Ryan Ballantyne is set to represent New Zealand in the shot put at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Colombia next month. Steve Landells speaks with the Waikato-based teenager to talk about his dramatic rise aided by the helping hand of Commonwealth silver medallist Tom Walsh.
A ‘no limits’ approach to training as adopted by New Zealand’s world-class shot putter Tom Walsh has helped propel Ryan Ballantyne to a dramatic near three-metre improvement in the past six months.
Ryan secured the men’s shot put title at the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Championships last December with a respectable 16.36m. Yet since that performance in Wanganui, the Waikato teenager has thrown four PB’s and extended his current best of 19.28m and he approaches the World Youth Championships in Colombia hopeful of a top 12 spot.
The transformation can be traced back to shortly after his gold medal performance in Wanganui when he was invited to attend a throws camp in Auckland by Athletics NZ high performance throws co-ordinator Dale Stevenson.
There he rubbed shoulders with many of New Zealand’s leading throwers including Tom Walsh and he found the experience “pretty awesome.”
“I learned heaps in terms of the way the top thrower train and prepare – crucial information to be a good thrower,” he adds.
If the camp proved the starting point for the transformation that process was accelerated when Dale got in touch with Ryan and invited the 16-year-old and his coach, Kevin Bradley, down to Christchurch for one week’s training ahead of the Big Shot event in February.
“I was blown away,” admits Ryan of the dream opportunity. “For my last few days down there I also trained with World Indoor champion Ryan Whiting, who was in the country to compete. Just to see these guys prepare before a competition gave me a big insight.”
Raised on a dairy farm in Te Awamutu, Ryan recalls a physical upbringing which equipped him with many of the tools which have allowed him to excel in sport. Starting out a sprinter aged “nine or ten” he quickly turned his hand to the shot.
“I don’t really remember why I ended up doing the event, but I didn’t like that feeling of being absolutely smashed at the end of a running race,” he explains with a laugh.
Aged 13 he decided to further develop the shot and joined Hamilton City Hawks AC with his current coach and slowly started to develop.
Playing as an openside flanker for the St Paul’s Collegiate second XV in Hamilton in more recent times athletics has won the battle for his long-held passion to one day represent New Zealand.
“My dream has always been to put on the Silver Fern for my country,” he explains. “When I looked at the bigger picture, I thought rugby was not going to take me anywhere. So I thought, I’ll put on some size and see how the shot goes.”
It has progressed well. Ryan finished fourth at the 2013 New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships at his home track at Hamilton’s Porritt Stadium with 14.11m and just twelve months later was crowned champion with 16.36m. It was good, but he craved more and then came the invite to attend the New Zealand throws camp followed by the opportunity to train with Walsh.
“Tom is a really nice guy off the track and I get on with him really well, but when he is training he doesn’t muck about,” explains Ryan. “He is there to get the job done. I learned so much from watching him train and prepare. He gets up early every morning to stretch, he eats really well and looks after his body.
“In the gym, he is passionate about his Olympic lifting, but the biggest thing I learned from Tom is he puts no restriction on what he thinks he can do and I have since tried to mimic the way that Tom was trained.”
Overhauling his approach to training, Ryan now carries every gym session out at “the best possible intensity.” He treats his nutritional intake seriously. During his one free period at school every week he incorporates a session to increase mobility.
All of these factors have contributed to the startling improvement in results.
In February he threw a new lifetime best by over a metre with 17.73m in Hamilton. Just two weeks later this was improved to 18.61m. The following 14 days he advanced his best to first 19.02m and then to 19.28m in Tauranga at the Waikato-Bay of Plenty School Championships.
“It is quite unbelievable,” he explains of the dramatic rise. “After being with Tom I realised there are no limits. Even when throwing 17m for the first time, I was not totally happy. When I threw 19m for the first time I thought this is the start of something, but I still want to see how much further I can throw.”
Combining three throws sessions with three gym sessions per week he still receives regular support and advice from Tom and Dale Stevenson.
He regularly sends the latter videos of his throws and his friendship with the New Zealand shot put number one has extended to Facebook “banter” ahead of the recent Super Rugby Play-off clash between the Highlanders and the Chiefs (note, Tom supports the triumphant Highlanders and Ryan the defeated Chiefs).
Standing at 1.88m and weighing 94kg, Ryan accepts that he is small for a shot putter and needs to work on his strength and size to develop more in future. However, possessing good speed and power the rotational shot putter has plenty of qualities and he is looking forward to performing with pride in Colombia.
First up he will spend a two-week training stint in San Francisco before flying south to compete in Cali.
Having only ever travelled overseas before to Australia, he is set for a trip of a lifetime but what does he hope to achieve at the World Youth Championships – the event that help launch the international careers of Jacko Gill and Valerie Adams?
“To compete at a world level is something I’ve always dreamed of and I’d like to reach the final and make top 12,” he says.
Beyond that he will target trying to qualify for the next year’s IAAF World Junior Championships in Russia with the long term dream to compete at the Olympic Games.
And why not dare to dream big when Tom Walsh is your mentor and role model?
“He offers lots of advice and feedback and he has always told me, ‘if you want something all you need to do is just go get it’.”
