Prize points

By Marc McGowan
NARRE Warren little athlete Nathan Kirk won his first state medal at the State Track and Field Championships on the weekend.
Kirk, 13, from Hampton Park, threw the javelin 37.68 metres – a two-metre personal best – to win the silver medal in the boys’ 13-and-under competition in just his second season of athletics.
The Year 7 Dandenong High School student entered the event with a top-five ranking and high expectations despite only making major progress in javelin late last season.
“Once you know how to throw it, you pretty much know how to throw for life,” Kirk said.
“It’s about knowing where to hold the javelin when you’re doing your run-up and getting your footwork right.”
Kirk has been in the Junior Development Squad under coach Jeff Blake since last year.
His biggest dream is to compete at the Olympics one day and he loves the camaraderie of the sport.
“We get to do inter-school sports and I try out for other sports for a feel of them, but I probably wouldn’t go to a club to play for any of them,” Kirk said.
“Athletics is fun and you’re all friends until you go onto the field to compete against each other, unlike football where you have a dead hate for each other before you get out there.”
Kirk is waiting for a call from state selectors to find out if he has made the Victorian team for next month’s Australian Little Athletics Championships in Adelaide.
He believes he is a rank outsider to hear from them, but has big plans for the 2010 state championships.