LONG TOSS

Local Sports

Arv Koontz

June 5, 2015

For The Tribune

Acting as a lineman in football and throwing the weights in track and field at Brownstown Central takes a lot of time and energy, but Ian Anderson said the sacrifices he has made is all worth it.

“All the victories are nice,” Anderson said. “It’s been a very nice career.”

This spring Anderson was the Braves’ No. 1 shot putter, and he also threw the discus.

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“The shot is my favorite event because I’m a little better at it,” the 2014 and ’15 sectional shot put champion said. “I think 45-3 is my best.

“I glide. You’ve got to have good form. Everything has to be perfect with your throws. You can’t just get up there and not have good form or good technique. You’ve also got to have some muscle.”

For Anderson, discus requires finer tuning to achieve distance.

“The discus is more technique than anything,” Anderson said. “The thing I like about discus is when you get a good throw you feel good and get a good ‘whip’ in your arm at the end. It puts a big smile on your face when you get that good release. You’ve got to have the proper arch.”

His best throw in the discus is 130-5.

“The wind can either take (discus) one direction or pull it straight down,” Anderson said. “Sometimes you get a headwind, and if you guess just right it will give it more lift so you can get it out there further.”

Anderson said he enjoyed the conference, sectional and regional.

“I like the bigger meets just because there is more competition,” he said. “Competition is always good.

“My best throws are usually in the finals. You can usually find a spot where you want to release. Usually your release is on your landing and where your shoulders are when you release it (in both events). In both you want your chest up and out. You want to get all that power forward.”

Anderson played defensive end and offensive guard for the Braves football team. The senior said took a lot of pride playing on both sides of the ball.

“Defense was fun because you could hit them, but offense was great because you got to protect everybody, and you knew what was going on before everybody else (on defense) was,” Anderson said.

“I enjoyed the teamwork and the brothers through the years and how close everybody is.”

The Braves moved from Class 2A to Class 3A for Anderson’s junior and senior years.

“Class 3A was definitely stronger,” he said. “There is a lot of preparation for football. In the summer program we run and lift for 2½ hours in the morning, and then we’d have practice after. We trained pretty hard in the summer for the season.”

A lot of Anderson’s track successes started on the practice field.

“You need to have practice on your technique and your release so you can actually get good throws,” Anderson said.

He said having a good attitude in sports is important.

“You’ve got to have a good head game where you can get focused on what you’re getting ready to do,” Anderson said. “Like in the shot, if you’re down a foot, and you’re trying to gain on an opponent you need your head in the throw to where you can focus on what you need to do, and how you can improve on the next throw.

“In football if you make a bad play you need to forget about it and go on to the next play.”

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Name: Ian Anderson

Parents: Paul and Teresa Anderson

Siblings: Daulton

Sports: track 4 years, football 4 years

Athletic highlights: track: 2013 most improved, regional qualifier in shot, 2014-team sectional champions, 2014 sectional champion in shot put and regional qualifier, 2015 sectional champion in shot put and regional qualifier.

Favorite away field: “Lucas Oil Stadium. The game worked out just like we planned it. We won.”

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