Ancient Games, Modern Lessons

Elementary students try their hand at Olympic field events

BY MICHAEL PETROCELLI mpetrocelli@heraldsun.com; 419-6617

A demonstration of Olympic field events Monday on the soccer field at Morehead Montessori Magnet Elementary School was meant to be a lesson in ancient sports, but one fourth-grader had a more modern concern.

After seeing the tools of the field athlete's trade -- discuses and javelins, the hammers they throw and the shots they put -- Maddy Switzer-Lamme was left with one question.

"Why are all the women's things lighter?" she asked, hands on hips.

The quick answer from several of her male classmates -- "Because boys are stronger" -- was not going to cut it.

"Not necessarily," she said, with a look that said the boys might not want to test her.

"Yeah, not necessarily," said fifth-grader Olivia Brown, who looked ready to back up her claim, as well.

The issue was left to Mike Manker, a former Duke University thrower and Duke athletic department employee.

The differences in weight and size probably owed more to the average heights of men and women than the patronizing view of women's athletic potential that was commonly held in the early 20th century, he said.

The answer seemed to defuse the brewing battle of the sexes.

Manker was invited to Morehead to help with the event, part of an ongoing look at the Olympics and ancient Greece. Morehead's fourth- and fifth-graders have been studying the topics during the first few weeks of school.

As Manker explained, the discus and the javelin are indeed inventions of the ancient Greeks and staples of the ancient games. The shot put and the hammer throw, in which competitors spin around four times before hurling a weighted ball on the end of a wire, are actually from the Celtic tradition.

After being moved a suitable distance away from their classmates and pointed in a safe direction, the students got a few chances to wing the javelin, hurl the discus and hoist the 8-pound, 13-ounce women's shot.

Jacob Carver, a beefy fifth-grader with his hair cut in a mohawk, said he had seen the shot put competition on television, but he didn't realize -- until he gave it a go -- that even the women's version of the shot was heavy.

"Shot put's a lot harder than it looks," he said.

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