Most parents would be apprehensive about their son trading in his baseball mitt for a lightweight fiberglass pole to fly 15 feet through the air. But Mike and Tonja Troyer are different.
The Troyers, who faced this situation six years ago, fully supported their son Boone, now a sophomore pole vaulter for the Ohio track and field team, despite the risks involved.
I think I was glad he was trying something that was risky
because it sounded like him Tonja said. He's definitely the artistic creative person.
Troyer, who has vaulted as high as 16 feet, 5.25 inches while at Ohio and has qualified for the 2003 and 2004 NCAA Regional meets, began his athletic career in his native North Carolina, where he played basketball and baseball before spending even a day in kindergarten.
After moving to Newark, Ohio, he continued to play seemingly every sport, even adding skateboarding and surfing to his repertoire. During high school, he was twice voted to the all-state football team as a punter and began pole vaulting.
I decided to run track and just picked up pole vault because I didn't really want to run
Troyer said. I just picked it up on the side and wound up being good at it.
Though he finished as high as second in the pole vault at the state meet, Troyer is anything but the stereotypical one-dimensional athlete. Raised in a musical family, he learned to play a variety of instruments, including the guitar, bass and drums, Tonja said.
A member of a Christian punk band during high school, Troyer currently plays as half of the local acoustic duo Shalimar with teammate Johnny Walters. The two have been playing together for nine years and have released one album, Troyer said.
Troyer also is driven in art - he is pursuing a degree in art education and would like to teach art at the elementary or high school level, Tonja said.
He's so good with kids
she said. He loves kids.
At times, Troyer can seem like a kid himself, allowing his good nature and goofy demeanor to come out even during track practices.
He goofs off all the time and kind of eases the tension
teammate Rachael Diehl said. He makes practice fun. He's serious about vaulting
but he just says a lot of off-the-wall things you would never expect him to say.
Troyer's outgoing personality might come as a result of the southern environment that surrounded him during his early years, Tonja said.
Down there
people were very outgoing and talked to people
she said. I think he carried that up here.
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