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Victoria's unexepected "find" in the shot put, teenager Margaret Woodlock, wears her red and black Frankston athletic outfit under her St. Catherine's uniform when going training. Margaret, who has only learned this sport since May, broke the Victorian residential record last weekend, and has won herself a place in Victoria's Olympic training squad. The squad was chosen after the Australian Women's Athletic championships at Easter, and any girls who have shown exceptional promise since then have been eligible to join. The standard set for Olympic selection is 29 ft. for the shot put. Margaret's throw last Saturday was 40 ft. 9 in. In the javelin she has thrown 125 ft. in training, which is only 4 ft. 6 in. below the Olympic standard. Margaret has never competed in a State championship, and until a few weeks ago belonged to no athletic club. She then found she had to join to compete in State competitions run by the Victorian Amateur Athletics Association. As she lives at Seaford, she joined Frankston club. This freckled, wavy-haired youngster is school captain of St. Catherine's and captain of the baseball team. Because of this, she plays baseball on Tuesdays and Thursdays and trains for the shot put on Mondays and Wednesdays. As there is no dressing room available at Olympic Park, where she trains, she wears her athletic outfit under her uniform. She is also a member of the 1st basketball team, the school athletics team - of which she is vice-captain - and her house hockey and tennis teams. At the end of last year she passed her matriculation, but decided to go back for another year. She will sit for her matriculation again this year, hoping to get honors in music and biology. She would then like to study physical education at the University, she said. Javelin Margaret's main interest was javelin throwing. She practiced the shot put only because she felt it would help her in the javelin, she explained. Her interest in both these sports started six years ago, when St. Catherine's was one of the first girls' schools to introduce javelin and discus throwing into the sports programme. She had no training until she attended the National Fitness classes conducted by coach Franz Stampfl at Christmas time. He was impressed by her javelin throws, so she decided to take coaching from him. "Although Stamfl thought I might be good enough for the Olympic team in 1960, no one considered I'd come up to form for this year. I still can't believe it's really happened," Margaret said yesterday. She would like to make the team to meet the international competitors and show them Melbourne. "I'm not too excited about the competition - I'm far too scared," she added. Margaret's other interest is music, and until she started this intensive training she practiced two hours a day. Now she tries to practice for one hour in the evenings. She helps to make some of her own clothes, and likes parties and dances when she has the time to go. "Actually the Olympic Games period is supposed to be my swot vac. for matriculation, so I'll miss out on that completely. Most of my study is done on the train," said this very busy schoolgirl, who has to leave home at 7a.m. to get to school on time. Article courtesy of David Symes & Co. |
GIRL IS "FIND" IN SHOT PUT