Growing in Russia prior being a thrower I changed many different sports. Before joining track and field team I used to do swimming, cross country skiing and basketball during different periods of time. I used to be a tall and skinny kid who dreamed about gaining some muscles. Also, I knew that to be the successful athlete I should find good knowledgeable coach under which supervision could develop foundational skills and knowledge. At the age of 15 I joined track and field team where I was able to do little bit of everything. Then I realized that to achieve something big I should concentrate on one event. My coach in Russia used to be a hammer thrower himself that probably was the main reason why I concentrated on hammer more than on the other events.

 

At the age of 16 I was 6.2 feet tall with 180 pounds of personal weight. With right continuous workout I was able to develop core technique and strength. Great teammates made training process fun and enjoyable.

 

From the beginning somehow I learned probably the most common mistake. I started pulling the hammer. That problem is heavily affecting my hammer technique. However, weight throw due to relatively short size was not effected that much.

 

Being as an NCAA athlete I feel that sport and school workload was healthy balanced. I believe that I had enough time to be successful in both school and sport. Actually, I feel that academics and sport were perfectly complementing each other and allow me to be more productive in both. The only thing I was heavily burden were my social life and leisure time with my family and friends.