Lower Merion’s Vanessa Poe is Main Line Girls Athlete of the Week

Q: What do you think was the key to your success in the shot put at the Dallas Invitational?

A: I think that the key to my success that day was a lack of pressure that I put on myself. I wasn’t in my head as much as I usually am, and I was able to relax more with my team who came to watch me throw. Another thing that really helped me was another coach that I know who pointed out an issue with my technique in my first throw, and I was able to adjust it and launch the shot put much further than my first throw of that meet.

Q: What is your most vivid memory of that record-setting throw?

A: My most vivid memory of the throw, was that when I released the shot, it was positioned just right in my fingers that as it came out of my hand, the weight of the shot popped all of the knuckles in my hand. I was actually so focused on the sound it made, I didn’t realize that I had broken the record, and my coach and teammates had to point it out to me.

Q: What do you think has been the key to your recent success in the discus?

A: In discus, I think the key to my success has been having the time to get into the circle and throw over and over again. It has also been helpful to be a teacher to the other throwers because as I review their technique with them, I notice things they do wrong and I can also adjust things for myself, and we have gotten to the point where the other throwers can help point out things with my throws and help me adjust.

Q: You’ve qualified for Districts in both the shot put and discus. Can you tell us a little about what each type of throw requires?

A: For both shot put and discus, there is a lot of technique required to do well. Many people think that all throwing requires is strength and mass, but in reality each throwing event requires a specific body build and technique. Shot put requires a lot of leg strength and precise technique, every movement you do can cost you an inch or two, which is important when every throw counts to win or qualify for other meets. In discus, its all about speed and release. The great thing about discus is that you can tell exactly what you did wrong by just watching how the discus flies (or doesn’t fly) in the air. The main thing I focus on in discus is to have a quick rotation through the throwing circle to ensure a quick release.

Q: As a senior captain of the squad, how do you feel you can best exercise leadership on the Lower Merion girls’ track and field team?

A: I feel that the best way for me to exercise my leadership as a captain is to help the athletes out and be a mentor to them. With the throwers, there is a mutual respect between all of us, and we have all become good friends. I think its important to be on the same level as them, and not seem like I am telling them what to do all the time, but instead to be a person who they can ask for help, and only sometimes has to keep them focused.

Q: What (to you) has been your most memorable moment of your Lower Merion track and field career? Can you tell us a little bit about it?

A: The most memorable moment of my Lower Merion track career was being able to run in the throwers relay, at the Great Valley Invitational last year. The four girls throwers, including myself, signed up to run in the thrower’s relay event, which is for throwers only and we have to run a 4 by 100 meter relay. It was really fun because all of us had run at some point in our track careers so we were decently fast, and we learned how to do handoffs, which is a lot harder than it looks. It was great to see all of the other teams relays, and we realized that throwers are surprisingly good sprinters because of all of the power we have in our legs, so we did very well. I think we came in second overall.

Q:  Can you take us through a typical day of training for the discus and for the shot put?

A: For training, I start off with the girls track team, doing two laps and leading warm ups with the rest of the captains. Then the throwers make our way over to the throwing circles, where we split up by event and work in groups. I usually start at shot put, and we all just take turns throwing and I help point out things to fix in people’s techniques. Then I will move to discus where I throw and also help others who are still learning. Sometimes, we go into the weight room and we power lift, or sometimes we will stay outside and work with kettle bells and weighted sleds that our coach sets up for us.

Q: Who have been your biggest discus/shot put mentors, and what was the most important thing each of them taught you?

A: I have had a different coach almost every year for throwing, and I think that each one of them has shaped me as a thrower in some way. If it wasn’t for Coach O’Brien and Coach Stinson, I would never have started throwing in the first place. I was injured, and they suggested it for me to do instead of having to sit out from running, and Coach Stinson taught me how to throw shot put for the first time. My biggest mentor for shot put however, was Coach O’Brien, who has been one of my track coaches since eighth grade. In indoor track there were only two throwers including myself, and he devoted almost all of his coaching time helping us get better. With his help I improved by more than three feet, and made it all the way to the state championships. For discus, I think my current coach, Joe O’Hara, has helped a lot. He was my first coach to teach me about the different types of discus, which has helped me start to become a better discus thrower, because now I have more advance implements that are made to go further.

Q: Tell us a little about your pre-game preparation the day of a meet.

A: I have three rituals for meets: one, is to always tie my hair up so I don’t accidentally pull it; two, is to always have a headband on; and three, is to have my black Nike socks on when I throw. I don’t know how these rituals developed, but I try to make sure that I don’t forget them, because I think they really work. At states, I forgot my headband, and during one of my throws my hand got caught in my uniform strap (I’m not even sure how it was even possible), and I fouled the throw.

Q: What attracted you to Syracuse University – were there other colleges in the running? What do you think you might want to major in? Is there a particular career path that interests you at the present time?

A: Syracuse University was always a school that was in the back of my mind for colleges because people kept bringing it up to me and I had only ever heard great things about it. I have known for a while that I wanted to study architecture, so I only looked at and applied to schools that had high ranking architecture schools and programs, and Syracuse University has a great School of Architecture. I was stuck between Pratt and Syracuse for a long time, but I decided to go with SU because I wanted more of a “college experience” compared to Pratt which was a bit more on the small arts side of the spectrum. In the end, it was Syracuse’s strong sense of community and the wide range in subject matter I could explore that was not just architecture specific, that made me choose them.

Q: Do you participate in any other extracurricular activities at Lower Merion High School?

A: I don’t participate in any other extracurriculars at school, but I have been a coach for a local running team called Dashers since my sophomore year, and I love working with the little kids and making track fun for them, and teaching some of them how to throw shot put.

Favorite book: Atonement, by Ian McEwan.

Favorite TV shows: Broad City, Game of Thrones.

Favorite movies: The Godfather, Forrest Gump.

Favorite place to visit: Argentina.