Hundreds of students packed into an indoor track facility on a cold Saturday morning in January. The Stile Athletics Field House serves as an indoor track simulation for each athlete to receive vital offseason preparation. Although indoor track has not become a varsity Revere sport, each student behaves as if they are performing at the varsity level. John Anand uses each opportunity in full in order to perfect his skill.
Senior student athlete John Anand is flooded with college coursework, several extracurricular activities, and spending time with family and friends. Anand relies on lessons he learned growing up in a military family to manage his time between the classroom and the field. As an 18 year old, John has been attending college courses at the University of Akron for the past two years.
When referring to track, many think of sprints and relays, but that is only half of the team. Throwers are a group of athletes who instead of running, hurl different objects in the air. The two throwing events that Revere offers for outdoor track are shot put and discus. Shot put is an event in which the thrower places a ball made of brass, iron, and steel (13 pounds for males and 8.8 pounds for women) above their shoulder. The thrower winds up and releases the shot, launching it as far as possible. Discus is slightly different, as throwers start at a preset position and throw a frisbee-like object as far as they can. Other events that throwers can participate in include hammer, and weight.
Anand began throwing with Revere as a middle schooler. Over time, Anand has improved his talents and pursued goals he set for himself throughout the high school throwing career. As a freshman, Anand told himself that one day he had hoped to hold the shot put record for outdoor track.
“Currently, I hold the hammer and weight records for Revere for indoor [track]. I’m trying to get that disc record for outdoor track this season. I’m trying to put on an average of 10 to 15 feet every season on my disc distance,” he said.
Becoming a state level athlete requires hours of planning and preparation with late nights perfecting each and every skill. Anand understands the level of commitment his goals require and dedicates each practice towards his goals.
“I lift about six days a week for track. Through the winter we have morning practices. We have them once a week on Thursday mornings before school. They are at the elementary school run by Coach Vantrese and they start around 6:30 in the morning. Once outdoor [track] starts we will have practice every day from three to five,” he said.
Anand puts the team before himself and realizes that the sport is not only about beating his record, but rather finding success as a team. Anand is making it his goal to prepare the team and inspire students to step up to lead for next year.
“This year I’m working on more to build a core for next year. That’s the goal,” he said.
Head track coach Billy D’Amico has coached Anand for several years and has watched him grow not only as a player but as a leader too. D’Amico relies on Anand’s leadership abilities to guide the team when no coaches are available.
“John is very good about being able to teach the younger athletes techniques. He’s almost a secondary coach. I’ve never heard John be negative,” he said.
This spring, the track team hopes to win the Suburban League title for the first time in 36 years. D’Amico expects Anand to be a factor in the push for a championship.
“[John] is expected to be our top discus thrower. That goes a long way for our goal of winning the league, winning all the invites we will attend, and every quad meet,” D’Amico said.
One of the teammates that Anand has helped develop is Jackson Farrow. For two years, Farrow and Anand have been teammates and grow off of each other. Farrow believes that Anand displays many traits of an experienced thrower.
“John’s always got a positive outlook on how he throws, he always gives you the positive words of encouragement that you might need mid-meet to make sure that you’re not focused on your last throw, but rather the next,” he said.
Outside of track, Anand manages his time between college studies and shooting with the Akron Eagles Rifle Club, a high school program run through the University of Akron. Akron supplies the club with ammo, rifles, and the facilities for a shooting range. Although Anand is already taking classes through the University of Akron, he still hopes to attend university at the end of this year.
“I want to go to the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Miami also has a new cybersecurity program and I’m pretty passionate about it. If I make it into the Academy, I want to do civil engineering,” he said.
Anand’s friends have noticed his daily unique outfits, as his carefree atire varyies from pajama pants to silly socks.
“He has an interesting style choice, he ends up [wearing] pajama pants to a lot of meets usually with funny socks. It is interesting to see what his sock choice of the day is,” Farrow said.
This spring, Anand will have his last opportunity to satisfy his goals and cement his name into the Revere Track and Field record books.
