Community support has been the backbone of Dani Bunch’s training since she was a seventh grade student at Mahomet-Seymour Junior High School.
Now, Bunch, who was named the Big 10 Female Athlete of the Year in 2014, needs continued support from the community as she trains to compete professionally.
“I don’t think I would have made it this far without the Mahomet community,” she said. “I had a lot of really good coaches going through the (M-S) program from seventh grade to high school. I was in a really fortunate situation because a lot of athletes don’t have coaches who are invested.”
As a young track and field athlete, Bunch did not know if she wanted to continue throwing the shot put and discuss–or even if she was doing it right.
“The support I had growing up was a good sign that I should keep going,” she said.
Bunch even appreciated the encouraging words that came from Mahomet as she broke Purdue University Track and Field Records, competed at the NCAA Championships and was named an All-American eight times during her five years at Purdue.
In her first year out of college, Bunch has continued to live in West Lafayette where she serves as a Volunteer Coach for the Women’s Track team. Through this, she still has access to Purdue’s training facilities.
“This is (a great) training tool for me,” she said. “It’s one of those ‘learning more from teaching’ situations.”
Bunch said this last year has been full of trials; ones that typically bring professional athletes down.
“The first year out of college always seems to thin out the elite field,” she said. “The first 6 months I was focused on keeping my head above water. Figuring out how to throw farther, juggle a part time job, coach and train. It was hectic, I ended up quitting my job so I could have more productive practices and things really went up from there.”
Bunch began to see the fruits of her training as she started throwing farther, which qualified her for Indoor USA competitions.
She has continued to see success after the meet. Bunch is now throwing two feet farther than her best collegiate mark with a new rotational technique. Recently, she decided to abandon the glide technique she used for 11 years.
Recently, she traveled to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA to work with professionals who helped her fine tune some of the new movements she has been working on.
“The weekend was so great!” she said. “And I threw a lifetime best with 17.82m.”
“At the end of my visit in Chula Vista I was very surprised and excited to learn that I was targeted as a High Performance Development athlete by the Olympic Committee,” she said. “Meaning, in their eyes I very well may be an up and coming top contender in the shot put.”
On April 11 Bunch traveled to Illinois Wesleyan to compete in her first outdoor meet this year. She again threw a personal record at 17.89m. She also competed in California in April.
Bunch said she has learned that training for college is not the same as training as a professional. As a college student, there were meets she eyed as times to peak throughout the season.
“With this new adventure I’ve learned that there are many struggles and moments were it just seems like I’m not going to make it to that next level,” she said. “There are moments in training when my body is so sore and it makes my performances really poor. Then I start to doubt if I’m really able to cut it. So far the biggest learning curve I’ve had to understand is that this training is not the same as college. In college there are meets to peak for throughout the season. But in the post-collegiate world there is really only one meet to peek for, and that’s the olympic trials. So I’ve had to learn that I’m training hard for the next two years until the trials, so there are going to be a lot of sore and bad days.”
And because professional track athletes do not get the million dollar deals other professional athletes receive out of college, Bunch has appreciated the financial support of the Mahomet community, which has allowed her to focus on training over the last year.
“If I would not have receive so many donations I would have had a very difficult time getting to continue this adventure, if at all,” she said.
Bunch also said she was scared to quit her part-time job during the winter because she did not want people in Mahomet to think she could not handle the responsibility of being a professional athlete. She learned, though, that support comes in many unexpected forms.
“People would constantly send me comments or texts saying that they were happy for me and making such an important decision, or that they could really tell that I was committed to being an elite athlete because of my decision,” she said. “It’s really still all hard to grasp and get used to, but I’m really appreciative of all the support I’ve gotten up to this point.”
Supporters of Dani Bunch have scheduled a local fundraiser for her on August 1 at the Main Street Wingery. The Wingery will donate 10 percent of all sales to Bunch. There will also be a silent auction and 50/50 raffle during this time. To find out more, and to stay updated on Bunch’s progress join the “Road to Rio Fundraising for Dani Bunch” Facebook page.
Silent auction items:
4 U of I men’s football tickets – Busey Bank
4 U of I men’s basketball tickets – Busey Bank
Mahomet-Seymour Bulldog Backer cards – MSHS Athletic Department
Birthday party at Twist and Shout Mahomet
Birthday party at Soccer Planet Urbana
Birthday party at Newberry’s Leaders for Life Martial Arts Champaign
Raffle ticket items:
$25.00 certificate donated by Applebee’s Champaign
4 free combo meals donated by Arby’s Mahomet
2 family pleasers donated by Monical’s Mahomet
$30.00 certificate donated by Los Zarapes Mahomet
2-$25.00 certificate donated by Buffalo Wild Wings Champaign
$62.00 value certificate pizza and pool donated by Jupiter’s at the Crossing Champaign
cookies donated by Sweet Designs Mahomet
$25.00 certificate donated by Body N’ Sole Savoy
shot put and carrier donated by Litania Sports Group/Gill Athletics Champaign
discus and discus sleeve donated by Litania Sports Group/Gill Athletics Champaign
2 Coaching Youth Track & Field books donated by Human Kinetics Champaign Dani Bunch on pages 157-158
autographed picture of Drew Brees quarterback of the New Orleans Saints and former Purdue quarterback
3 airplane models Slot & Wing Hobbies Champaign
1 toy remote police car Slot & Wing Hobbies Champaign
1 scrapbook Slot & Wing Hobbies Champaign
1 bracelet with orange and blue accents Penny Thompson Dewey
2 $50 for 10 hours of range or 3d target shooting or equipment rental Hunter’s Haven Champaign
