-level competitors.

Contents

The general rules for the softball throw parallel those of the javelin throw when conducted in a formal environment, [1] but the implement being thrown is a standard softball, which resembles the size of a standard shot but is considerably lighter.

The event was one of the standardized test events as part of the President's Award on Physical Fitness. [2] It is an official event for ages 9–12 in the Hershey Youth track and field program. [3] Other meets include it as a beginners event. It is a youth event for the World Dwarf Games. [4]

Certain divisions of the Special Olympics throw a softball, specified in the rules as having a 30 cm circumference. Some divisions do a similar ball throw using a tennis ball. [5]

While it is not in the official National championship program, it is often part of local senior competitions. [6] [7] [8] [9] Some competitions introduce a factor for accuracy. [10]

Historical variations

Although the softball is the most common implement still used in non-Olympic-style competitions, during the 20th century there were variations of the event that were contested at the highest levels of open women's track and field in the United States. They were typically only held in women's competitions. [11]

Baseball throw

The baseball throw has been contested at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships from 1923 to 1957. The championship record is held by Babe Didrikson at 296 ft 0 in (90.22 m), set at the 1931 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. [12] [11]

Basketball throw

The basketball throw was considered an indoor track and field analogue to the softball and baseball throws. It was contested at the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships from 1927 to 1969. The championship record of 135 ft 2 in (41.19 m) was set by Earlene Brown at the 1958 USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. [13] [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">USA Track & Field</span> US governing body for track and field

USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking. The USATF was known between 1979 and 1992 as The Athletics Congress (TAC) after its spin-off from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), which governed the sport in the US through most of the 20th century until the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 dissolved its responsibility. Based in Indianapolis, USATF is a non-profit organization with a membership of more than 130,000. The organization has three key leadership positions: CEO Max Siegel, Board of Directors Chair Steve Miller, and elected president Vin Lananna. U.S. citizens and permanent residents can be USATF members, but permanent residents can only participate in masters events in the country, and they cannot win USATF medals, prize money, or score points for a team, per World Athletics regulations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stacy Dragila</span> American pole vaulter

Stacy Renée Mikaelson known as Stacy Renée Dragila is a former American pole vaulter. She is an Olympic gold medalist and a multiple-time world champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weight throw</span> Sports

Two sports have events that fall under the name of weight throw one being the track and field event and the other being the Scottish highland games events.

Charles Allen Austin is an American former athlete who won the gold medal in the men's high jump at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He was inducted into the United States Track & Field Hall of Fame in 2012. Currently, Charles and Javier Sotomayor are the only two high jumpers that have won gold medals in the Olympics, Outdoor World Championships, Indoor World Championships and World Cup Championships. Hennadiy Avdyeyenko, who won the inaugural 1983 Outdoor World Championship setting the championship high jump record with a jump of 2.32m, and Charles are the only two high jumpers to win and establish the championship record in both the Outdoor World Championship and Olympic Games. He currently holds or previously held the high jump record at the three biggest outdoor track and field competitions.

Masters Athletics managed by World Masters Athletics is a class of the sport of athletics for athletes of 35 years of age and over organized by World Masters Athletics. The events include track and field, road running and cross country running. Competitors are bracketed into five-year age groups. For international events the first age group is 35 to 39. Men as old as 105 and women in their 100s have competed in running, jumping and throwing events. Masters athletes are sometimes known as "veterans" and the European Masters Championships, for instance, is known as "Eurovets". This and other high level events including biennial World Championships cater largely to elite-level athletes, but many masters athletes are novices to athletics and enjoy the camaraderie offered by masters competition at the local, National and International level. Most National governing bodies for track and field hold annual Masters championships. Prestigious National meets such as the Penn Relays and the United States Olympic Trials put on exhibition events for top masters athletes. Masters athletics is growing Internationally with over 6000 athletes competing at recent World Championships. World; National and Regional records are maintained for each age group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenn Suhr</span> American pole vaulter

Jennifer Lynn Suhr is an American former pole vaulter. She has been an Olympic and World champion, has been ranked #1 in the World, has been the #1 American pole vaulter since 2006, and has won a total of 17 US National Championships. She holds the world indoor pole vault record at 5.03 m. She holds the American women's pole vault record indoors. In 2008, she won the U.S. Olympic trials, setting an American record of 4.92 m and won a silver medal in the Beijing Olympics. She won the gold medal at the London Olympics on August 6, 2012. Track & Field News named her American Female Athlete of the Year for 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shannon Rowbury</span> American middle-distance runner

Shannon Solares-Rowbury is an American middle-distance runner from San Francisco, California. After competing collegiately for Duke University, she turned professional in 2007. Rowbury has represented the United States at the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal in 2012, becoming the first American woman to win an Olympic medal in the event. She also represented the United States at the World Championships in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017, winning the bronze medal in the 1500 meters in 2009. In 2015, Rowbury helped set the world record with the U.S. team for the distance medley relay event, and set a then-American record for 1500 meters on July 17, 2015, breaking Mary Slaney's 32 year-old mark with a time of 3:56.29.

Conor McCullough is an American hammer thrower. He is a two-time medalist at the World Junior Championships. While competing for Chaminade College Preparatory School he set the US high school record at four contested hammer weights - 11 lb, 12 lb, 13.2 lb and 16 lb. He also set the record in the Indoor Weight Throw at 93' 3¼". He set his personal best 78.12 m (256 ft 3 in) using the senior implement on his final throw while winning the 2019 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Kibwé Johnson is an American Olympic track and field athlete who specializes in the hammer throw. He has represented his country at the World Championships in Athletics three times. Competed in the 2012 London Olympics where he made the final and finished 9th. No American had made the final since 1996. Johnson competed in 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Mary Cecilia Cain is an American professional middle distance runner from Bronxville, New York. Cain was the 2014 World Junior Champion in the 3000 meter event. She is the youngest American athlete ever to represent the United States at a track and field World Championships meet after competing in the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow aged 17 years and 3 months.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ajeé Wilson</span> American middle-distance runner

Ajeé Wilson is an American middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800 meters. She is the 2022 World indoor champion at the 800 meter distance, after earning silver medals in 2016 and 2018. Wilson won bronze medals at both the 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Championships. She is the second-fastest American of all time in the event with a time of 1m 55.61s, and she holds North American indoor record.

Maren Elizabeth Seidler is a retired American track and field athlete. She dominated the shot put from the mid-1960s through 1980. She won the event at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships eleven times starting in 1967, including nine in a row from 1972 to 1980. She was the American champion indoors nine times, 1968–9, 1972, 1974-5 and 1977 to 1980. She won her event at the United States Olympic Trials four straight times 1968–1980, a feat only equalled by only one woman, Madeline Manning, Edwin Moses is the only man to achieve four. Jackie Joyner Kersee is the only woman who has won more events at the Olympic Trials, split between the long jump and heptathlon. She competed in the Olympics three times, making the final twice. Her 1980 selection was quashed by the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. Seidler did however receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cory McGee</span> American middle-distance runner, Olympian

Cory Ann McGee is an American professional middle distance runner and Olympian from Pass Christian, Mississippi. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games she finished 12th in the 1500-meters. She was the 2011 Pan American U20 Champion and 2011 USA Juniors Outdoor Champion in the 1500-meters. In May 2022 she ran a personal best of 4:00.34 in the 1500-meters to move to 16th place on the US fastest all-time list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erica Bougard</span> American heptathlete (born 1993)

Erica Marsha Bougard is an American heptathlete. She was NCAA indoor champion in 2013 and represented the United States at the 2013 World Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DeAnna Price</span> American hammer thrower (born 1993)

DeAnna Marie Price is an American track and field athlete competing primarily in the hammer throw. Price's personal best in the hammer is 80.31 m (263 ft 5 in), the American record, set at the 2021 US Olympic trials. The throw ranked her as the #2 women's thrower in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raevyn Rogers</span> American middle-distance runner

Raevyn Rogers is an American middle-distance athlete. She won a bronze medal in the 800 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the fourth fastest woman in U.S. history in the event. At the 2019 World Championships, Rogers came from seventh with 100m remaining in the race to place silver over USA teammate Ajeé Wilson in bronze. She earned a world indoor title as a member of national 4x400 m relay squad that took gold at the 2018 World Indoor Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan Crouser</span> American track and field athlete (born 1992)

Ryan Crouser is an American track and field athlete who competes in the shot put and discus. He specializes in the shot put, in which he is the only three-time Olympic gold medalist, having won in Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Paris, and also a two-time World Champion. He holds the world record in the shot put, both indoors and outdoors. He set the outdoor world record at 23.56 meters in May 2023, improving upon his previous record of 23.37 m from July 2021. He has held the indoor record of 22.82 m since January 2021.

Felisha Nayomie Johnson is an American track and field athlete who specialises in the shot put. She was the 2015 national indoor champion in the weight throw. She won two NCAA collegiate titles in that event for the Indiana State Sycamores.

Amelia Wood was an American track and field athlete who competed in throwing events, specializing in the javelin throw. She was a Pan American Games champion and a 1956 Olympian.

References

  1. ↑ American Sport Education Program; USA Track & Field; Hershey Company (2008). Coaching Youth Track and Field. Human Kinetics. ISBN   9780736069144.
  2. ↑ "PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL ON PHYSICAL FITNESS & SPORTS The First 50 Years: 1956-2006" (PDF). Fitness.gov. 25 May 2006. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  3. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-05-12. Retrieved 2014-05-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ↑ "2013 IDAF Rules" (PDF). 2013worlddwarfgames.org. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  5. ↑ "Special Olympics Summer Sports Rules" (PDF). Media.specialolympics.org. 28 February 2012. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  6. ↑ "Maryland Senior Olympics". Mdseniorolympics.org. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  7. ↑ "National Senior Games Association - State Games". Nsga.com. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  8. ↑ Rob Carson (1 April 2013). "2010 Palm Desert International Sports Festival and Senior Games" (PDF). Myrecreationdistrict.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
  9. ↑ "2013 NSG Track & Field Records". Siaaustralia.com.au. Archived from the original on 2014-05-13. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  10. ↑ "Football/Softball Throws | Accuracy & Distance". Iowaseniorgames.org. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  11. 1 2 "USATF Outdoor Champions". USA Track & Field . Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  12. ↑ "Anne Harrington Sets New World Record for Baseball Throw". The Peninsula Times Tribune. 15 Jun 1925. p. 6. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
  13. ↑ "USATF Indoor Champions". USA Track & Field . Retrieved 4 December 2024.
  14. ↑ "Delia Burchfield Sets Record But Finishes Third". Star-Herald. 28 Mar 1958. p. 6. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.