Life Membership: Peter Lawler OAM

28 February 2021

Life Membership: Peter Lawler OAM

It is easy to track where Sydney teacher Peter Lawler OAM has worked in country NSW, as a cluster of athletes start to emerge as he has an impact on track and field at his school and in the community.

Born in 1943, Peter started competing in athletics while in teachers college in Sydney. In 1962 he was first appointed to primary school teaching in the Riverina. By 1967, he was an English-history teacher at Griffith High. In 1968/69 a Griffith club was formed with 15 members, growing to 35 the next year. That season Lawler won the country championships javelin title and other Griffith athletes started to emerge at the championships. Lawler’s own javelin career was firing during this period, winning his first senior Australian championship medal in 1966 and the National title in 1971. At the 1972 NSW Country Championships, the Griffith club won 10 medals in sprints, jumps, throws and relays, this peaked in the mid-70s with them becoming one of the dominate country clubs. In the late ‘70s Lawler was appointed to Oxley College, Tamworth. Ironically in the late ‘70s at the country championships, athletes from Griffith he had developed, were now defeating him. One was Stephen Trewin a quality javelin thrower who won national junior medals.

Now based in Tamworth it was not long before he had an impact there. For over two decades the town turned out quality, primarily field/technical event athletes and became the Australian capital of javelin throwing. National junior javelin champion Andrew Hawthorne was one, making the finals at the 1996 World Junior Championships. Another local athlete Peter coached was Commonwealth Games decathlete Stuart Andrews who transitioned to the Australian bobsleigh team.

In Wee Waa, two hours from Tamworth, a terrific talent came under the influence of Lawler, javelin thrower Andrew Currey. On weekends Currey would travel to Tamworth for coaching with Lawler. He went on to compete at two Olympics (1996 & 2000), two Commonwealth Games and over an eight-year dominance of the event in Australia, raised the national record on six occasions as he moved it from 79.30m to 86.67m.

In 1988, one of the longest and most successful coach-athlete relationships in track and field was formed, when local Tamworth athlete Nick Moroney met Peter Lawler. Moroney’s athletics career has been extraordinarily enduring. He first cleared 2.10m in December 1990 and for the next 25 years, he maintained that prestigious level. He twice competed at the IAAF World Cup and twice made the Commonwealth Games high jump final. His longevity is a mark of Lawler’s coaching.

Nick recalled how he linked up with Peter Lawler.

“I had never participated in athletics outside of my annual school carnival but as a lanky 16-year-old I had just competed in my first NSW All Schools event. I was reliably informed that there was actually a pretty decent coach in town and that it might be worth giving him a call. Fortunately, I did, and the result was a coach/athlete partnership that continued for 30 years.

“I remember the first time I met Peter at Viaduct Park in Tamworth as a 16-year old. I was totally intimated by this gruff barrel-chested bearded man and I was never quite sure when he was being serious and when he was just taking the micky. And despite the fact that early on he had me running sets of 800m time trials (not something that high jumpers like) and sprinting while carrying shot puts, I quickly realised he was someone who knew what he was doing. He gave up so much of his own time to coach so many athletes. Gym sessions were held in his car port in Rosedale avenue and these were followed by a game of cricket on the road with his sons.

“I often think about how lucky it was that in a small country town there happened to be a national level athletics coach just as I started my career in the sport. There is no doubt in my mind that without Peter as my coach I would never have lasted more than a couple of years in this sport.

“Outside of my parents I cannot think of anyone who has had a greater impact on who I am as a person,” said Moroney

In 1996 Lawler moved to Wollongong where many more athletes came under his influence, including Olympic medallist Louise Currey and Olympic high jump Petrina Price, amongst many. He also coached at the Barker School in Sydney producing many talented throwers and in later years mentoring current leading NSW javelin coach Angus McEntyre.

Throughout Peter’s journey in the sport, he has been involved in two additional key areas of the sport, administration, and coach education. In Griffith and Tamworth he helped grow the clubs, then in the ‘90s was an Athletics NSW Board Member. Through the ‘80s, ‘90s and ‘00s he was a NSW coach involved in many regional and state programs.

Peter was always a voracious reader of technical articles and these have informed his coaching practices. He is incredibly innovative and is always looking for ways of changing things up to keep his athletes from stagnating. His knowledge of strength and conditioning is legendary. One of the hall marks of his coaching is his ability to individualise his programs for every athlete and his willingness to work with athletes at any level in practically any event. The depth of his knowledge is immense.

Possibly his biggest influence outside of coaching, has been his involvement in coach education, in NSW, across Australia and the Pacific. For over four decades he has lectured at coaching courses, mentored coaches and produced and reviewed coach education material.

During an involvement of over five decades, he has coached from grassroots to Olympic level, including appointments as national team coach.

It is impossible to count the number of people in this sport who have been influence by Peter’s coaching and mentoring. And his influence reaches beyond the improvements in techniques and PB’s.

In 2011 he was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for his services to athletics.

For his extensive service to coaching, administration and coach education in NSW, Peter Lawler is awarded life membership of Athletics NSW.

David Tarbotton & Nick Moroney for Athletics NSW

Image: Peter being presented life membership – left to right: Andrew Currey, Mason Keane, Peter Lawler, Nick Moroney, Anne Lawler, Louse Currey & Max Debnam (image courtesy of David Tarbotton)