Giving it her best shot

By Katy Endicot, Special to the On-line Forty-Niner

May 5,1998

 

Have you ever been so drawn to a sport that you daydream about finding out whether you have what it takes to be the best? It takes commitment and motivation - a special drive that runs deep - something not many people have these days.

 

But Adara Newidouski has it. And the Long Beach State women's track and field thrower is finally taking her chance to find out what she can do with a discus, a shot put, a hammer and, on occasion, a javelin, too.

 

Testing her limits is not going to be something she just dreams about.

 

"I love to compete," she says. "I work very hard, and I'm very driven to succeed. The competition, and wanting to be better than the next person out there, is the biggest drive for me."

 

Newidouski came to Long Beach on a full basketball scholarship. She played forward on the basketball team for the last four years, going out for track and field during the off season. The senior's fifth and final year at Long Beach has been her opportunity to focus on track.

 

The two sports require completely different physical preparation she says.

 

"For basketball, you're in running shape," Newidouski says. "After basketball, I wouldn't have the strength to compete against the other track athletes that were out there."

 

She would typically finish fifth and sixth, despite the short amount of training time available for throwing. The 5-foot-10-inch thrower says she is a lot smaller than the other girls on the team, even though she has put on 20 pounds of muscle weight with a focused training program of lifting.

 

"Lifting is a huge part of training," she says.

 

With a full year of weight training and working on her throwing two or three hours a day, she is improving at every meet and realizing her potential.

 

"I'm leading the conference in the shot, and I think I'm third in the discus," said Newidouski. "I'm in the top ten for the hammer, and I believe the javelin, too."

 

She is the only person on the team competing in all of the individual events. She just started throwing the hammer this year and although she says she enjoys it, she does not have a favorite event.

 

"I've always loved throwing the discus," she says. "It's so hard to pick a favorite because I never expected myself to be throwing this far in the shot put. I have a lot more strength and force behind the shot put now."

 

Newidouski had two personal records in the shot put at the past two meets. In last week's meet at Fullerton, her shot put throw was 49-5 3/4. At the Cal-Nevada Championships in Fresno this past weekend, she improved again, throwing the shot put 49-8 3/4. In the discus, she has thrown 161-5.

 

"Adara is close to a national qualifying performance," says Andy Sythe, Newidouski's track coach.

 

From about the beginning of February until the end of May, Newidouski will spend every weekend at a track meet. She says she wants to continue improving her marks so she can go to the national championships.

 

Track and field has not been merely a collegiate interest for Newidouski. Her high school math teacher, Bernie Blakley, who was also the head track coach at Dana Hills High School, started her with the discus. She says he just picked her out of his class one day and said she should go out for track.

 

She went to the state championships for the discus during her senior year of high school. She says Blakley hoped she would go to college on a discus scholarship, but Newidouski liked basketball more.

 

Newidouski is a liberal studies major and she says she has already been accepted into the teaching credential program. After she receives her credential next year, she says she plans to teach elementary school, and she also wants to coach high school basketball.

 

Committed, motivated and enthusiastic. Newidouski has that and more. With that kind of determination, she is sure to succeed in all her efforts.