Last modified: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 2:20 AM EDT GOBIS: Sticking it out Tommy Effler learned a long time ago, that after you fall, you pick yourself up. Like in his freshman year at Bishop Feehan High, after getting cut from the basketball team, he decided to go out for the winter track team - and became the best javelin thrower in Shamrock history. Like in his sophomore year, getting onto the field as a varsity football player, starting against Durfee and then breaking his thumb and missing the rest of the season. Like in his junior year, on the specialty teams kickoff coverage and defensive unit, starting the season against Hingham and suffering a concussion, a compressed spinal cord and spending two months on the sidelines. Like in his senior year, he snapped the football with a broken hand. And after putting his imprimatur on the Shamrock record book, having the second-best javelin throw in New England, his right shoulder and arm gave out. So instead of heading to North Carolina for the NIKE Invitational National Interscholastic Meet, Effler stepped onto the football field as a member of the South team at the Shriners Classic Game in Waltham. From one athletic endeavor to another, recouping physically and recovering to return to the competitive arena. Effler will tell you that they were hurdles, obstacles in his way to achieving peak performance. But, that's how it is for any student-athlete. There are good days and bad days, practice sessions in which progress can be measured, then games or meets, when there can be few or many challenges. Effler's football resume includes two MIAA playoff appearances and a Super Bowl championship. Effler's track resume includes a mind-boggling javelin throw of 199-feet, 11-inches, that recorded in May at the MSTCA Relay Meet. "It's strange how it all worked out," said the North Attleboro resident. "I was kind of disappointed that I got cut from the freshman basketball team, so I went out for track. "I didn't want to run, so I started doing the throwing events. "In football, I started out as a tight end and linebacker and I wasn't that good. I played in two games in my freshman year and didn't step on the field again." Go figure! Effler goes on to become a dynamic linebacker and then never having played on the offensive line, Shamrock coach Tony Wood asks him to snap the football and become the center. In truth, Effler received as many cards and letters from colleges about his football prowess as his javelin throwing. An attention-getter for sure. It's hard not to overlook a lad who stands 6-foot-3 and has a chiseled 230-pound frame. As for Effler's football injuries, he broke his hand in a practice session, just when his varsity career as a sophomore was about to jettison. His football career nearly ended in September of his junior year, having a helmet on helmet collision - Effler lay motionless on the grass at McGrath Stadium. He had not only suffered a severe concussion and temporary paralysis, he was diagnosed with a spinal cord injury - but without radical abnormality. That is, Effler's use of his limbs would be restored. Two months later, he was on the turf at Gillette Stadium as the Shamrocks upset Walpole to win the Super Bowl. Fortunately for Effler, he was injury-free during his senior season, helping the Shamrocks sport a 9-1 record before Bishop Feehan lost to Mansfield in the MIAA Division 2 playoff game. All Effler did with the 800-gram javelin in his right hand was become the Shamrock freshman record holder, rewrite the varsity record as a sophomore, junior and senior; win the EAC championship every time out; and take second and third place respectively at the Northeast regional Loucks Games in New York; and to top it all off, take third at the class meet this year and fifth at the all-state meet. "It took me a while to get the mechanics down of throwing the javelin," said Effler, who began at around 110-feet. He threw 150-feet as a sophomore in his very first spring meet, qualified for the Division 3 Meet and took third place. "There's a lot of footwork, a lot of core strength," said Effler, who came under the guidance of former world record holder Tom Petronoss, who lives in Rhode Island. "My arm was good, but my feet (at size 121/2 mind you) were all messed up. Even with the shot put and discus, I wasn't really good at either of them because I couldn't get the form down with my footwork." Effler used to run to the line in 13 steps, relying on arm strength. Now, he's back to 15 steps, relying on speed and form. "With the shorter distance, I tried it with more speed, but my footwork was so bad," he continued. It was his handwork form which bothered him a bit in the fall, never having snapped a football. "Playing Pop Warner in North Attleboro, I had always played tight end and defensive end. Playing center was something else, it was a rough transition. It got really difficult after I broke my hand." Effler was back in his football element at the Shriners Game, two months before he reports to preseason practice for the Assumption College football team. Effler had qualified for the NIKE Interscholastic Championship Meet last year, but didn't attend. This year, after launching his near 200-foot javelin throw on his first toss at the MSTCA Relay Meet, his arm didn't have many more good throws left. He threw 176-feet at the MIAA State Meet, but arm and shoulder fatigue hampered him. "That's one thing that I'll always remember, that 199-foot toss," said Effler. "I hadn't practice all week and after it left my hand I looked up and it was still in the air."