2024 NATIONAL THROWS COACHES CONFERENCE
When: December 13 - 15
Time: Check-In on Friday December 13 starts at 4:00 PM Central Standard Time
Where: Portage High School - Door G (Portage IN)
16 Hours of Lecture or Practical Sessions
Most sessions are 90 minutes in length
Coaches Conference Price - $100.00
College Athlete Price - $50.00
No recording of any sessions will be allowed.
Lunch will be provided on Saturday
**This year features larger, improved seating and enhanced sound quality.
CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
Robert Weir: University of Missouri - Robert Weir enters his third season on the Mizzou coaching staff with two exceptional seasons in Columbia under his belt. In his first two seasons at the helm of the throws program, his throwers have notched an SEC title, eight NCAA outdoor preliminary appearances, one NCAA Championships appearance.
Weir joins Mizzou with a wealth of experience on the international coaching circuit, having spent time with both the United Kingdom and United States national teams. He served as the head coach of the USA team at the 2006 World Junior Championships and was the USA senior throws coach in 2005 and 2007.
As an athlete, Weir won 12 Great Britain national championships and represented his home country at the 1984, 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympic Games. At the Sydney Games, Weir was named captain of the Great Britain Track & Field Team. Weir also represented the U.K. at six IAAF World Championships and was a two-time gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games, winning the 1982 hammer and 1998 discus titles. Click here for complete bio
Brian Allen: Missouri Southern State University - Coach of Rajindra Campbell - serves as Associate Head Coach / Recruiting Coordinator for the Missouri Southern State University track & field programs. He enters his 12th season (2024-25) coaching the throwing events.
Since joining the MSSU staff in 2013, Allen has coached the Lion throwers to 91 All-MIAA performances, including 35 conference champions, Six(Current) MIAA Championship meet records and 31 MSSU school records broken. Along with success at the conference level, Allen has seen 169 provisional marks, 98 national qualifiers, 73 All-American performances and Eight National titles at the NCAA level. Allen’s throwers have 14 entries on the NCAA Division II Indoor and Outdoor All-Time Top 25 lists.
He helped guide the Missouri Southern Men to the 2016 MIAA Outdoor Conference Championship – the first team title in school history – as well as the 2020 MIAA Indoor Conference Championship and the Women’s 2021 Outdoor Conference Championship team title.
Allen also has helped lead the Missouri Southern Men to capture two 4th place team finishes at the 2023 NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships - a program first for the men - and the 2024 NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championships. Click here for complete bio
Paddy McGrath: Manhatten University - a 1995 graduate of Manhattan College and a former track and field Olympian, returned to the Jaspers' coaching staff in 2019, overseeing the throwing contingent.
This past year, he oversaw the trio of Nina Bjorkman, Lasma Padedze and Alexandra Preckajlo that accounted for two golds, three silvers, one bronze and 54 total points at the 2021 MAAC Outdoor Women's Track & Field Championship.
Following the season, he helped Rudy Winkler to the USA Championship in the hammer throw and a seventh place finish at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
McGrath represented his native Ireland in the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and was a six-time Irish National Champion in the hammer throw, earning a top 50 IAAF world ranking (2004) and a USATF second place finish (2003) in the event. He also participated in the 1999 World Track and Field Championships and the 1998 European Championships. A three-time Division I All-American, McGrath was a threat in both the hammer and 35-pound weight events, earning All-East recognition eight times, four in each category.
McGrath first served on the Manhattan staff as a volunteer assistant coach from 1995-99, before joining Iona as an assistant coach for six years. He served as head track and field coach at Briarcliff High School from 2010-2017, while also working as a physical education teacher in the Bronx. In 2016, McGrath coached U.S. team member Rudy Winkler in the hammer throw at the Rio Olympics. Click here for complete bio
Rajindra Campbell: 2024 Olympic Bronze Medalist Men's Shot Put- While Jamaica has a tradition of excellence in sprint events, and more recently jumps, success in the throws is relatively uncommon. That’s not the only thing unusual about Rajindra Campbell.
While Jamaica has a tradition of excellence in sprint events, and more recently jumps, success in the throws is relatively uncommon. That’s not the only thing unusual about Rajindra Campbell.
Like many Jamaicans, cricket was Rajindra Campbell’s first love growing up, but he gave it up in order to pursue track and field. Jamaica would be grateful he did.
On Saturday night, at the Stade de France, the 28-year-old created history as he became the first man from the sprint powerhouse nation to win an Olympic medal — a bronze — in the shot put competition. Rajindra’s medal is one of only two for Jamaica at the 2024 Olympics so far, as Shanieka Ricketts clinched silver in the women’s triple jump. Earlier, Jamaican sprint star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce had unexpectedly pulled out of the 100m.
Rajindra was in second place until the very last throw of the competition, when American Joe Kovacs equalled the Jamaican’s best throw of 22.15m and then won on countback Click here for complete story
Chuk Enekwechi: 2x Olympian Mens Shot Put - One of the best and most decorated athletes in Purdue history, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi is a volunteer coach for the Boilermaker track & field team, working with the throwers.
Enekwechi, who has represented Nigeria at four World Championships, is a 12-time NCAA All-American with five NCAA medals. The 2016 Purdue graduate won four Big Ten championships and owns four school records.
The 2016 Nigerian national champion in the shot put, Enekwechi is a 2020 Olympic qualifier and is training for the Games with Purdue coach Norbert Elliott.
In 2019, Enekwechi recorded a personal-best shot put throw of 21.80 meters to qualify for the 2020 Toyko Olympic Games. He also won shot put at the All-African Games in Rabat, Morocco, with a throw of 21.48m, and finished eighth at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, with a shot put mark of 21.19m. Click here for complete bio
Scott Cappos: Throws Pro - spent 25 years in the Big Ten Conference at Iowa and Nebraska. While collegiate coaching, his athletes won over 50 conference titles and earned over 100 All-American honors. After completing his college coaching career, Cappos started Throws Pro, an equipment company specializing in throwing equipment. In addition, he has partnered with Joe Frontier (Throw Big Throw Far Podcast) and Ryan Whiting (x2 World Indoor Shot Put Champion/Coach at Arizona State) on Thrower X, a coaching education website. Cappos is also a private coach; his athletes have won seven national championships (AAU/USATF), broke three Nebraska state records, and won numerous state titles over the last three years. Before starting his coaching career, Cappos was a two-time Big Ten Champion and three-time All-American in the shot put while competing at Indiana University. Click here for bio
Michael Fahey: OVR Performance - is a performance coach at FL High in Tallahassee, FL. Since 2021 he has had over 60 athletes sign to play collegiate athletics with state and national champions as well as NCAA All Americans. In addition to coaching, Michael founded the sports technology company OVR Performance which has supplied over 800 coaches and schools with affordable training technology. In 2019, Michael directed and produced the popular strength documentary Westside vs The World.