AW learns more about the talented children of Olympic thrower Paul Head

The latest pair of rising stars with famous athlete parents is English Schools hammer champions Tom and Katie Head, who are hoping to emulate the achievements of their Olympian and twice Commonwealth hammer medallist father, Paul.

Winning the English Schools senior boys title with a PB of 68.80m was particularly special for Tom, as the 18-year-old had been second both as an under-17 two years ago and last year in his first year as an under-20. Reflecting on the season, he says: I suffered from glandular fever throughout the months of March until late May. I had a good training session the week before the Schools and knew that a long throw was there. The atmosphere also helped, as there were about 300 spectators.”

Tom s aim for next year is to throw over 72m and qualify for the European Junior Championships in Sweden.

His 14-year-old sister Katie, meanwhile, was equally impressive in what was her first English Schools, throwing a PB of 54.96m to win the junior girls title and go to second on the UK all-time under-15 rankings with the 3kg implement.

The gold medal marked an improvement on her silver from the England Athletics under-15 Championships last year and she says: I knew that if I did what I had been doing in training, I could win. It was a good competition between me and Olivia Stevenson. Going into the sixth round I was second, but I stayed relaxed throughout the throw and it was good enough to win.”

Being coached by their dad is undoubtedly a big factor in the success of the Newham and Essex Beagles youngsters. Head senior went to the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and claimed silver in the 1994 Commonwealth Games and bronze at the 2002 edition.

He explains how his athletics career has impacted those of his children. Tom and Katie were dragged around the UK at a young age watching me, so have taken to the competition environment quite naturally. Both have the physical and mental capabilities to go a long way.”

Indeed, Tom is 6ft 5in and Katie 5ft 11in. Tom has long levers and is much more athletic than I was at his age,” he says, and could become a very serious senior international of the future.

Katie handles heavy hammers with ease. If she wants to put the work in, she can set new standards for women s hammer throughout the age groups.”

Both Tom and Katie started playing with the hammer in their garden at a young age and this early exposure is paying off. Looking back, Tom says with a smile: I had to stop throwing the cricket ball as I kept throwing it into the trees and over the fence into the next door neighbour s gardens.”

Another asset is that both athletes are talented all-round sportspeople and their dad believes this background stands them in good stead.

Both swim, with Tom having been to county and regional championships, both play rugby and Katie used to dance. The pair has up to five throwing sessions a week, incorporating a mixture of running, jumping, hurdling drills and jumps and general throwing conditioning.

Tom also does weightlifting (Olympic lifts) to develop the strength for throwing and general conditioning such as body weight circuits, while Katie s conditioning consists of up to three circuit sessions a week including abdominal and medicine ball exercises and using the cross trainer, as well as learning the techniques for lifting in the future.

As well as their talent, one thing both athletes have in common is a desire to beat their dad s PB. To do this, the pair know they can place their complete trust in their dad devising the training programme.

Tom says: It is nice to have a dad that is accomplished and we have the privilege of calling him our dad and our coach. As for the training that he sets us, we know that he has been there and done it.”

You can find further performance stats on Tom on Power of 10 here, while Katie’s Power of 10 profile can be found here.

Support young athletics via the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund, see rpmf.org.uk

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