Subway Head of the Class Revisited: Mara sets sights on the Olympics
ONCE A HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL PHENOM, TYRELL MARA IS ON A 2,100-DAY QUEST TO COMPETE IN THE OLYMPICS
Ask Tyrell Mara to describe his virtual office, the place where he’s forever trying to reinvent the best version of himself, and he takes you to a place where embracing the sinkor-swim mentality has always been his best way to win the day.
“The concept of drowning in the deep end is where I thrive,” says Mara, 29, a motivational expert, who 12 years after gracing the pages of The Province as a member of Subway’s Head of the Class, finds himself in the midst of an underdog’s quest to qualify for the Olympics in a sport he put in mothballs for a full decade.
Fittingly enough, when the superstar high school basketball talent from White Rock Christian Academy showed up for his HOC photo shoot back in 2005, he not only brought a basketball, but a discus as well, having found success in the latter at the national youth level in what he then considered his second sport.
Yet as his journey over the past dozen years has unfolded, the itch to embark on a challenge even greater than realizing his childhood dream of an NCAA Div. 1 basketball career continued to nudge him.
It was the universe’s way of telling him to jump into the deep end.
“And so that’s why I am investing 2,100 days, almost six years, on a journey to qualify and compete at the Tokyo Olympics in the discus,” says Mara, the Portland State graduate who sandwiches training sessions under Kajaks’ throwing coach Garrett Collier with his job as a motivational team leader at Build Direct, a Vancouver-based technology company that serves as a global online marketplace for homeimprovement products.
And the place from which he draws his inspiration is the most organic of all: His own experiences, both past and present, as a high-calibre athlete.
“There is a real chance that I will spend six years in this quest and miss out by centimetres and that is a total reality,” says Mara, who halfway into the journey is throwing in the range of 52 metres, about 10 metres better than he was 18 months ago, and about 12 metres shy of where he needs to be in about three years to have a realistic shot.
“But the reason I challenge people to take that kind of leap themselves is that I truly believe we are playing a way longer game than we have in our heads.
“This process of taking on something that seems almost impossible, it forces me to learn and grow,” adds Mara, married and a father of two. “And as devastated as I would be if I didn’t make it, it doesn’t matter if I do or not because I will be way ahead of the version that didn’t try. There is always the thought of ‘what if I screw up? I’ll never be able to live through it.’ But that is the biggest lie in the world, something that backs us off on to safe ground where we are comfortable and never learn anything. The Olympics is the icing and I just want to have that conversation with as many people as possible.”
And all these years later, Mara is happy to say that Head of the Class played a role in helping him define his vision.
“Head of the Class didn’t just look at one sport,” says Mara. “Instead, it was all about an idea of excellence across all sports and in the classroom. There have been so many incredible human beings that have come out of it, and that is why that distinction specifically grew on me.
“I took those thoughts with me to Portland State, and it led me to things like leading our studentathlete advisory committee.
“Head of Class made me realize that I could be a role model and that has stuck with me and become a guiding theme in my life.”
And perhaps a reason why a life lived in the deep end can be so rewarding.