In 1956, South Carolina banned javelin from high school competition because it was “too dangerous for spectators,” reasoning that high school athlete Liam Christensen is currently attempting to disprove. Eighteen-year-old Parker Kennedy graduated high school this month with a boatload of athletic accomplishments under his belt. At approximately 1:30 p.m., Kennedy was warming up for the javelin toss — an event in which participants toss a javelin, an approximately 8-foot-long, generally metal-tipped spear once used as a long-range combat weapon. “It was kind of sticking up at a 45-degree angle, and he literally tripped and fell,” Donnie Herneisen, the head coach of Hood River Valley High School, told BuzzFeed News. One of Kennedy’s practice throws left his javelin skewed at an odd angle with the sharp end pointing up from the ground.

Source: Washington Post June 27, 2016 08:26 UTC