University of Georgia Athletics
Bulldog Alex Poursanidis: Beyond The Track
January 27, 2017 | Track & Field
Bulldog senior thrower Alex Poursanidis starts his fourth and final season in the Red and Black as a 2014 NCAA First Team All-American outdoors in the hammer throw and two-time Southeastern Conference hammer champion. The Paphos, Cyprus, native has finished ninth (one spot from scoring) at the last two NCAA Outdoor Championships.
In 2017, he opened with a personal-best mark of 69 feet, 10 ¾ inches to win the weight throw at the Orange & Purple Classic. Then, Poursanidis posted a stellar series at the Aggie Invitational last weekend, including five throws that would have been career bests, and again finished first with a mark of 72-6.50. He currently stands No. 3 on the national list and is No. 2 in the school record books behind Bulldog legend and Olympian Andras Haklits (80-2).
Here is a glimpse at Alex Poursanidis beyond the track:
Georgiadogs.com: What does it mean and what kind of responsibility goes in with being a team captain this year?
AP: AP: The captains on this team have been around for a while. We've experienced competitions, we've experienced being around good people, we've been against the top people in the nation. And since we've been through all that, it's good to have that and guide the next generation of Bulldogs and help them throughout the process. [We] let them know how outcomes could be, what to expect, how to behave in a competition. These [captains] are no different than them. Petros [Kyprianou] always says 'Why not? Why not us? Why not be the top guy in the nation?' It's a question I still can't answer today, I don't know the answer to that. So the point is to lead the next Bulldogs and show them [around]. They can always ask us questions [too].
Georgiadogs.com: Do you know immediately when you let go of a big-time weight or hammer throw?
AP: Honestly all throwers I think, especially me since I've been doing it [for a while] with the hammer, we develop this kind of a feel for the event and for the implement. We kind of know when it's far. What surprised me though was this past meet. Before the Texas [A&M] meet I was talking to my head coach and said, 'Hey I had a big throw at practice that looks promising, it was 22 meters, 22.08 (72 feet, 5 inches).' I said that was a good sign but I was worried that it wasn't going to transfer over in competition and he said, 'Well, the goal is to be consistent and to throw a little bit further than we did in Clemson.' That throw in Clemson was 69-10.75. 'So if you throw a 21.30 or a 21.50, that's still progress, that's good.' So I went with a relaxed mentality. With my first throw, I went in just get a decent throw, to get a fair throw in. I wasn't thinking too much about it and my first throw was my best throw. I wanted to start pushing a little bit more and that's when I got tired and didn't execute as properly. It was just a good lesson overall. Even though it's considered a far throw or whatever, I still think I have a lot of work to do. Plus, the leading mark is a meter and a half (nearly five feet) ahead so I still have a lot of work to do and keep focused on training.
Georgiadogs.com: How was your military experience before coming to UGA and the United States?
AP: It's something normal for my country and it's something that all males have to go through. I thought that it was a great experience. Even outside of track, it made me really disciplined. Even though sometimes I'm all goofy and funny, when things are serious outside in society and in the real world, the discipline kicks in and helps you. It was good training overall, it was fun. It gets boring but it was a good place to socialize with other people too. I had 25 guys in one room and it was just a different experience. It's something that guys here don't do; it's not mandatory for them right?
Georgiadogs.com: No.
AP: It's mandatory for us. I mean, you could say, I'm 24-years-old now and I should have been very disciplined and showing the guys how to be like that but I think I'm still young at heart and it didn't effect me that much I don't think. I am who I am.
Georgiadogs.com: Do you think having military training before coming here to run track changed your track experience?
AP: Not really. I think it just gave me this extra knowledge of the military overall. It didn't help track, I think these are two different things but sometimes that discipline and mentality kicks in so maybe it can be better for you in a way. You're not going to slack. You're not going to say 'Oh I'll do this tomorrow.' No, a task is a task and an assignment is an assignment. Just like in the military, same with practice. Maybe sometimes that mentality can help and kick in.
Georgiadogs.com: Are you planning on doing anything track related once you leave UGA?
AP: Yeah I'm going to try to turn pro. My dream is to try to qualify for the 2020 Olympics but my goal is to start being a 72-plus meter (236 feet) hammer throw. Only then can you start building off something big. Now with school it's hard for me to do just hammer. I'm the guy that needs to focus on one thing to do it really well. Some people do that [multitasking] really well and I admire them for that but I'm different. When I'm outside of school and just doing hammer I think I'll be doing much better in the sense that I'll have more time to focus on it and train on it and be better.
Georgiadogs.com: Are you going to do that in the states or head back to Europe?
AP: Right now back home I don't have the facilities in my city so I have to go to a different city but I don't have a coach in a different city. My coach won't be able to work that out, my current coach back home, it's just too far for him. He has family and all that so it's going to be hard. So I'll try to do it here and stay maybe an extra year or two to train. But if something comes up by the time I graduate I will probably go back to Europe. I don't plan these things ahead. I hate planning ahead so much because things change everyday, every minute. I'm very good at making very quick decisions, impulsive decisions like that. I've always been bad at planning even though with the military background. I was just bad at planning but if the sergeant said 'Do this right now' I went and did it. I hate planning ahead [because] it's a waste of my time sometimes. I'm kind of impulsive and I'll do what's best at that time and that second. I'm good at that at least.
Georgiadogs.com: If you do have to leave the Athens area, what will you miss the most?
AP: Well this is an emotional subject. I think I'm going to miss all of the amazing people who I've met throughout this career at UGA. I don't think I thank enough [people]. Our head coach Petros Kyprianou, who pretty much contacted me to get here, I don't even know what I'm going to say to him when I'm done. He just showed me this new world and I'm going to miss him. I'm going to miss my coach, [Don Babbitt], who has been able to put up with me. I'm a very difficult person so I admire his patience; I admire his ability to put up with me all this time. I'm surprised he didn't kick me out yet. He's just a very cool person. It's been both fun and nerve-wracking training with him because we both have very different systems. The American system and the European system were colliding so I had to get used to the American system, which was kind of awkward at first. I think I'll miss the faculty members like Glada [Horvat], Jim [Booz], the athletic director [Greg McGarity], all these people making this possible, right now, and are helping us through all of this time here being a student-athlete. This is something you don't do in Europe. You either do studies or sports so it's something that I can say I can really appreciate because a lot of people don't appreciate it. They're either more needy or complaining and I see that because I'm around a good bit of athletes. It's such an awesome opportunity. I'll miss the people that I met throughout this time. My teammates since I was a freshman, we're still in contact, I love them. My teammate since day one, Alex Larson, we had a rough first semester getting along but then we just kind of clicked. We got really close, on a family level I could say. I'll definitely miss all those people that helped this process. I can't name them all, there's too many but they know and they'll hear and they'll understand that they're in my thoughts. And that I appreciate them.
Georgiadogs.com: Is your family still in Cyprus?
AP: Yeah.
Georgiadogs.com: How do you keep in touch?
AP: My parents are still back. We live in a beautiful century, we live in a beautiful era and we have everything yet somehow people are still unhappy which is funny. We have this beautiful thing, the Internet, so we talk on these apps that allow you to talk overseas with an Internet connection so we talk like that. They've never visited, it's too expensive so we stay in touch on the phone.
Georgiadogs.com: Any siblings?
AP: I have a sister, an older sister, two beautiful nephews and a third one is coming. And I have a 9-year-old stepsister. I'm the only male.
Georgiadogs.com: I know you're not a planner but is there anything you want to do with your major, Sociology?
AP: I'd say that I liked Sociology. What I want to do with it is I'm trying to understand human behavior, which is why I started with Psychology. I want to understand why people think something is right and why it's wrong for them. I want to understand the morals, what are they? What do they do? Every individual person in a homogenous or non-homogenous population, they're different. What makes it right for them or wrong for them? I want to understand those philosophical terms and theories and if I know that and I can understand it, I think it will help me understand my athletes or the people that I want to help and eventually coach. Understanding how to psych someone out and [tell him] what he needs to be better, the environment I need to set up for them to succeed and be better, and I think this major, the classes that I'm taking, are really fun to look into. One class I'm taking, the Sociology of Morality, what's right and wrong, what is really right and wrong. What was right and wrong 100 years ago and what is now? It changes so much and I'm trying to understand all this to help me have a better idea of the world, and people, so I can understand them on a better level. When there's cooperation, there's always success. There's always success when people are cooperating together. So if you understand that, therefore you'll have cooperation, therefore you'll succeed. I believe at least.
Georgiadogs.com: Where's the best to get Greek food in Athens, Georgia?
AP: I'd say the closest that I got to Greek food that tasted good was Taziki's and the Mediterranean Grille. So if I'm in need of Greek food, I'll go to one of those places. But the REAL good food is at home.
