NEWSLINE STORY

published July-August 2015

ESPN Studies Horseshoe Pitching

NHPA Teamwork Makes it Possible

by Tina Hawkins, 2nd Vice President and Publicity/Promotion Director

With the upcoming live SportsCenter broadcast from the 2015 World Horseshoe Tournament, the people at ESPN wanted to know all about horseshoe pitching. Not just rules and regulations or classes and divisions … they wanted to KNOW horseshoe pitching from the inside out!

When NHPA 2^nd Vice President Tina Hawkins received the decision on Saturday for a trip to California on Monday to do the project, the wheels needed to be set in motion QUICKLY. A whirlwind of planning then ensued!

Who would be comfortable doing the project? Who would do a good job representing the NHPA? Who could go on such short notice? The Council brainstormed a few ideas and decided to ask Austin Bailey of Illinois.

NHPA 5^th Vice President Bill Marvin just happened to be standing beside Austin when the decision was made and promptly popped the question. Austin was overwhelmed to be asked to represent the association in this manner and immediately said yes.

Lucky that his boss felt he HAD to go do this once-in-a-lifetime experience because Austin never considered saying no.

Once the representative was confirmed, there was the challenge of getting a portable horseshoe court onsite in only two days! Jerry LaBrosse, 4^th Vice President, started making phone calls and discovered that Hal Griswold, the NHPA Regional Director of Southern California, had access to a set of NHPA-style portable courts and could have them onsite in time for the study.

The courts were set up inside a large, hot building on an indoor sports turf surface. Cameras were strategically placed in five different locations, including on the top of the backboard.

Austin was fitted into a full-body suit with 17 sensors underneath his clothes. This “biomechanics” suit would measure all his body’s motion during the project.

After a brief interview and a short warm-up, the directors decided he was ready. Several pitching scenarios were experimented with and, according to Hal, Austin performed well. Austin said the suit felt awkward at first, but once he realized how form fitting and responsive it was to his own actions, it did not affect his performance. He recommends that anyone who has the opportunity to wear one gives it a try!

NHPA representatives were treated very well by the ESPN staff and crew. All tried to provide anything that was needed or wanted in order to make the experiment realistic, as well as comfortable for Austin who stated that they are definitely a great company who care about high standards in the way they treat their staff and all the sports personalities.

Austin has said that this may be one of the greatest experiences of his life and is proud to be able to tell people about this piece of history – not just for himself, but for the sport and the association that he loves so much.

Thanks to the selfless contributions of all the people making up the NHPA Team who had a part in making this project come to reality. This, combined with the live coverage from the World Tournament, could very well spark interest in horseshoe pitching. And the exposure of our junior pitchers should get the message across that it is NOT an old-man sport, but a sport for all ages!

By the way, according to Austin, one part of the study will blow your mind! It blew his! But we can’t tell you what that is. You will have to watch the show to find out!!