“And Now Announcing…Team USA…”

Chula Vista, CA
June 23, 2009
Text and Photos by Coach Dee Falks

The broad expanse of laser-level, emerald green field that lay before me was breathtaking in itself and I had been marveling at how small the two lone target mats seemed as they stood between the perfectly straight, parallel,  painted white lines that ran toward the northern horizon.  The sun was so bright that the concentric circles of gold, red, blue, black and white glistened as the pennants attached to the tops of the mats fluttered in the stiff afternoon breeze.  The dull roar that had been at the back of my mind grew louder and louder until it was a deafening crescendo of music and voices and gongs and drums and screaming men and women.

Jr. World Team Round Simulation

It had been a long, hot day and I leaned against the spotting scope in my right hand to steady myself.  One of the three men to my front turned to me and flashed a toothy but nervous grin and then turned his head to the front, leaning forward and yelling something into the ear of his team mate.  I couldn’t hear what he said for the din around us but the second man passed the message to the one in front of him, who turned and flashed me a nervous smile of his own.  Across the backs of their navy blue shirts were stenciled, in white so bright that it was almost blinding, the letters “USA”.  Above that were their names, Blakley, Kelchner, and Henslin. I tried not to look at the team to my left, but trying to not do something is the best way to insure that you certainly will do it.  The men to my left seemed supremely confident and each man’s gaze was steady, focused on the back of the neck of the man in front of him.  The red, white, blue and black of their uniforms was spectacular.  The names were foreign to me and I wondered at the pronunciations, but the letters “KOR” stenciled across the back of their shirts told me that pronouncing names was the last item on our agenda for today.  I was thankful for my sunglasses which hid the nervousness my eyes would have betrayed. The crowd was on its feet, swaying and singing along, at the top of their lungs, to an old song that was blasting over the speakers, performing a strange, multilingual karaoke, “Why do you build me up (build me up) Buttercup, baby just to let me down (let me down) and mess me around?  And then worst of all (worst of all) you never call baby when you say you will…”, the words faded and the crowd quieted as the microphone crackled to life and the baritone voice of the master of ceremonies announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, for today’s Gold Medal match…” Three days before, we had begun this competition with warm-ups and practice as the USA Archery Junior Dream Team (JDT) arrived at the Olympic Training Center (OTC), Chula Vista, CA for the final competition training camp before a busy summer of National and International Championship competitions.  Fully half of the JDT had earned positions on the Youth World Championship Team and others had earned positions as alternates and would be making the trips with the team.  Other JDT archers would be making international competition trips of their own, on other traveling teams, and this camp was specifically designed to provide training for those events.

FITA Ranking Round

The weather was spotty Sunday with strong winds from the West, low clouds, spitting rain and high temperatures in the low 60’s.  We had landed in the middle of the “June Gloom” and the forecast didn’t look much better for later in the week.  The first half of the FITA ranking round was shot on Sunday afternoon and the scores were low for most archers.  Gusting and unforgiving winds made the long distances difficult.  The second half was shot on Monday morning in slightly better conditions and some archers managed personal best scores at their short distances.  Still, hopes were high and the JDT archers were confident that they would prove themselves as worthy competitors against the some of the best archers in the world. We retired to the OTC dining facility for lunch on Monday and when we returned to the venue we were greeted by a spectacular sight.  Coach Guy Krueger had converted the range into an Olympic competition finals venue.  The field was painted, the bleachers were set and the PA system roared to

The Venue

life as we walked onto the field.  The Roadrunner Archery Club was in support with concessions and spectators.  They also provided arrow runners to the field crew.  We could all see that this was going to be an event to remember as most of the JDT archers looked at a Team Round finals venue for the first time in their lives. The first event simulation would be the Team Round.  The brackets were posted and the Team USA Junior Men were ranked 2^nd behind Team “Korea”.  One of our teams was ranked either first or second in their respective brackets and we knew that if we could survive the quarter final eliminations we would surely see “Korea” in the medal matches.  The venue was set and the crowd had gathered for what promised to be an exciting afternoon of competition as the team rounds unfolded. Coach Guy Krueger, Tournament Director for the event simulation and Assistant Coach for Youth World Championship Team USA, had spent weeks promoting this competition event simulation designed to prepare our Youth World Championship Team for the upcoming competition in Ogden Utah scheduled for July 10-20, 2009.  This event was designed to prepare our recurve team for the pressures of international competition on a venue that resembled the actual World Championship finals competition site.  Coach Guy had outdone himself this time. The Team Round and Olympic Round brackets began at the quarter finals level and advanced through medal round match play.  This was head-to-head, arrow for arrow, elimination competition against an opponent that we had not counted on at the beginning of camp.  Coach Guy had recruited the Resident Athletes to act as our opponents in semi-final and gold medal matches.  If our Youth World Team archers could hold their own through the quarter finals rounds they would compete against the top Resident Athletes for the Gold. “…representing ‘Team Korea’ on target number one, Brady Ellison, Jake Kaminski and Tyler Schardt.” There was a deafening roar from the crowd and the music blared as the three confident men to my left picked up their bows

The Crowd Roars

and strode onto the field.  Their coach seemed confident, his face expressionless and hands clasped behind his back.  “Representing the United States of America on target number two, Forrest Blakley, Peter Kelchner and Aaron Henslin.” Another cheer rose from the crowd and the music rose to an even higher volume as my team, no less resolute than our opponents, picked up their bows and marched to their team box. “Now, introducing the Head Coach for the team representing Korea, Coach Kisik Lee, and Coaching Team USA, Coach Dee Falks.” I turned toward Coach Lee, who smiled and extended his hand.  I clasped his hand in mine and we shook, exchanging a word and a nod before turning to join our teams.  That was the last moment of absolute silence that we would know for the next half hour.  The match began as the noise level rose to the point that you had to yell into the ear of the person standing next to you to be heard. “Ladies and gentlemen, Team USA will open the match on target number two.  The order is Henslin, Kelchner and Blakley.  The field is clear and the line is ready.  Judge, are the competitors ready?” Judge Jim White signaled the DOS that we were ready to begin by raising his left arm to shoulder level and two beeps sounded from the timing system horn.  Aaron Henslin stood his ground, waiting for the single beep signaling the beginning of shooting.  The match had started as quickly as that.  The seconds wound off of the clock in an agonizingly slow progression until finally, “beep”. The horn sounded a single beep and Aaron Henslin stepped across the waiting line to shoot his first arrow.  Now

Aaron Helslin

the clock was racing and the tenths of a second unwound with a dizzying speed.  His arrow arched through the air and before it had reached the target he had already turned and was crossing back behind the waiting line.  Peter Kelchner waited patiently then took his place on the shooting line as the timing clock wound down to 101 seconds and the MC shouted “9″ into the microphone.  Peter’s shot was followed by Forrest Blakley’s and we scored another “9″ and a “10″.  The crowd was helping both sides with noise and distractions aimed at the other and I thought that our 28 points was a good start. I glanced at Coach Lee, captive in his coaching box as I was in mine.  He grinned and motioned that I should watch his team.  The timer stopped on the Team USA side at 66.4 seconds and immediately began on Team Korea’s side with a beep and 120 seconds.  I swear their clock was running slower than ours had.  Brady Ellison was impressive, leading off with a “10x”, but the remainder of his team scored “9’s” to match ours.  Jake Kaminski finished his shot and returned to the waiting line and our clock immediately began winding down again.  Our team had exchanged info about the wind and target conditions while our opponents were shooting and made good use of it as they shot another solid 28 points.  When we finished our arrows our opponents’ clock began to unwind again and they shot their final 3 arrows of the round.  The official score for round one was a tie at 56 each.

Cadet Women: Michelle Gilbert, Kiley Larrick, Miranda Leek

There had been many memorable matches already today.  The Cadet Women had bested everyone except the Junior Men and Junior Women.  The Junior Women had only gained a one point lead in the last end to take that round.  Of course the Cadet Men and Women had competed against the Junior teams at the Junior Distance of 70m, so kudos to the Cadets.  Now the match against the Junior Men and “Team Korea” was under way and the crowd was excited.  Everyone on the JDT had been working for years to make it to this match and we were pulling out all the stops.

Cadet Men: Daniel McLaughlin, Nathan Yamaguchi, Matt Zumbo, Coach Falks

“The field is clear and the line is ready.  Archers, move to the waiting line.” Beep, Beep…Beep, we were shooting again and the arrows flew, scores were called, wind information was shouted on both sides, high 5’s exchanged and at the end of the round we were still tied with 108 points each.  The shooting continued along with the music, singing, gongs and drums.  “Team Korea” gained 3 points on Team USA in the third round and four more points in the fourth to win the match 217 to 210.  The last arrow struck the target and the MC called the final score.  Pandemonium broke out across the field.  Three High School kids had held three of USA’s top 10 senior archers to a 7 point lead over a 24 arrow match.  We congratulated our opponents, thanked the judge, and exited the field with our heads high to the applause of the crowd and a rousing rendition of “Buttercup”. On Tuesday we contested Olympic Round competitions from the quarter finals through the medal rounds.  JDT archers shot in their regular divisions during the morning, and in the afternoon our Cadet archers stepped up to the junior distances to practice for some of the international competitions we will be attending later this summer where they will have to compete as seniors.  The day ended with an OR match between Brady Ellison and Jake Kaminski.  The lead changed each end, arrow for arrow, until Jake finally won the match by one point on the last arrow. This had been a great week and a fantastic experience to prepare the JDT members for international competition and the pressure that the crowd can place on the team.  Youth World Team member Jessica Gibbs accepted the invitation and came to the OTC to train with the other Youth World Team recurve archers during this camp, further solidifying the team building experience.  Eleven of the twelve archers on the Youth World Championship recurve teams were able to train together and Kristin Braun, a member of Senior World Team USA, stood in for Kala Debord, who was unable to attend the event. But, you can only have so much fun during one week and on Wednesday the JDT Camp training schedule resumed its normal pace.  We met for cardio and endurance at 7:00am, shot 200 arrows in form practice and ran the Beep Test.  The team hadn’t had enough so we went back to the field after the Beep Test to train until dinner then returned to the venue to shoot 100 more arrows before calling it a night and packing for departure. It had been a great week.  JDT archers had averaged over 200 arrows a day at distance, competed in an event simulation that was identical to international competition Team and OR medal rounds.  The Youth World Championship Team Coaches had been able to work with the recurve team for three full days of intense competition and training.  This Junior Dream Team camp was the third successive competition training camp in 2009 and we were now ready for a summer full of national and international competition. As I loaded my bags into the OTC van on Thursday morning, exchanged goodbyes with the archers and coaches who were leaving later, and was greeted by our driver Michael, I experienced the same feelings that I always have when I leave the OTC.  From the greeting on the back wall of the Athlete Check In (ACI), that “It’s not every four years, it’s every day!”, to the reminders in the dining facility, that “Every athlete has a choice, and every choice makes a difference!”, there is a feeling, a sense, of belonging to something greater than yourself and that what you have accomplished over the past week has made a difference and effected a positive change in an archery athlete’s performance.  It’s this feeling that has kept me coming back, and will keep me coming back as long as I’m invited.

Coaches Guy Krueger, Terry Laney, Mrs. Lee, KiSik Lee, Linda Beck, Dee Falks, Bob Romero, Jim White, Alex Meyer

During the week of October 10-17, 2009 there will be a JDT “Candidate” Camp.  Anyone wishing to try out for a position on the 2010 JDT can fill out and submit a Junior Dream Team Application, which can be found here: JDT Forms. If accepted to the October camp you may earn a position as a JDT Archer for the 2010 season.

We would like to thank our sponsors, including Easton Foundation and TaxMasters for lending financial support helping to cover travel and registration costs, Nike for the apparel, and Easton and Hoyt for their support in providing the Junior Dream Team Program with equipment

2009 Links to Events and Results

The following four tournaments are used in the calculation of Jr. USAT rankings and are attended by many JDT Archers.

Indoor Nationals
Southern Illinois Cup
JOAD Outdoor National Championship
125th National Target Championships

Other Major Tournaments of Interest to JDT Members:

AAE Arizona Cup
Gold Cup
Youth World Championships

Miranda Leek and Michelle Gilbert Shootoff for 1st Place At Jr. World Trials

Sunday, 3 May 2009

Jr. World Team Trials Carbondale Illinois

So it’s the last day of a three day tournament, you’ve shot a FITA, an OR round and met each of 7 other opponents in a Round Robbin.  You’ve shot your last arrow and put all your equipment away in preparation for the long journey home.  The field crew has pulled all the target bales off the field, packed up the timers, and put the rule book away.  You are tired, wet, just a little bit muddy and really looking forward to putting your feet up and downing some chicken wings.

Just when you think it’s all over, some 4 time Olympian gets on the PA and says “Would Miranda Leek and …………..(long pause)………….Michelle Gilbert please return to the field.  We have a tie for 1st place!”

It was a kind of bizzaro world experience for these two members of the Junior Dream Team.  Surely this was the last thing either expected to hear nearly an hour after they thought they had shot their last arrow.  They had been battling it out in the muddy muck all weekend with the same players on the podium each time.  Now they would have to go at it  one more time since ties are not allowed in the Jr. World Trials.

The only problem is, how to break the tie.  Some officials thought  a one arrow shoot-off was called for while others said a full 12 arrow match would be necessary.  After what seemed like an eternity, and  much back and forth (and consulting of the FITA rule book) it was decided.  No less than a full 12 arrow match was necessary to break the tie.

Since both Miranda and Michelle were securely on the Jr. World Team by virture of the fact that the lowest either could finish was second place, this was to be a friendly match with a lot of drama.  The first end was to tell the storey of the match.  Miranda shoots the first shot, a 9.  Michelle matches with a 9.  Miranda shoots another 9 and Michelle matches.  Each archer shoots an 8 to finish out the first end tied once again!  If either had hopes of a one arrow shoot-off their hopes were certainly dashed by now.  This match wasn’t going to be over until the very last arrow was shot.  At long last , Miranda had won by 2 points and put her claim on yet another 1st place finish in the Female Cadet Recurve Division of the Jr. world Trials.

Way to go Miranda and Michelle!

We would like to thank our sponsors, including Easton Foundation and TaxMasters for lending financial support helping to cover travel and registration costs, Nike for the apparel, and Easton and Hoyt for their support in providing the Junior Dream Team Program with equipment