Traves Smikle threw a massive personal best of 68.14 metres in the discus at the local King of the Ring throwing meet at Excelsior High School XLCR in early February. His more heralded clubmate, Fedrick Dacres, threw over 66.32 metres to cap off a successful day for coach Julian Robinson’s elite throwing group. When asked by @Athletics_JA if this is what we should be expecting as of now, coach Robinson was surprisingly unsure.

Robinson, who is also the coach at Calabar High School, says that XLCR is a great place to throw and the meet itself is a high-quality meeting that lends itself to high performances. However, that big throw had to mean more than that, so we dug deeper into the reasons for Smikle’s improvement.

Smikle, who served a suspension for a prohibited substance in 2013, has gone through a lot, according to his coach.

“We had to fight hard to get him back,” said Robinson. “We had to work to get him to regain his confidence. I still believe that he is not where I want him to be but he is getting better. When he was a youngster, I thought he was a giant killer. I could send him here, there and anywhere and he would turn over people who were supposed to be better than him. He is not back to that giant killer that I want him to be, but he is getting better. As the years go by and he gets more experience in Europe he is getting better and better,” admitted coach Robinson. He believes that Traves is doing a reasonable job, but thinks he can compete much better in Europe.

“When he was younger, he was a more competitive athlete. At the senior level he is getting there but not there yet,” opined the coach.

“The throw on Saturday is evidence that he is improving because his PB was 67 ‘mash’. That is not a big throw nowadays. He just blew it away. Even with injury woes and sanction woes, he is still pushing forward after some disappointing years.” Robinson pointed to 2022 when he made the World Championships team and finished disappointingly down the field. “It was so disappointing for both of us but to his credit, we have managed to put it behind us and continue to work.”

Interestingly, the coach pointed out that Smikle is a “high-maintenance” athlete.

“Throwers in Europe have someone who warms them up and stretches them before they throw,” said Robinson. “Traves needs someone like that. Even as we speak he has an adductor strain, so he requires a lot more maintenance than the average thrower. He is not as flexible as I would like, his muscles are tight. He requires a massage therapist or a physical trainer on call.”

They are trying new ideas this season.

“This year we are working on flexibility,” Robinson informed.” We have done less weight training and more running and as a result, he has more range. The range is important in throwing because the greater range a thrower has the more time he has to generate power. We are learning from our mistakes, we are improving and I’m just hoping that this year we don’t have any setbacks. I would really like to win a medal with him. That’s our goal.”