The mission on the field: Perfecting their throw

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Saturday, May 29, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.

No sooner has Timothy Cagle parked his sun-faded, 18-year-old pickup near the track than he’s shouting instructions to the young athletes.

He’s got the intensity of a drill instructor and the hopes of an Olympic coach.

“Mr. Morgan! Mr. Miller! Mr. Kapelli!” he barks to a group of shot-putters. “I want to know who the Big Dog is! Let’s find out today!”

It’s one of the first workouts since the end of the prep season for these young athletes, high-school age and younger, who come from across the valley to train under Cagle’s watchful eye as members of the Vegas Valley Track Club.

They carry a U.S. Track and Field card ($20) and pay a club fee ($80), which covers the cost of a uniform.

The sport might routinely be called track and field. But Cagle, showing his respect for the throwers who work with the shot, discus, javelin and hammer, says his crew is involved with field and track.

“I always say it is the throwers who do the real work,” he said. “Throwers typically don’t get much respect, but they do out here.” They even have their own T-shirts: “Vegas Valley Field and Track.”

Cagle brims with energy, both for the sport and for the youngsters, using rough-hewed charisma to motivate the roughly 25 throwers who attend multiple workouts weekly at Liberty High School.

“You can always hear him five or six blocks away,” said Cindy Cannon, whose 10-year-old daughter Megan is the youngest on the team.

Cagle’s day job is working in decorative concrete, a profession that requires waking up at 3:45 each morning and often not leaving a job site until minutes before a 5:30 p.m. practice.

There are several track clubs in the area, but few put as much emphasis on throwing as the Vegas Valley Track Club.

That’s why several athletes make long commutes from North Las Vegas and Summerlin to Liberty in southeast Las Vegas to participate.

The competition is fierce, but friendly. They challenge each other in practice to out-throw the other — and cheer when a teammate throws a personal best. They say Cagle, who was a thrower in high school and initially got into coaching to train his now-grown children, sets the competitive mood.

“He makes you always want to do your best, to be better than the other guy,” said Jordan Miller, a senior at Arbor View High who took second two weeks ago in the shot put with a throw of 53 feet, 9 inches at a large-school state meet.

“We are all trying to out-throw each other, but in a fun way. We’re helping each other get better.”

Several of the group’s throwers placed in the high school state meet, including Legacy High sophomore Avione Allgood, who won the discus (143-8) and shot put (43-4). It was the second time a Legacy athlete had won a state title in the school’s four-year history, but not the first time Allgood has been a champion.

She’s a veteran of the Vegas Valley Track Club. Others are beginners who are learning the sport’s nuisances — knowing the correct way to position your body, or mastering how to properly spin for momentum on throws doesn’t come easy.

Regardless of ability, the athletes receive equal training at practice from Cagle and two of the club’s other throwing coaches. But even in demanding a competitive spirit, they insist on sportsmanship and respect for the opponent. It’s common to see athletes help each other with form, or race to Cagle’s truck to get a lighter shot put for a younger athlete to throw.

Even with the camaraderie, some team members say they are drawn to the sport because they are responsible for their own successes.

“I like the individualism of the sport,” said Allen Maddox, a sophomore at Green Valley High. “You don’t have to always rely on your team to win. Getting better and throwing farther is completely up to you. If you put in the work, you will have success.”

As relentless as Cagle is during the two-hour practices, that in-your-face philosophy quickly fades once the training ends. The athletes and their families have developed a close bond, often barbecuing after practice or sharing rides to events.

On Wednesday, for instance, parents arrived early to get the grill started, barbecuing hamburgers and hot dogs with music playing loudly in the background. The post-practice social was a reunion of sorts because this was the club’s first practice of the summer. (Athletes aren’t allowed to compete with a club and high school teams at the same time.)

“We treat the kids like they are human beings. We listen to them,” Cagle says. “It’s one big family out here.”

But still, the club is also about winning.

It is hosting daily practices in preparation for a regional event at Del Sol High in late June. The top three finishers from each region — Las Vegas’ includes participants from Arizona, Hawaii and parts of California — advance to the Junior Olympics in late July in Sacramento.

Athletes such as Ashlie Blake, an incoming freshman at Palo Verde who has won multiple Junior Olympics titles and appears to be headed for a college scholarship, have been thriving in the club for years.

Like most of the throwers, she says the improvements can be credited to Cagle’s encouragement.

“My coach motivates me to do my best,” Blake says. “It’s a challenge, but he gives me confidence.”

At the end of practice, Cagle joins the athletes and their families for a hot dog. Like everything the past two hours, he’s moving at a fast pace, and he’ll be up before dawn the next day, putting in another full day of concrete work.