Holes of red mud and displaced grass litter the field David Pless practices on.
Athletes of his caliber in Atlanta train in comfortable conditions to compete for thousands of fans in multi-million dollar stadiums. But Pless’ only spectators are his coach and teammates at a middle school track-and-field throwing cage they rent in Marietta. Lead shot puts they heave on a daily basis cause so much damage that they replace the dirt on the field every month. It’s a simple life, but one Pless loves.
It’s the best situation he has had in a while.
Pless, 28, has the chance to reach his sport’s pinnacle. In about a month, Pless, who stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 315 pounds, will compete at the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. The top three finishers will represent the United States at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, this fall. It’s seen as a major accomplishment in the track-and-field community and is a high-profile steppingstone toward preparing to qualify for Team USA in the 2020 Olympic games.
Recent results show Pless should be a favorite. As of June 25, he’s ranked the No. 10 shot putter in the country via International Association of Athletics Federations official rankings. He has thrown personal records four times over the past year, and threw three centimeters past the Olympic A standard this month.
But that success arrived years after disappointments, something Pless turned around after moving across the country thanks to an hour-long phone conversation at his bleakest point.
“It’s all about decisions,” Pless said. “There's all these turning points you come to and I feel really fortunate. There's been some bad decisions, but there's been a lot of positive decisions that have come into this for me to pursue my career.”
Pless, who attended Lovett School before transferring to a boarding school in North Carolina, became a three-time NCAA Division III champion and 10-time All-American at Bates College in Maine. After graduating in 2013, he took a software company job in the Bay Area of northern California and volunteered as an assistant coach with the University of San Francisco’s track and field team. Pless said he felt his competitive days were over. But after talking with his now-fiance, they both decided he should commit more effort to track.
“We were talking, and at some point, one of us said, ‘You can't be half-in, half-out of this,’” Pless said. “Either we're going to do this or we’re not going to do this.”
Pless sent cold emails to coaches across the country. He eventually landed in Portland, Oregon. Initially he saw success, qualifying for the Olympic trials in 2016. But he didn’t advance, finishing last in the finals round. And for two years, he trained, seeing no improvement. One day in May 2018 while performing weight snatches, he tore his labrum. His time recovering tested his resolve, as he felt it was a sign to stop. Three months later, his coach moved to Boston because of family issues, leaving Pless to train alone.
“I was totally lost at that point,” Pless said. “I was ready to hang it up. There were a couple points where I said ‘I don't know what to do to make this ball go further.’”
Then, that September, he picked up the phone.
He called Mike Judge, a mentor of his and a renowned coach. In 25 years of coaching, Judge, the 2013 National High School Coach of the Year, has trained 11 NCAA All-Americans, two NCAA champions, 26 high school national champions and over 200 high school All-Americans.
Pless, when he was 16, attended a camp Judge ran. They kept in touch, and Pless trained with him in Atlanta during holiday periods. Judge told Pless he was welcome to train with him and his club, Throw1Deep. Among other things, Pless was sold on the micro-level instruction he’d receive and the support he would have.
On his 28th birthday, four days before Thanksgiving, Pless and his fiance moved back to Atlanta. He now works from home as an accounts manager for a start-up company.
“I told him I wished he had called me a year or two earlier,” Judge said. “I was very happy.
“We have a system that we have developed where we have right amount of people and we have the implements to make their careers special.”
Once in Atlanta, everything changed. Judge’s practices are meticulous, and he looks at every movement his athletes make. Regarding Pless, who is stronger in his legs than his arms and chest, it is about using his whole body — especially his hips — in the throw. Pless starts practices hurling 16-pound lead shot puts against a net, where Judge closely observes his technique. Then, he goes inside the cage, where it’s bombs away in the field contained only by a fence they built to protect cars in the parking lot.
At various qualifying events throughout the year, shot putters must throw it to the Olympic A standard — 21.10 meters (about 70 feet)— to qualify for a chance to make the team. In January, Judge took Pless to the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center in California to train at the Olympic Center. Seeing high-caliber athletes and being in that environment boosted Pless’ confidence, Judge said.
Now, that confidence is on full display.
At the Tucson Elite Classic in May, Pless fell just four centimeters short of the standard, but placed second overall at the meet. He lost only to Ryan Crouser, the 2016 Olympic champion. A month later, Pless threw three centimeters over the standard on at the Ashland Summer Series in Ohio. It’s the farthest he’s thrown in his career. He is starting to peak at the right time. With a chance to compete against the best in the country July 25-28 in Des Moines, and the Olympic trials quickly approaching within a year, Pless said he’s excited.
And since his new routine working, he doesn’t care that he practices on a damaged field at a middle school. It just shows how far he’s come to chase his dream, he said.
“This journey isn't unique to me,” Pless said. “There are a lot of people who are doing some pretty amazing things that require a lot of perseverance. When you’re going for a particular goal, you can achieve it if you grind against the impossibilities.”
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