Long time between throws

It's been a long time between discus throws for Wanganui Collegiate headmaster Craig Considine, but having been talked into throwing in the New Zealand Masters, the big man believes there may not be as long a wait until his next competition.
Considine does have an athletics history recounting. Way back in 1978, when only 18, he competed in the Edmonton Commonwealth Games decathlon for Australia.
But his athletics career was doomed to be very short ? and thus school teaching became the No 1 thing in his life.
The Australian had already taken a British under-20 discus title before Edmonton. A bright future loomed.
"I was a sort-of discus thrower turned decathlete, really. But I had a stress fracture at Edmonton and completed only three of the 10 events in the decathlon.
"Australian rules football was the other sport I played ? and I completed a season with Richmond premiers in Melbourne, struggling through the year, before I was diagnosed with arthritic hips," Considine said after his event over the weekend.
"So I retired when I was still 18."
That was a blow to an athlete with such a promising future, and he settled into the teaching profession, at Geelong Grammar and Geelong College before eventually taking the Collegiate job in 2004.
"No, it wasn't a long career," Considine said. "But I was always going to go into teaching, and that became a consideration when I was diagnosed. I was a physical education teacher originally and it was starting to impact on my teaching."
So teaching it was ? as well as looking after athletics coaching and Australian Rules as well in his schools. And there might well be some Australian Rules on offer for Collegiate students this winter.
"Yes, maybe as an activity after school. We'll give the kids a chance to try it out and see what they think about it," Considine said. The headmaster has quickly worked up an enthusiasm for the sporting prowess of his small school.
"The sporting history of Collegiate is magnificent in terms of the size of the schools we compete against ? the likes of (Wanganui) High School, New Plymouth and Palmerston North Boys. We have 330 boys and 180 girls this year ? and that's our biggest roll for 15 years."
Oh, and back to that discus throwing. Considine threw 37.38 metres to win his age division and finish second overall to New Zealand ranked athlete Grant Sigvertsen. He's the one suggesting to Considine it would be nice to see him at Cook's Gardens more often.
"It's been 20 years since I threw. I suppose you look at it (37.38m) and say, 'my best is about 52m, but that was a long time ago when my body was a bit different.
"I've told Grant that if my body holds up okay and feels good, then I might do a little bit. It might be a good thing to do."