By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- She has been part of the Bridgewater State University track & field coaching staff for a year, guiding the throwers on the men's and women's teams.
Julie Williams-Tinkham is also still a competitor in the sport, continuing a career that included record-breaking performances at Falmouth High School and the University of Maine.
In late March, the 44-year-old Falmouth, Mass. resident will be bidding for a world title when she takes part in the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships for the first time.
Williams-Tinkham will represent the United States in the 20-pound weight throw, the hammer throw and the shot put against athletes from around the world in Gainesville, Fla.
"I'm excited," said Williams-Tinkham, who is a national champion thrower. "It hasn't really sunk in all the way yet. It should be fun."
Williams-Tinkham will take part in the weight throw on March 24, the hammer throw on March 26 and the shot put on March 27 in the 40-44-year-old division at the Alachua County Sports and Event Center.
World Masters Athletics has been around since 1977 and is for track & field, cross country and road running athletics for those over the age of 35.
Williams-Tinkham joined coach Christine Kloiber's staff at BSU in January 2024 to work with the throwers after coaching at the high school level and at Babson College.
"It's great," she said of being on the Bears' staff. "The athletes are great, The coaching staff is incredible. It's been a great experience.
"I get really excited to see the athletes do their best, to get it, to figure it out and make it work. It's a lot of fun and really rewarding.
"I really missed coaching and I'm really lucky to have found Coach K."
Williams-Tinkham, a 1998 Falmouth High graduate, still holds the school record in the discus and broke records while at Maine.
She got back into throwing at the age of 35, competing in national Masters Athletics events where Williams-Tinkham has established seven U.S. records.
Williams-Tinhkam, a star thrower at Falmouth High School and in college, won the national championship in the women’s 40 to 44-year-old division for the superweight throw at the 2023 USA National Masters Throws Championships held at Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois. She captured the championship with a throw of 8.16m.
Now in the final year of competing in the 40-44 age group, Williams-Tinkham is currently ranked second in the world in the weight throw.
She was supposed to take part in the 2021 World Masters Athletics Championships in Vancouver, the last time it was going to be held in North America, but the meet was canceled due to COVID.
Getting the chance to continue throwing thanks to the World Masters Athletics organization is something that Williams-Tinkham is grateful for.
"When I started competing as a Master's athlete, I didn't even know about Master's track and field," she said. "I saw people older than I am continuing to throw. The camaraderie that comes along with it is great and it's a great group of people that I enjoy spending time with.
"I felt like when I was in college, it felt like you had to get it all in in those four years. I was a Division I athlete on an athletic scholarship. There was a lot of pressure there and I felt I had to do the best I possibly could in a short amount of time.
"As an adult now, it's a great feeling to know after I throw in a meet, if I don't do well, there's another meet, the next meet. It was so emotional when I left throwing in college. It would have been different had I known there was always something you could keep doing in the sport I love and have been doing since I was 14."
In Florida, she will be going against athletes from the United States, Australia, Spain, Brazil, Great Britain Chile, Canada and Denmark in the quest to be a world champion.
Williams-Tinkham is deeply involved with track & field, beginning a youth program called Launch Track & Field for those ages 5-14 and coaches her daughter.
She is also president of the Twilight Throwers, which takes part in about six outdoor meets during the summer and fall. She is also an active athlete delegate for the USATF Masters and is a USATF certified official.
"I'm a track athlete, for sure," said Williams-Tinkham. "I get to see it from a lot of different perspectives as a certified official, president of a club team, active athlete representing U.S. Track and Field and I coach my daughter. Now I'm working with some incredible athletes at Bridgewater State."
Williams-Tinkham is looking forward to keeping her career as a thrower going for as long as possible.
"I competed on Sunday in Providence with someone who is 90," said Williams-Tinkham. "It doesn't have to stop. The weight goes down when I turn 50. It should be something that I'm able to keep doing as long as my body lets me keep doing it."