Dust off your shoulders.
Every Monday, I will share a resident of the South Bay contributing to making our community a better place.
Today’s MCM title belongs to Jacob Weintraub who uses his love for shot-put and discus as a way to coach the youth and help them find their place in a world they may feel uncomfortable in.
Jacob was born in Torrance at Little company of Mary and later raised in Torrance and Redondo Beach. Today, he resides in Lomita, CA. During his high school years, Jacob played basketball, football, wrestling, and track. He decided to tackle three sports during one year and asked his coach for guidance on choosing the sports.
His football coach asked him to throw a discus as far as he could. He stood, feet mounted into the ground and threw a shotput nearly 40 feet across the field. Instantly, his coach realized that Jacob, standing at 6’4 and 275 pounds, was a natural.
He spent all four years in high school as a track and field athlete, gaining a 56-01 school record in shot-pit. Jacob later continued shot-put at El Camino college, gaining title as team captain twice, runner up in the 2008 and 2009 college state meet and placing fifth best discus mark all-time.
Discus allowed Jacob to relieve tension and any stress he felt, was transformed into a throw. Despite any injuries he faced, such as tendonitis, Jacob continued to practice and stay around with teammates even if he couldn’t perform.
It is clear that he values a Team mentality and it is probably why he was approached by his alma mater high school to help coach several years later.
Today, Jacob runs the entire throws program teaching shot-put and discus at RUHS. He says he was always interested in coaching and when he graduated college, he couldn't find a job. His old track coach at Redondo called him and explained that they needed someone to help coach the throws program. Without hesitation, Jacob signed on.
He says the most exciting part of coaching is seeing the kids succeed and the most challenging is keeping them focused and learning how to effectively communicate his coaching strategies to them.” A lot of times coaches will say something but the athlete won't get it so you have to try and find other ways to communicate the message,” he says.
Jacob’s goals for the next five years are to be the top throw program in the South Bay and send at least 3 athletes to CIF. He seeks to teach the kids the sport and see if he can help them progress to the next level and attain a scholarship. He says that when he was at RUHS, they had no formal training or coach. “I had to learn everything on my own and had to figure out what worked and what didn't. I think if I would've had a coach like myself I would've been way better,” he says.
A typical schedule for Jacob begins in the middle of the day and starts off with stretching followed by throwing then weight training and lasts about 2 1/2 hours. He says it's a very difficult sport that throwers make look easy. He also wishes there was more funding for the sport as well.
“This sport doesn't pay the big bucks. It's not very popular,” he says. Jacob has found that 5/10 people know what it is but the one major component that drives him to keep coaching is being able to change someone’s life for the good.
“It's for the kid who goes down to the track for try-outs and isn't fast enough and gets sent to the field events. I had a girl where this happened. All she wanted to do was be a sprinter but she was too slow and the coach sent her to me. She came to me sad with her confidence torn and felt like she failed but I was given the privilege to help change her view,” he says.
Jacob knows that women in throws are fragile individuals because they feel very insecure about themselves since throws tends to get stereotyped for being a manly sport. He says it is perceived as where they send all the "big girls" and boys.
He says that for the men it's no big deal but for women it can be hard because they ask themselves, “Where do I fit in?" In order to bring out the best out of her situation, he trained her and pushed her to her limits. Jacob says, “That’s what a good coach does.”
Within 3 years, the young girl went from a shy, insecure girl who thought she failed to being one of the best discus throwers in the South Bay. She now is a leader and took the qualities that she is good at and used them to excel. “She now embraces her sport and loves being a thrower and kids from other events actually look up to her for being successful in her respective event,” he says.
Jacob says, it’s like the saying, "When one thing doesn't work out, or it fails, another one will open."
Thank you Jacob for using your passion for sports to keep our youth out of trouble and empowering them to continue their talent as well.
“You just got to get the dust off your shoulder and get back up and keep going. “
- Jacob Weintraub