KENNEBUNK — Steve Pelletier isn’t the most imposing athlete. He is humble and unassuming with a constant smile and a soft voice. Simply put, he’s a nice guy who doesn’t exude athletic prowess.

Give him a javelin, however, and that all changes.

Pelletier is a top javelin thrower, who nearly always mows down his competition with a single throw. Those throws are usually around 140 feet. Not bad for a man who will turn 61 in June.

Before his birthday, however, Pelletier will once again put his competitiveness and skills to the test when he competes in Saturday’s USA Track and Field New England meet in Connecticut. The meet is one of hundreds in which he has competed, but it never gets old.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” he said recently after one of his weight training workouts in Biddeford. “It’s just a lot of fun, and the people I go up against are good competitors, and we enjoy ourselves. But don’t get me wrong, we are out to win.”

Pelletier, who graduated from Edward Little in 1972, started throwing the javelin his senior year. He hadn’t attempted the event before then, but quickly fell in love with it.

“I realized I was pretty good at it,” he said. “I just really enjoyed doing it, so I kept it up.”

He was good at it. He was good enough to be a state runner-up in high school his senior year. He was good enough to earn a spot on the University of Maine track and field team, where he won a state collegiate title. He was good enough to take his knowledge of the sport and pass it on for 40 years.

For nearly 20 years, Pelletier coached at Orono High School. After moving to York County in the 1990s, he continued coaching javelin throwers at various high schools, passing his knowledge on to hundreds of athletes.

“I enjoy teaching the sport, especially the fundamentals,” he said. “You can be the biggest, strongest person, but you won’t do as well as someone who has the fundamentals down.”

He has the fundamentals down. After college, Pelletier started competing in AAU competitions around New England. Success followed him at nearly every meet. In 1983 and 1984, he won the national championship in the master’s division while competing against men who were 10 years younger. Around that time, he could throw the javelin nearly 210 feet. In 1982 and 1985, he placed second at the same events.

At the AAU level, he has won 11 championships and placed second nine times. All of that success, however, came with discipline and hard work.

“It’s not something you can just pick up and do, you need to train,” he said.

To look at Pelletier you wouldn’t know he was in his early 60s. He is lean and athletic and works with a drive that rivals men in their 30s.

His statistics speak for themselves. He is currently an All-American, is ranked 14th nationally and 32nd in the world.

Although he took a few years off from the sport in the 1990s and intermittently competed in meets during a 15-year span, a shoulder injury sidelined him from competing regularly. In 2010, his shoulder was completely healed, and he hit the gym.

He trains six days a week with three days spent weight training and three days working on the javelin. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, he works on his technique and practices the javelin for a little more than an hour at the Wells High School. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, he weight trains at Planet Fitness in Biddeford. His work consists mainly of compound lifts such as clean and presses, chest presses and squats. He eats as healthy as he can.

“It really helps you lead a healthy lifestyle,” he said. “It’s good for you. It gets you exercising and keeps you on track and it helps you feel good about yourself.”

Pelletier doesn’t know how he will do at this weekend’s meet, the first of the season, but he does know that it won’t be from a lack of training.

Regardless of his accomplishments, Pelletier wants to use his story as a means of helping older people maintain a healthier lifestyle. He said he encourages people, even if they haven’t tried it, to pick up a track event.

There are several avenues in which a person can compete. They can participate in master’s competitions or senior games. Both are competitive, but with a loose nature.

“You go to a meet, and everyone is out there having fun,” Pelletier said. “Yes, we take it seriously, but we’re all just having a good time, and I enjoy the people I compete against.”

To help people along, Pelletier has started the Maine Masters Throwing Club, an organization dedicated to athletes who want to connect with other throwers such as shot put and discus.

Although Pelletier can look back at his career and bask in his success, that’s not where he puts his focus. Instead, he thinks of the people whom he has helped along the way.

“When I think of the athletes I have helped train and get involved in the sport, that’s what really drives me and makes me feel good,” he said. “That’s why I love coaching and staying involved. If I stay involved myself and compete, I am better able to help them.”

— Contact Al Edwards at 282-1535, Ext. 323.