OSG Mississauga 2016

I recently had the pleasure to be the coach once again for the Ontario Summer Games (OSGs), this year was held in Mississauga Ontario. This year was special for the athletes because it was the largest Ontario Summer games in history, awarding over 2000 awards in total. This year’s opening ceremonies were very cool, it reminded me of when I went to the Canada Winter Games. The athletes entered into a whole arena full of fans cheering them on, and they had a bunch of live entertainment. The opening ceremonies were even streamed for the first 45 minutes.

This year was also a big year for the archery event as well, for this was the first year that they change the OSG format. This year they decided to shoot two 720s the first day and the second day shooting at 720 with a round robin of matchplay and match set. Archery lingo inside, basically it means instead of shooting three distances they only shot one distance the three days. I personally think that the exposure to match play and set would be beneficial for future athletes because the tournament type would be like international events (e.g. olympics).

The tournament was an eventful year for the Eastern zone, it was definitely full of experience that these athletes will learn from and remember for the rest of their lives. They learned how to shoot in; high winds, high humidity, heat, and down pouring rain with chances of thundershowers. They learned the importance/how to keep equipment and scorecards dry. We were very fortunate to have found some towels and a laundry card that we can dry the equipment with, thank goodness I brought a hair dryer for all the shoes.

This year the committee decided that to make sure that all the athletes had a chance to experience the matchplay and match set they decided to do a round robin. Traditionally match play and match set are done in a single elimination format (or double elimination rounds if you’re in Canada). The archers seemed to really enjoy a different shooting format, after understanding the rules for the match play and match set. However, by the end of the day all the archers were completely exhausted by the end of the day.
As a coach I was completely ecstatic with the results, after all these athletes had faced challenges that most had never faced before (e.g. equipment failures, whether, or even being independent from their parents). Eastern zone did fantastically well taking home a large portion of not only the 720 medals but also for the round robin medals. The results are posted on the OSG and the OAA websites.

https://www.oaa-archery.on.ca/tournaments/records-and-results

https://www.osgmississauga.ca/sport

I hope I have the pleasure to be the coach for the Eastern zone in the 2018 OSGs in London Ontario, and if I’m super lucky I get to see these kids again.

For all my eastern zone archers that are reading, it was a pleasure to get to know you and to shoot with you.

World Archery Indoor Championships 2014

Under the authority of the «World Archery Federation (WA) and with the support of the French Archery Federation(FFTA), and for the 2nd time after 2003, the city of Nîmes will host the 12th World Archery Indoor Championships from Tuesday 25th February to Sunday 2nd March 2014.

For this worldwide event, 400 athletes and their staff from 42 different nationalities coming from the 5 continents are awaited. During 6 days, these archers will excel to offer the 12,000 spectators the greatest show ever, with the help of the 180 friendly mobilized volunteers. Read More…

Indoor Archery World Cup Final – Vegas Shoot Starts Today

 

This year’s Vegas Shoot is the biggest ever – with around 2,200 registered competitors. Attracted by a generous prize fund, the championship division features a large contingent of professional athletes each year – while the flight categories, for amateur archers, have seen a drastic increase in popularity.

Live scores are available throughout the tournament, in which archers shoot 30 arrows at a triangular triple-spot face each of the three days of the tournament. Three of these 300 rounds (an NFAA – the organisers – round in the USA) decide the final rankings at The Vegas Shoot.

Read More…

Crispin Duenas Brings Home Bronze Medal from World Archery Championship

In the bronze medal match, Duenas who is 27 years old, won his first-ever World Championship medal. After defeating a string of top opponents in the elimination rounds (including 2012 Olympic silver medallist Takaharu Furukawa of Japan and 2012 World Cup medallist Markiyan Ivashko of Ukraine), the 2012 and 2008 Canadian Olympian faced China’s Dai Xiaoxiang for the first time in competition. Against the reigning individual Olympic bronze medallist and World Cup Final silver medallist, Duenas stormed to victory in just three sets. Under the pressure to deliver a 10 with his last arrow to win, Duenas blasted an arrow down for a perfect score. “Surprisingly, it felt easy to execute my shot”, Duenas commented. “It’s my first time out here in front of this big crowd at the World Championship, and I’m just really happy right now. I just kept it in my head that it’s exactly the same thing that I’m doing all the time. It made it a lot easier for me.” Read More…

Congratulations Crispin and the entire Canadian Team!!!

Crispin DUENAS: “I know I’ll never stop archery”

Great article about my friend Crispin Duenas on the World Archery website…

Following a one-year break from competition to focus on his studies, two-time Canadian Olympian Crispin DUENAS is making his return to the international scene this week in Medellin.

DUENAS, who started archery in 2000 at the age of 14, is among the most experienced archers on the world circuit. His best individual results were a second place at the Santo Domingo World Cup in 2009, and a second place at the Pan American Games in 2011, when he lost the final to then world N°1 Brady ELLISON (USA). Competing in his first World Cup event of the year in Medellin, DUENAS told us about his sport career, his studies, and his dreams. Read More…

Archer nominated for ESPY Award

2012 Paralympic gold medalist Jeff Fabry (Tulare, Calif.) has been nominated for an ESPY Award in the “Best Male Athlete With a Disability” category. The nomination, announced on JUN 27, 2013, puts Fabry in the running for this prestigious award from top sports network ESPN.

Fabry, who shoots a compound bow and had a breathtaking rise to the podium in London after an equipment failure that nearly eliminated him from competition, is one of 11 Paralympians nominated for an ESPY this year. Fabry’s nomination is archery’s first-ever nod in the ESPY nominations.  Read More…

Be sure to watch the 2013 ESPY’s tonight.

Archery Judge

Have you ever thought about becoming an Archery Judge? For Canadians, there are basically five judging levels towards becoming eligible to judge at the Olympics:

• Level 1: Local/Club Judge
• Level 2a: Provincial Judge Candidate
  • Level 2b: Provincial Judge
• Level 3a: National Judge Candidate
  • Level 3b: National Judge
• Level 4a: Continental Judge Candidate
  • Level 4b: Continental Judge
• Level 5a: International Judge Candidate
  • Level 5b: International Judge: (Eligible to judge at the Olympics)

With the exception of the local/club judge, each level requires successful completion of the previous level. A judge with candidate status means they have completed the training but may need additional practical experience to complete the certification. Also for national, continental and international level judging, the governing body (or bodies) must recommend the judge for advancement to the next stage.

Over the past weekend, we hosted a provincial archery judging clinic at our home instructed by International judge, Randall Jones. I want to congratulate my father who is now a provincial judge candidate with the successful completion of the course and passing the exam. He will now need to judge three tournaments including one indoor, and one outdoor with one major tournament such as Ontario Target Championship to become a certified provincial judge.

If you are interested in becoming a Ontario provincial judge, the next judging clinic is being hosted by Archers of Caledon in May 11^th and 12^th. If you are interested in becoming a provincial judge, contact the Ontario Association of Archers for more information.

Commemorating the 20th anniversary of Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games

On 24 September 2012, two flaming arrows were shot in unison and in synchrony with the music of the opening firework ceremony of Barcelona’s prestigious Mercè Piromusical 2012. This commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Barcelona 92 Olympic Games.

Read all about here…

Awesome video of the ceremony, check it out.

Canada Captures the Bronze

Norbert Murphy captured the Bronze yesterday in the Men’s individual Compound -W1 division.

To reach the semi-finals, Norbert first defeated Shinichi Saito of Japan and Peter Kinik of Slovakia.  In the semi-final he faced Jeff Fabry of the United States, the eventual Gold Medalist. After Norbert lost 3-7 he moved into the Bronze medal match to face Osmo Kinnunen of Finland. Norbert shot extremely well tieing only a single end to take home the bronze medal.

Jeff Fabry of the United States went on to capture the Gold defeating David Drahoninsky  of Czech Republic in the Finals 6-2.

Congratulations!!!!

2012 Paralympics Games

Wednesday will mark with start of the 2012 Paralympic Summer Games in London England. The Paralympics are the second largest sporting event in the world, second only to the Olympics. The Paralympic Games are linked directly to the Olympics. They follow the same schedule running every two years and alternating between summer and winter, and since Seoul 1988 (Summer Games) and Albertville 1992 (Winter Games) the games have taken place on the same venues following the Olympic Games. 

The paralympic games were the dream of Dr. Guttmann, a German born British neurologist interested in helping world War II veterans with spinal injuries. Dr. Guttmann was an archer and setup an archery demonstration between two teams of paraplegics that coincided with the 1948 London Olympics.

His dream was of a worldwide sports competition for people with disabilities to be held every four years as “the equivalent of the Olympic Games.” Twelve years later, his dream became a reality.

The first official Paralympic Games were held in Rome, Italy, in 1960 and involved 400 athletes from 23 countries. Originally, only wheelchair athletes were invited to compete. Since that time, the Paralympic Games have grown dramatically. The present-day Paralympic Games include five major classifications of athletes: persons with visual impairments, persons with physical disabilities, amputee athletes, people with cerebral palsy, people with spinal cord injuries and Les Autres – athletes with a physical disability that are not included in the categories mentioned above (e.g., people with Muscular Dystrophy). History of the Paralympics Games

Canada is internationally renowned as a leader of the Paralympic movement and has participated in every Summer and Winter Paralympic Games since Tel Aviv, Israel in 1968. Canada has sent an archery team to every Paralympic games since 1968 with only one exception being the 2004 games in Athens.

My coach Kathy Millar of South Nation Archery was interviewed last Friday by CTV Morning Live to discuss Paralympic Archery ahead of the Paralympic Summer Games. She explains Paralympic archery and how Paralympic archers use different muscle sets when competing depending on the disability or limitation of the archer. You can check out the entire interview here.

For these games Canada is sending a team of 5 archers including Kevin EVANS (Jaffray, BC), Bob HUDSON (Leoville, SK), Karen VAN NEST (Wiarton, ON), Lyne TREMBLAY (Magog, QC), Norbert MURPHY (Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC), and Rob COX (Winnipeg, MB). Good luck to all the athletes and GO CANADA GO!