Discus throws a lifeline
Tokyo-bound Connor Bell explains to Marc Hinton how sport gave him an identity at a tough point in his life.
The bullies left their marks on Connor Bell, even if they’re not visible to the naked eye. The scars are deep and painful and even now, more than seven years on, they form a major part of the story of this courageous young Kiwi Olympic athlete.
Bell, at 19, has been chosen to compete in the discus at the Tokyo Olympics. The Aucklander, who lives with his family in Waitoki, 43km northwest of the city, will achieve a special distinction when he lines up in the qualifying rounds on July 30 – he will be the youngest ever athlete to have competed in the discipline at the Games.
That gives you an idea how quickly and efficiently this fellow has developed into a world-class hurler of the disc. Australian Matt Denny was 20 and two months at Rio in 2016. American legend Al Oerter was 20 and three months at the 1956 Melbourne Games.
Bell will be 20 and one month, with his birthday on June 21.
But that’s just a small part of his story. He is happy to speak out on the harassment that formed such a harrowing backdrop to his entry into track and field as a youngster, because he believes it’s a message that needs to be heard. The bullies just can’t win.
You see, Bell not only embraces the challenges he faced back in his pre-teen formative years, but also acknowledges they remain something he deals with to this very day. You don’t just turn the page on being bullied and move on to the next chapter unsullied. Those scars run deep.
‘‘I’m a country kid, and I went from a really small country primary school of 65 kids to an intermediate school that had about 1000 kids,’’ Bell tells the Sunday Star-Times in a revealing conversation.
‘‘I was socially a little awkward. I love playing video games – World of Warcraft, that sort of stuff. But that wasn’t normal and largely accepted by a lot of people, and I got a pretty hard time for it, and I felt pretty crap.
‘‘I was round 11 or 12. Lots of kids go through it, and it’s a real shame because for many it defines who they are growing up . . . and that’s just really sad.
‘‘But at the end of my time at that school I found discus, and that was a huge turning point. It was the silver lining to my story.’’
It’s somewhat incongruous to think of this towering, hefty young man being bullied. But that abuse takes many forms and for Bell it is something he continues to deal with.
‘‘To be honest I haven’t really [moved on from it] yet,’’ he reveals. ‘‘I still struggle with a lot of things that affected me in that time that I find really hard to move past. I’m really passionate about wanting to see people get through that. It’s really disappointing I’ve had the experiences I’ve had, but it’s also helped shape me as a person.
‘‘Out of this tough period, I found discus. It gave me a lot of confidence ... it was the first thing that made me feel really good about myself.
‘‘I started at [North Harbour] Bays Athletics and I told Dad, ‘I really love this, I want to do it a bit more’. I got in with a really lovely lady, Sasha Pilkington, who’s helped a lot of young kids get into the sport and find their passion for it, and since then there’s been no looking back.’’
Bell now embraces the special turn his life took at the end of a bleak period.
‘‘I’ve learnt lots. I’m stronger for it,’’ he says, with a reassuring grin. ‘‘I’ve found this amazing thing that I’ve loved and that’s helped me find my identity. And it’s come from something that was really negative. It would be really cool to see more people find that.’’
Bell has a self-awareness that goes well beyond his years and his ability to express himself with confidence and clarity suggests someone with plenty going on in the top two inches.
He has a brain, and likes to use it – studying part-time towards a Bachelor of Business at AUT, which he says gives his life a nice ‘‘balance’’, helps keep his mind active (‘‘I am picking up minors that I think are interesting’’) and addresses the life after sport question as best he can right now.
He also thinks a lot about his sport and how he goes about it, which his young coach Mike Schofield – on a similar career trajectory – believes is one of the aspects of this terrific teen that sets him apart from many of his peers.
‘‘He’s just an inquisitive, curious young fellow that loves it and keeps getting after it,’’ says Schofield, who has three athletes heading to Tokyo, with shot put exponents Jacko Gill and Maddison-Lee Wesche joining Bell.
‘‘We just chip away at trying to achieve what we set out to, and this is part of that. It’s probably quicker than both of us expected, but we’re on our own little path and this has popped up along the way.’’
Bell feels it’s important he understands what he’s doing in the sport.
‘‘There is a spectrum to it,’’ he says. ‘‘Learning is something I pride myself on, and being really inquisitive, challenging things and asking a lot of questions, that’s how I roll. I like to be clear in what I’m doing and creative around how I do it. But there’s also that point where you cross the boundary and get paralysis by analysis.
‘‘There’s a fine line. Lots of people get blindly led through the system, and when something goes wrong they don’t have the skills to get themselves out of a hole. Other people are so analytic it detracts because you’re spending more time thinking about what you’re doing, than doing what you’re doing.’’
The relationship with Schofield is an important one. Young athlete. Young coach. Bell
says they share a ‘‘generational bond’’ which is a perceptive description.
‘‘Don’t let age fool you, he’s a wise man,’’ says Bell of his coach. ‘‘A lot of throws’ coaches, particularly overseas, they’re older, have been involved a lot longer and have their biases. Something that’s really cool about Mike is he comes from an academic background, he’s not afraid to challenge the traditional ways of thinking, and that allows us to think smarter. The proof is Jacko, me and Maddie achieving fantastic things.’’
Gill rolled former world champion Tom Walsh in four straight competitions over the Kiwi summer, and Wesche has thrown consistently well to emerge from the giant shadow of Dame Valerie Adams to qualify for her first Olympics.
And in January, at the Potts Classic, Bell offered a glimpse of his enormous potential when he hurled the discus a whopping 64.29 metres with his fifth attempt in Hastings to smash the 23-yearold New Zealand resident’s record, and ultimately earn his spot in the squad for Tokyo.
Not bad for a fellow who only started seriously training for discus in 2016 and has had just two seasons throwing the senior (2kg) discus. Now he’s heading down a track he firmly believes can take him to some special places, including Ian Winchester’s national record of 65.03m.
‘‘I want to be a 75-metre discus thrower (the world record, set in 1986, sits at 74.08m),’’ says Bell. ‘‘That’s the end game for me. I’ve got 20 years left in my career, so there’s plenty of time.’’
Schofield says he’s still figuring out what makes a truly great discus thrower, but is pretty sure Bell has many of the required ingredients.
‘‘You’ve got to have great timing and be powerful, but to get there you’ve also got to be inquisitive, and seek something more than others have. That’s probably where he sits.
‘‘He’s a smart kid, he tries to figure things out, and our job is to do the same thing with him. The rest is trainable ... the biomechanics, the power. But you can’t train the want to do it and the want to figure it out.’’
In terms of the Olympics, in many ways it’s a free pass for Bell, at his stage in the development cycle. But he knows too well that’s a dangerous mindset to take to an event of that status.
‘‘ ... there will be lessons to take on board, that’s not an excuse to just turn up and go, ‘meh’. That’s not what I’m about. I’m about not making it easy for the big fellas from overseas.
‘‘I want to throw better than I have ever thrown because that’s the standard. I want to go out and throw something big, something I can turn around and say, ‘man, I’m proud of throwing that’.’’
For the record, Bell still plays his video games. ‘‘It’s a little against the norm to be a jock who loves these nerdy video games,’’ he says. ‘‘But I don’t care.’’