Balgownie sisters building 'friendly' discus rivalry

And then there's Jamaya and Chelsy Wayne, who take their rivalry to a new level.

In their own words, the Balgownie sisters are always trying to outdo each other "at everything". But they are particularly defensive when it comes to discus.

Jamaya, 13, and Chelsy, 12, have shown rapid improvement in the sport.

They are both members of Athletics Wollongong and the Wollongong City Little Athletics Club, and train under the guidance of dad Darren Wayne.

Last month, their relationship was tested when Chelsy threw 34.84 metres to break the under-13s discus record at the South Coast and Highlands Zone Athletics Carnival - a milestone previously held by Jamaya.

The elder Wayne sibling then went on to win the under-14s division at the event.

"Everything we do is a competition, I guess because we're so close in age. We're 20 months, 15 days apart," Jamaya said.

"Because I was taking on discus, she did too. Our scores are always similar, but it's a lot to deal with when my little sister is almost throwing the same [distance] as me. I was a little peeved when she beat my record.

"We were watching her when she was throwing. We saw the official walking over to the circle, we couldn't hear but I turned to Dad and said 'she's got it, she's done it'. I was not happy."

Chelsy joked the achievement was "nothing too special" because "I've broken a lot of her records". But it's evident the siblings spur each other on to great results.

"We do a bit of training together and separately too," Chelsy said.

"Sometimes I might go out training and she goes out a bit later, or sometimes we go together."

Jamaya said it was important for the sisters to mix up their athletics training.

"It definitely helps to be alone, we get more one-on-time time with Dad who is coaching us at the moment. But with competitions, it's also good to train together because we can learn off each other's mistakes," she said.

"Discus is very different to the other field events. You don't need to be big and strong like you do in shot put, it's about technique. There's a lot of technique that's involved in discus, but I love it."

Jamaya and Chelsy are both eyeing off national level competitions in 2020. As for their longer term goal?

"We would love to represent Australia together, it's our dream," Jamaya said.

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