ANITA DEBRO
News staff writer

During the week, Trussville's Kearney Smith works out of his home as a software writer for a community company.

He spends time with his wife, Paige, who is expecting twins and their two sons, 12-year-old Kearney and 8-year-old Graham.

But come weekends from April to November, Smith hits the road for towns and cities in such places as North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee to participate in Scottish Highland Games.

The 6-foot-2-inch, 320-pound Smith dons a kilt and throws heavy objects such as stones, wooden poles, hammers and metal weights in the seven traditional sporting events at the games. He is a professional Scottish athlete. [...]

Smith won his first title as a professional at the Charleston Highland Games in South Carolina in 2001. He plans to compete in nearly 15 games this year.

But as he gets older, Smith's main concern will be fighting off injuries, which are prevalent in the sport.

"You can do this for a while, but the injuries kind of catch up to you," he said. "This is not like other sports, where youth is the only way, but you have to pace yourself."

Smith has already suffered several injuries including a detached biceps in his left arm, which kept him off the circuit for three months.

When he is not competing, Smith judges amateur events and he recently hosted his own training clinic in Trussville.

He hopes to have a good 10-year run in the sport and when that's done he's thought about pursuing power lifting.

"I don't know, maybe I'll just learn to play the bagpipes."