Tuesday, April 30, 1996
Nada Kawar nears top of competition in shot put, discusBy Scott Yamaguchi
Daily Bruin Staff
Nada Kawar, future superstar of the UCLA women's track and field team, was in need of a lesson, and who better to give it to her than Valeyta Althouse, current superstar of the UCLA women's track and field team?
Althouse, who owns the American collegiate record in the shot put, is the reigning NCAA champion and the odds-on favorite to defend her title at next month's outdoor championships. She is the best there has ever been in the NCAA, an admirable combination of pure power and refined technique. She is a student of the sport, and, as a senior, a teacher to those beneath her.
But this particular piece of instruction did not come in the shot put ring. Instead, it came on the basketball court, where Kawar a first-team All-CIF center in high school was schooling Althouse on the finer points of pick-up basketball.
This was a lesson in humility.
"I decided I would have the kids play basketball," UCLA throwing coach Art Venegas recalls. "Now, Nada's what you would call an aggressive player, she's like a playground player, if you get my drift. She likes to talk it up and let you know that you've been beaten and smacked around.
"I would see poor Valeyta trying to keep up with Nada, and she was getting hammered pretty good. It got to the point where I was a little concerned for Valeyta's feelings, because Nada would make comments and push her around.
"At one point, I saw a little altercation, and Nada was just giving Valeyta a hard time, and I said to myself, 'Poor Valeyta.'
"I turned around for one second, and when I turned around again, Nada's face was bloody. What happened, I don't know, but there was blood pouring from Nada's face."
And the end result?
"We had no more problems with Valeyta and Nada playing basketball after that," Venegas says.
Of course, Kawar and Althouse will tell you there never was a problem, that the bloodied lip was a mere casualty of an aggressive basketball game.
"I had the ball, I went up for a shot, she slammed me back down, so I went up a little harder and I caught her in the mouth with the ball," Althouse says. "It's that simple."
For sure, there have been no problems between the two on the infield of the track, where Althouse has dominated the scene since Kawar's arrival in Westwood three years ago.
With a personal-best throw of 61-feet, 10 1/4-inches, Althouse is the third-ranked shot putter in the United States, including non-collegians. Kawar, whose personal best 55-0 3/4 earned her a third-place finish at this year's indoor nationals, is respectful of that stature and, in the shot put ring, has not given Althouse the ribbing that she once did on the basketball court. Other competitors, however, have not been so fortunate.
"She gets in the face of the other athletes, she lets them know she's there," Venegas says. "She may not say anything that we would call unsportsmanlike, but I've seen her take the shot and slam it real close to where another athlete is standing, just to let them know, 'Hey, I'm here this is my turf.'"
Admittedly, Kawar has a short fuse, and her temper has evidenced itself both in and out of the ring. Mostly, it is channeled into the fiery competitive spirit that has made her one of the premier double-event performers in the college ranks. In addition to the shot put, Kawar competes in the discus, and is currently ranked fourth in the NCAA in that event with a season best throw of 183-11.
"As far as throwing, that attitude has been beneficial because when I get in there and throw, and then somebody comes and throws further, I see that as an insult," Kawar says. "'Whatever, you're a great thrower and all, but this is my home, my throwing ring, my speciality, and I don't want you to beat me.'"
Says Venegas, who has been at UCLA 15 years and is, without doubt, the most successful collegiate throwing coach ever: "I've never, in all my years of coaching, seen a more aggressive thrower, male or female. She is insane when she gets to some meets. The kids call her the terminator, the terrorist, anything you want. They go nuts watching her compete because she can get really fired up."
Such behavior isn't quite what would be expected of a biology major with a 3.9 GPA highest among all student athletes at UCLA. Then again, Kawar, who hates doctors and wants to be a neurosurgeon, is full of contradictions.
"That's exactly why I want to be a doctor," she says. "I don't want to treat people the way that doctors treat them now.
"I like medicine, I just don't like the idea of somebody medicating on me."
In any case, Kawar's demeanor has, for the most part, been an advantage. A dual citizen of the United States and Jordan, she will probably represent Jordan in this summer's Olympic Games. And even if she isn't the class of the world this year, Venegas is confident that she could be in 2000.
"She's young and inexperienced, and sometimes it works against her," he said. "Right now, she's learning how to control her emotional states, but I think she's going to be a phenomenal thrower in the next couple of years."
Photo by PATRICK LAM/ Daily Bruin. Photo illustration by GARETH SMITH/ Daily Bruin.
Nada Kawar is the Bruins' second-best competitor in both the discus and shot put.