“Committed” and “hardworking” are two words one could use to describe LSU sophomore track and field thrower Sidnie Wilder.
When Sidnie, a native of Cameron, Wisconsin, was in the eighth grade, she approached her father, Deren Wilder, about becoming a hammer thrower. Sidnie had the right person to teach her, as her father was a former Division II All-American at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana.
Not only did Sidnie have the genes and tutelage of an All-American, but Deren also coached other gifted athletes for more than 15 years, including a former Gatorade All-American and a former NCAA weight throw champion.
“We sat down when I was in high school,” Sidnie said. “It was like, ‘All right, I’m going to have to pay for college somehow,’ and he knew how to coach the hammer.”
When Deren first learned his daughter wanted to compete, he wasn’t surprised or shocked. He was hopeful she would stick with it.
“I knew what it would take to accomplish the goal we discussed,” Deren said. “But [I] also know that not a lot of people would want to put in the time and effort. I didn’t know if she would stick with it or not.”
When the father and daughter first began training, Sidnie would practice throwing off of plywood floors. But she ran into some trouble when they practiced throwing off her former high school’s basketball court, which they got kicked off of for safety reasons.
The two would have “intense” workouts, Sidnie said. She would practice throws for an hour and then hit the weight room for roughly another hour, she said.
“My dad always had me maxing out,” Sidnie said. “It was really hard catching on because it’s so techinal of an event that … to get your body to move that way is a struggle.”
There were times when Sidnie wanted to quit — more times than she could count, she said. But she never gave up. With her hard work and her dad’s motivation and coaching, Sidnie would go on to compete with a USATF team and win a silver medal in the hammer throw event in the intermediate girls division at the 2011 USA Track & Field National Junior Olympic Championships.
By the time her high school career wrapped up, she ranked in the top five nationally among prep throwers. One thing Deren didn’t do was try to live out his career through Sidnie, he said. He never put pressure on his daughter to have a better career than what he had.
“I had a somewhat successful college career,” Deren said. “I allow Sidnie to be the athlete that she wants to be. It was really not about me at all. I did push her to be as good as she could be.”
Just like any parent would, Deren helped his child find a school, but he transitioned from his role as a coach to her agent.
“I did all the contacts up front,” Deren said. “I was the recruiting agency. I started making contacts when she was a freshman in high school.”
Not only did Sidnie have her own personal agent, she had autonomy when it came time for her to pick a school. Sidnie took all of her official visits on her own, visiting LSU, University of Iowa and University of Wyoming.
When it came to picking a school, one advantage LSU had over her other two choices was the great weather and the treatment of athletes, she said.
“The weather is wonderful,” Sidnie said. “Usually, you can train all year long. Everything they do for the athletes here is really impressive compared to other schools. Everybody is so nice here.”
When current LSU coach Derek Yush first saw Sidnie, he saw skills and attributes that most incoming freshman don’t have.
“Her dad laid the foundation,” Yush said. “She has a very solid foundation, awareness of the event and how to accelerate the inclement. For me as a coach, it’s awesome to just take what she’s learned and just try to refine what she’s doing. If I had to point to one thing, I would say probably how her head and spine align when she’s doing these throws.”
Those skills helped Sidnie have a productive freshman season at LSU. In her outdoor season debut, she won the hammer throw title with a season-opening mark of 177-8 at the Louisiana Classics. In that same season, Sidnie also came up short in qualifying for the final spot in the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships.
Coming into this season, Sidnie, who competes in both indoor and outdoor track meets, had goals of making it to the SEC Championships. But a back injury slowed her down from competing earlier in the season.
Sidnie just came back from the injury and placed eighth in the indoor LSU High Performance Meet.
If Deren could, he would attend every one of Sidnie’s track meets, but because of the long distance between the two, it’s hard for him to watch her participate. Even though she doesn’t receive much coaching from her dad, Sidnie still calls him after nearly every practice or track meet to tell him how things went.
“He doesn’t really coach me anymore,” Sidnie said. “I call him usually after every meet. If I have a good or bad day at practice, I’ll call him.”