He de Man: Torquay youngster puts the hammer down for gold

TORQUAY’S Mitchell de Man, 15, has dominated this year’s Victorian Country Championships.

Proud mum Karolyn de Man said her six-foot-two son took up athletics three years ago when he began suffering from Osgood-Schlatter disease, a condition where the bones are typically growing faster then the muscles and tendons.

“He was playing representative basketball for Geelong but due to the pain in his knee he stopped.

“They were doing javelin at school sports one day (Surf Coast Secondary College) and Mitch came home and said how he really enjoyed it and had thrown it from one end to the other,” Ms de Man said.

“I knew he would’ve been good and explained they do javelin at Little Athletics at Landy field.

“We signed him up and within his first season he won the state championship and came second in discus all without any coaching.”

Ms de Man said Mitch took up the hammer and started coaching with Alex Gusbeth where he went on to come third at the all school nationals last December, and at The Victorian Country Championships in January he won all four throwing events at the bottom age for the Under 18s.

“Mitch has won the Geelong Guild Athletic Club Championship, his age championship, the most PBs (personal bests) and the Throwing Award,” she said.

“He’s going overseas in May for eight weeks on the Australian School Boys’ Athletic Tour which takes place every year. It’s with Neville Sillitoe, he was the head coach of the Commonwealth Games in 1982 and track coached champions like Tamsyn Lewis.

“Mitch is 15 and will be competing in Under 17; they go to Wales, Scotland, England and across to America.

“Mitch got picked because he can compete in all the throwing events. This season he broke the Under 15 discus record that had stood for 11 years down at Landy Field.”

Ms de Man said there has been a lot of hype surrounding her son, who has attracted a lot of attention from various sporting clubs and trainers.

“He’s six foot two, everybody wants him at their sporting clubs. His coach has said that Mitch has the most potential of anyone his coached before,” she said.

Ms de Man said Mitch had big aspirations ahead of him, while remaining as humble as ever.

“Mitch has improved out of sight, 12 months ago he was nine metres behind the national discus champion and a few months ago, it was down to a metre,” she said.

“Mitch doesn’t like telling people how good he is.

“He wants to get to the Olympics and is extremely humble, I don’t think he even realised how talented he is.”