USC Throws

Mariami Kevkhishvili- Machavariani is a 2x Olympian, 5x NCAA Champion, University of Florida Hall-of-Famer, coach of multiple All-Americans, conference champions …. and the list goes on and on. Mariami will talk to us about University of South Florida, about what is she looking for when it comes to recruits, her coaching philosophy, how she got into throwing in the first place and many other things.

Coach Mariam’s coaching resume is outstanding. During the 2017-18 season as a member of the University of Connecticut coaching staff, coach Kevkhishvili-Machavariani coached sophomore Divine Oladipo to All-America status in the shotput. Oladipo finished 12 overall (16.55m (54-3¾)) at the 2018 Outdoor NCAA Championships and was tabbed a second team All-American. The sophomore also claimed Honorable Mention accolades in the discus after finishing 18th in the event. Oladipo concluded her stellar sophomore campaign by being named the 2018 Northeast Region Field Track Athlete of the Year on her way to rewriting the UConn record book in the shotput with a throw 17.37m (57-0).

Prior to her time with the Huskies, Kevkhishvili-Machavariani was an assistant coach at the University Mississippi, where she helped Ole Miss athletes produced some of the best marks in school history. Dempsey McGuigan set the school record in the hammer throw with a mark of 219-6 and was the 2015 SEC runner-up. Nathan Loe had the second-best in school history in the hammer throw (210-3), while Kevin Conway qualified for the NCAA Regionals in both the hammer throw (201-0) and weight throw (63-2). During the indoor season, Onyi Afoaku moved up to No. 2 in school history in both the shot put (57-9.75) and weight throw (63-2).

As an athlete, she competed in the shot put at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics for her native country of Georgia and she was a five-time national champion in the shot put while at the University of Florida.

Kevkhishvili-Machavariani graduated from Florida in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. During her time in Gainesville, she became just the second athlete in NCAA history to claim five women’s shot put national championships (indoors and outdoors combined) and the second woman to claim both the NCAA indoor and outdoor women’s shot put titles in back-to-back seasons.

Check out coach Mariam at https://www.instagram.com/shotput777/

Even though she just graduated last year, Stamatia has already made her mark on the professional stage. She barely missed Finals at the World Championships in Doha, and is currently in the position that would qualify her for 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. She will talk to us about her experience as a high school, college, and now professional athlete, as well as lessons she learned from all those stages of her life.

Check out Stamatia at https://www.instagram.com/stamscarvelis/ or https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo3IA8DD5OVUxh2wsKR0_jg

Jason Tunks, 3x Olympian, Canadian Discus Record Holder will talk to us about his early days of throwing, college and professional career, and things he learned along the way that he was glad he did and things he wish he focused more on. He also gives a great advice to young athletes and coaches who are just getting into this sport, things he learned himself and things that he learned from other great coaches like Tony Ciarelli and others.

Jason Tunks has been participant and finalist of multiple Word Championships as well, has been inducted into the London (Ontario) Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. He is NCAA Discus Champion, has reached over 62’ in Shot Put while in college as well, was Pan American Games Champion and many more things.

Check out Jason Tunks at https://www.instagram.com/jason.tunks/

Coach MacKay, Throws coach at Penn State, took his time to talk to us about his coaching philosophy, about his path form a top discus thrower and football in high school to becoming an NCAA Champion in hammer, and what he is looking for in recruits as well as coaching philosophy at this point.

Under MacKay’s watch in 2018, the Nittany Lion throws program made a substantial impact on the Big Ten and National stage. At the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas, David Lucas did what no other Nittany Lion had done since 1993, capture a NCAA Title. Lucas’ performance set a new school record, Gilliam Facility record, and stands as the fourth-best mark in NCAA meet history. His fifth round effort captured the gold medal with a personal-best effort of (78-9.75/24.02m). He coaches 4 NCAA Champions, 7 All-Americans and much more.

In 2003, MacKay took home the NCAA hammer throw title for the University of Georgia. He was a six-time All-American and eight-time All-SEC thrower as a Bulldog. After originally attending the University of Southern California on a football scholarship, MacKay transferred to Georgia to focus on throwing. He then graduated from Georgia in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology and in 2012 received a Master of Arts in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University, Irvine.

Check Lucias MacKay at https://www.instagram.com/lucaism/

Coach Saatara, Throws coach at Cal Berkeley, will talk to us about how he got into throwing, the successful path to Cal and lessons he learned along the way in coaching. He shares with us his coaching philosophy and his approach to mentoring athletes.

Since Saatara joined the Bears, his student-athletes have notched 23 (10 men, 13 women) appearances on the school's all-time outdoor top-10 list. He has also coached five USTFCCCA All-American performances in his first four years with the Bears. In addition to Johnson's freshman record, Saatara also oversaw four school records; Johnson's (2018, indoor shot put), Chimoa Amaechi's (2014, weight throw), Chrissy Glasmann (2018, javelin) and Camryn Rogers (2018, hammer throw), with Camryn also winning the NCAA title in 2019. Along with NCAA accomplishments, Saatara also has impressive International presence, coaching and consulting several Olympians across the world.

Check Mo Saatara at https://www.instagram.com/mohamad.saatara/

John Newell talks to us about his recruiting philosophy; his experience as a high school, college, and s professional athlete; struggles of a young coach and things to pay attention to when starting to coach; and many more lessons he learned over more than 2 decades that he has been involved in this sport we call Field and Track.

Coach Newell completed his seventh season as an assistant coach at Tennessee in 2019-20. He works directly with the program’s throwers, and this year he is going into his 14th season as a NCAA coach.

Since 2013, Newell has guided Tennessee throwers to 22 All-America honors and seven SEC titles. He has led Tennessee athletes to 12 school records in the throwing events, highlighted by six-time All-American Stamatia Scarvelis who owns the program standards in the weight throw, indoor shot put and hammer throw.

Check John Newell at https://www.instagram.com/coachjohnnewell/

Second Part of 2 part interview with Amin Nikfar. He talks about his experience as a high school athlete, collegiate, post-collegiate, and as a college coach. He is highly accomplished college coach who coached at both costs of the country and at the highest levels. He emphasizes importance of dedication in an athlete and how impactful coaches really are in athlete’s life.

Check Amin out at www.instagram.com/nikfarthrowfar/?hl=en

Amin talks about his experience as a high school athlete, collegiate, post-collegiate, and as a college coach. He is highly accomplished college coach who coached at both costs of the country and at the highest levels. He emphasizes importance of dedication in an athlete and how impactful coaches really are in athlete’s life.

Check Amin out at https://www.instagram.com/nikfarthrowfar/?hl=en

Marija talks about her experience as an international student-athlete, things she wished she knew before coming to USA and how she adjusted to the college life. She talks about the importance of having a clear vision, goal in what you want to do and how important time management in all that is.

Follow Marija on https://www.instagram.com/marijabogavac1/?hl=en .

Ryan Singer discusses his transition from high school, things he wish he knew right away that helped him cope with college life. How to balance sport, academics, family and social life. Importance of loving what you do, and importance of putting right amount of time and work into what you are doing.

Follow Ryan on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ryansinger1/ and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/singerryan .