Behind Every Great Achiever, Is a Great Mentor

 

One of the most well-known verses of the 15^th century poet saint Kabir Das is “Guru Govind dono khade, ka ke lagoon paaye, balihari Guru aapne, Govind diyo bataaye”. What this essentially means is that when a mentor and God are both in front of me, I bow down to the mentor first because it is he who told me who God is! God does not necessarily refer to a mythological deity here, but can also refer to one’s own hidden powers. In other words, the role of a good mentor is critical for a mentoree to realize their full potential. During our visit to watch the Doha Diamond League, we had a rare opportunity to interact with one such mentor, whose focussed work behind the scenes has been a game changer for Indian athletics. Meet Dr Klaus Bartonietz, a world expert in sports biomechanics and the coach of reigning Olympic, World, and Asian Games champion in javelin throw, Neeraj Chopra.

Explanation of the catapult action

The question

When we had the fortunate chance to meet Dr Bartonietz, we asked him a question that had been on our minds about the javelin doodle that Neeraj usually makes with his autograph. To us, it seemed that when the thrower’s hand is in the inverted C position, as is the case in the doodle, the javelin should cross above or across the thrower’s head. Is it possible for the javelin to cross below the thrower’s head, as drawn in the doodle, with the inverted C throwing arm? Childlike excitement flashed across the coach's eyes upon hearing us. “We need to find a pen and a paper. Look for an empty couch with a table, we need to sit down. This needs some discussion; this will be interesting”, he said in a single breadth 😊 We handed him our autograph book as these pearls of wisdom were not to be drawn on a rough sheet. What better autograph from an expert scientist than illustrations drawn by the expert himself!

Top left: Neeraj’s autograph doodle with javelin passing below the thrower’s head; Top right: Sculpture at Hayward Field, Oregon, USA with javelin passing narrowly above the thrower’s head (PC: Manisha Malhotra’s Instagram @manishamal1); Bottom left: Sculpture at IIS, India with javelin passing across the thrower’s head (PC: Neeraj Chopra’s Instagram @neeraj____chopra); Bottom right: Still from Neeraj Chopra’s throw with the throwing arm in the inverted C position and the javelin passing much above the thrower’s head (PC: Neeraj Chopra’s Instagram @neeraj____chopra)

The response

He started by explaining the fundamentals of a good throw using our son’s hand to demonstrate the catapult action and corelating that to how a thrower’s body achieves this action at the time of javelin release. He then talked about the doodle in comparison to Neeraj’s throwing technique using slow-motion videos and still photographs of his various training throws, including the famous 90+ m throw during a training session at Turkey. He agreed that while he might draw the doodle a little differently, this being just a fun drawing, the technicalities can be disregarded over artistic liberty. He did make his version of the doodle for us though with changes to the non-throwing arm as well 😊 

We wished the session had lasted longer because being from a science background, his explanations were like music to our ears. We were thrilled beyond measure to have an opportunity to learn all this from the best possible coach on the topic….in the world! It is no hidden fact that his knowledge on the subject is extremely comprehensive and his eye for perfection is unparalleled; to get a glimpse of it live, was a true delight!

Top: Recreation of Neeraj’s doodle (top left), our version (top right), and Dr Bartonietz’s version (bottom); illustration of a vibrating javelin during the upward flight; Bottom: Effect of headwinds on the distance achieved

On his current student

Our hearts swelled with pride when an accomplished coach like him started sharing praises for our country's star athlete, Neeraj. He explained how the Olympic champion is always self-motivated, very conscious of his diet, meticulously particular about his training, extremely hard working, and rigorously disciplined. Being blessed with a positive temperament and a learning mindset, Neeraj is well aware of his strengths and areas of improvement. It is, therefore, easy to shine as a mentor when the trainee is brilliant, he said. This of course was his modestly speaking because we were witnessing brilliance in every sentence that Dr Bartonietz himself spoke throughout the conversation. 

Autograph of Dr Klaus Bartonietz. As soon as he finished signing, he realized and explained how this drawing is actually technically incorrect because the javelin is vibrating (as show by the 3 vertical lines on either side), but the javelin does not typically vibrate while landing, and we cannot assume it to be on its upward flight either because then the colored tip should have been drawn at the front end. The eye of a perfectionist!

The learnings

While we had gone to the event as Neeraj’s fans, we came back as fans of Dr Bartonietz as well. He is an ideal example of how a great mentor is able bring out the best in a trainee by pushing their limits but also providing constant support and guidance. As saint Kabir Das says “Guru kumbhar shishya kumbh hai, gadhi gadhi kadhaye khote, antar haath sahaar de, bahar bahay chote” meaning that a mentor is like a potter and the trainee is like a pot; the mentor removes all the defects one by one using tough blows on the outside with one hand, but places the other hand inside to support and ensure that the pot does not fall apart. As we boast of having the reigning Olympic and World Champion in javelin from India, we bow down in gratitude to the immensely knowledgeable mentor who has played a critical role in shaping this legend. Thank you, Dr Bartonietz!