Videogames play an important role in Olympic shot-putter Reese Hoffa's training, but not the way you might think.
Considered a favorite to win the gold medal for his sport at the Beijing Olympics in August, Hoffa doesn't play games to increase his stamina, his reaction time or even his hand-eye coordination. Instead, he retreats to the "man cave" above his garage and plays videogames to keep from hurting himself.
"For almost two years I had to keep my skateboarding habit a secret from my coach," explains Hoffa (pictured above). A quick trip to the skate park could easily result in an injury that might prevent Hoffa from maintaining his position as the top-ranked shot-putter in the world. "I'm a really active guy, so I use gaming to keep me busy, just not physically," says Hoffa.
Although he's a devoted gamer, Hoffa hasn't made the jump to next-gen systems yet. "Once I find four games on the next system that I really like, then I'll buy the system," he says. "The PS3 is a little bit newer system, so there's not quite as many cool games for it yet."
He may change his mind when Metal Gear Solid 4 is released, however. Hoffa says the series' blending of story with gameplay is what makes him such a huge fan.
"It's amazing how they can keep that Metal Gear story going. When that game came out, there was nothing that could compare with it. I still play it. It just never gets old," he says.
Although his competitive nature helped him earn back-to-back world championships, it ironically keeps Hoffa from gaming online. "I have Command and Conquer for my computer, but in order to be competitive in that game, you have to put in a lot of time," he says, adding that going up against people who put in so much time to master the game is "just not fun for me."
"I want to be good. If I get beat by somebody that's better than me, I want to figure out what they're doing, what their strategy is," Hoffa says. "If I spent four or five hours a day learning these little things to improve my strategy, then I could be the best."
Instead, Hoffa spends four or five hours a day training to be the best at throwing a 16-pound metal ball through the air. "It's like taking the heaviest bowling ball and being able to take it from the front line into the pins, on the fly," explains Hoffa.
If your shoulder hurts just thinking about that, you may want to opt for Sega's official Beijing Olympics videogame instead, which Hoffa says is actually pretty darn good. "In terms of getting up there and having a lot of fun, I think people are going to be really excited about," he says.
Of course, he may just a bit biased: Hoffa is one of the athletes gracing the cover of Beijing 2008.
If you've ever played Track and Field, then be ready to cheer on Hoffa the gamer when he competes in the Olympics on Aug. 15.
Photo: laurencarroll/Flickr
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