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.

MICA 2014

This past Wednesday, South nation archery supply held an awards ceremony; everyone did extremely well this past indoor season.  Sydney, Josh and Cole all did very well this year winning several club and provincial medals. This past year, I was able to participate in a couple of tournament, however for me it was nice to see everyone again after being away for school.  My highlight from this past indoor season was the MICA team event.

The Multi-Indoor Championships of the Americas OR MICA for short. MICA is only one of very few indoor International Championships that is open to all archers that you do not have to travel for. Designated host archery clubs throughout North and South America host tournaments for both individuals and teams to submit scores from January 1 – April 30. Male or female archers can compete individually in cadet, junior, senior or master categories in either compound or recurve. Additionally clubs can also host junior or senior male or female teams in either compound or recurve, provided they are all from the same club.

Since it is a FITA sanctioned event, individuals submit their score from a double indoor FITA (60 arrows) and the team event submit a FITA team score (24 arrows) where each archer shoots 2 arrows alternating for four ends. This is one of my favorite events and one of the few times you can practice the team event.

This year, I shot with my sister Sydney, and our friend Lindsay and we captured the Silver this year behind the Brazilian team. On other exciting, my brother Joshua shot with his two friends, Josh and Kaleb Parker, participating in as a Junior team [all who are not Juniors] and shot new Canadian record for Junior Men Recurve Team division with a score of 211, however finished in fifth place overall.

Congratulations to everyone at South nation for another successful year. A special thanks to our coach Kathleen Miller and Larry Smith for all their hard work this year.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2013 SET TO BEGIN BY THE TURKISH RIVIERA

Belek – Thursday, September 26, 2013 The 2013 edition of the Outdoor World Championships will be held from 29 September to 6 October in the municipality of Belek, Turkey’s Antalya Province.

The Turkish Riviera is again the epicentre of a first class World Archery tournament. The outdoor season will culminate with this major event in another spectacular venue: the Beach of Belek will be home of the finals on 5-6 October. The qualification and elimination rounds will take place close to Belek, at the Papillon Sports Centre in Kadriye from 29 September to 4 October.

Read the whole article here…

Bronze for Canadian’s Mixed Team

Canada captured the compound mixed team bronze medal at FITA World Cup in Turkey in June. After finishing 15^th in the qualifying round the team of Dietmar Trillus of Ontario and Ashley Wallace of Alberta had an uphill battle, first facing the second ranked Korean team. After defeating Korea 151-148, they faced seventh ranked Mexico narrowly winning 151-150 to face third ranked India.

After losing 154-147, Canada faced Amir KAZEMPOOR  and Mino ABEDI of Iran who were ranked fourth after the qualifiers.  With winds causing arrows to drift to the left, Iran posted two 7s in the first end, allowing Canada to take an early lead, 36-33 and to eventually go on to capture the bronze with a score of 150-141

Sergio PAGNI and Marcella TONIOLI of eighth ranked Italy captured the Gold medal defeating India in the Gold Medal match.

Congratulations!!!

Archery is not all about Winning

Sport should be about participation and physical fitness, not solely about winning. Archery is a sport you can participate in for your entire life. One of the things my coach always told me was there is a real danger of achieving success too earlier in young archers. Young kids sometimes get use to winning, and they start to expect it. They never expect to have to work at it again to win and archery (and sport in general) loses more participants that way than any other.

.

As a national level athlete, everyone expects me to win all the time. I sometimes want to yell out “It just doesn’t work that way”. There is very little difference between top level athletes and it is more than a game of inches. As you develop into one of those athletes that are lucky enough to gain sponsorship, there is even more pressure to win. This is why I believe some athletes turn to performance enhancing drugs or cheating.

.

The movie “Cool Runnings” has an excellent scene where Derice Bannock ask Irv why he cheated…

Irv: It’s a fair question. It’s quite simple, really. I had to win. You see, Derice, I had made winning my whole life, and when you make winning your whole life, you have to keep on winning, no matter what. Understand?

Derice Bannock: No, I don’t understand. You won two gold medals. You had it all.

Irv: Derice, a gold medal is a wonderful thing. But if you’re not enough without it, you’ll never be enough with it.

.

.

Personally, it really troubles me to hear about athletes that use performance enhancing drugs or cheat, especially successful ones. They have made winning their whole life and they are not enough without it.

.

As part of your New Year’s Resolution, why not make sure you are participating in Archery or any other sport for the right reasons. Whether your are participating for the competition, hunting, social aspect, physical fitness or just for pure fun, make sure you set your goals to participate whether you win or not.

Ontario Field Championships

This weekend, York County Bowman in New Market Ontario hosted the Ontario Provincial Field Championships, a two-day IFAA tournament with field round the first day and a hunter round the second day. IFAA field tournaments differ slightly from FITA field tournaments, besides being in yards not meters, there are stations with walk-ups or fan shooting and hunter includes odd distances like 53 yards and 20 feet.

I really enjoy shooting in field tournaments, they are just pure fun. Walking through the bush shooting at various size targets from various distances. You shoot up and down hills and over streams with the opportunity to shoot in various stances, on rough ground and at various angles to the target. This year, it was a great opportunity to shoot and practice angles in preparation of the upcoming National Field Championship in Victoria British Columbia next week.

It also marked the first outdoor tournament for my youngest brother Cole who is nine.  Being the youngest of four, it has been a challenge for him living in the shadow of his older brothers and sisters. He has always wanted to do things that we are doing.  Earlier in the year, he shot his first indoor tournament however came up just short of medaling. This time he would not be denied, it was a lot of walking for him however it was all worth it when he received his Gold medal in the Pre-cub recurve division.

Congratulations Cole!

Canada’s wait continues

Canada’s wait for it’s first Olympic medal will unfortunately be extended four more years. Both Crispin Duenas of Ontario and Marie-Pier Beaudet of Quebec were eliminated in their opening match in London.

Crispin Duenas : http://www.tsn.ca/story/?id=402049

Marie-Pier Beaudet : http://www.tsn.ca/story/?id=401855

Nonetheless, I am very proud of them. While watching these games, I can empathize with the pressure that they are experiencing. After participating in the World Championship in Las Vegas this past winter, I have a new appreciation of the pressure that is cast-upon athletes at these competitions.

At large competitions like the Olympics and World Championships they try to make archery more viewer friendly for the spectators through the addition of commentators. This can be very nerve racking for the archers as they announce each shot and various competitors’ scores, sometimes right at the very moment of your release. In my team bronze medal match, the commentators were already declaring victory for the other team before we had finished shooting. It is almost impossible to block it out, at this level it is about who can manage their nerves and the pressure since they are all excellent shooters.

I have also read comments of news stories, blogs and twitter asking “Why is archery an Olympic sport?”.  For those people, I challenge you to pull 50 pounds, hold for 7 seconds with enough calm composure to hit an apple 70 meters away, adjusting on the fly for all the elements. Now repeat 72 times, consistently. It takes strength, endurance, and composure, just like any other sport.

All of these archers are amazing athletes and deserve to represent their respective countries at these games. For Canada, eighth and twenty-ninth in the world are awesome!

Congratulations, Team Canada on a job well done.

South Korea – 2012 Women’s Team Olympic Gold

In a rematch of the 2008 Beijing Games, South Korea edges China to capture the country’s seventh consecutive women’s team gold medal.

Read more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18904388

Italy – 2012 Men’s Team Olympic Gold

Michele Frangilli shot a bull’s-eye with the final arrow, giving his Italian team a one-point win over the United States in the gold medal match of the men’s archery team competition.

Italy earned its first gold medal in the event with the 219-218 decision, having taken silver behind South Korea in 2000 and ’08. The U.S. knocked off the heavily favored Koreans in the semifinals.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2012/07/28/italy-edges-us-men-for-archery-gold-on-final-arrow/?test=olymp#ixzz21wjI6OFd

2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies

On Friday, London, England will host the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic Games. Over the years, there have been some awesome opening ceremonies including the last Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. For me, last year’s ceremony in Vancouver, British Columbia was amazing and has a special place in the heart of every Canadian. However, recently I watched the 1992 Barcelona Olympic opening on YouTube, and I think I have found a new favourite, as should every archer.

Check it out the entire 1992 opening ceremonies in HD.

Good luck to all athletes and a special cheer to both Crispin Duenas of Ontario and Marie-Pier Beaudet of Quebec as they compete in archery and attempt to bring home the first Olympic archery medal in Canadian history. All of Canada is pulling for you.

GO CANADA GO.