Even winning competitions and being a potential Division I athlete can’t satisfy St. John Villa’s Fridaws Sammy.
“I can always do better,” Sammy said. “I don’t care about competing with others. I’m competing with myself.”
The junior won the girls discus competition on Friday and placed second in the shot put Saturday at the NYC Mayor’s Cup at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island.
“[Friday] I won the discus and actually had a bad start,” Sammy said. “I started my throw with a 95 and I hadn’t thrown in the 90s since freshman year. Then I had to cool down and when the finals came around I took a deep breath and won in the finals.”
Sammy finished with a throw of 111 feet in the discus, the fourth best mark in the state this season and a 33-2.00 in the shot put. Her shot put score was bested only by DeWitt Clinton’s Desiree Gordon, who finished with a 33-10.50.
“It wasn’t my best throwing day,” Sammy said. “[Gordon] was beating me in trials, but I tried my best to come back and couldn’t.”
Sammy had a close relationship with her old throwing coach at Villa Tara Ferraiuolo, who departed this season to take the reins as head coach of girls team at St. Joseph by the Sea. Sammy also lost another throwing coach John Sexton who left the team due to work obligations. Sammy’s new throwing coach is Derek Gilson, who is from Monsignor Farrell. Despite a change in coaches, she says she’s making the right adjustments.
“I have a new coach but it’s been going good,” Sammy said. “It’s different.”
Sammy is hopeful to hit 135 or 140 in the discus this season. Even though she competes for St. John Villa, she doesn’t practice with the team as she works with Gilson at Farrell because Villa doesn’t have a track or the right facilities to work on the discus and shot put.
Sammy isn’t sure where she’ll attend college, but she has plenty to choose from with Clemson, Northeastern and LaSalle being the front runners.
“Sammy is a self-motivated girl,” Villa head coach Mike Proffitt said. “She works on her own and I give her a program and Farrell has been kind enough to let us use their facilities. In an ideal situation we’d all work together, but this year we have to do it this way.”
Proffitt talks with Sammy weekly to put her on programs and monitor her progress. Proffitt talks with Gilson periodically to keep up on Sammy’s progress.
“My goal for her is to throw 30 or 40 on the shot,” Proffitt said. “I give her the program, but the throwing coach is the one who does all those little nuances. Sammy has a great work ethic and she deserves all the credit.”
Sammy hopes to keep building on her success under her new coach and continue to get better while also being hard on herself from time to time.
“I definitely wanna improve on my discus,” Sammy said. “I know I can get better.”