The Short Version:
LATEST RESULTS!!
*2005 World Indoor Team Trials - The World Indoor trials were held in Hillsboro, Texas in mid-January. I had a 5th place finish.
CHANGES FOR 2005!!
*The Big Move - In February, I drove cross-country from Chicago, IL to Tucson, AZ to start training with my new coach, Alexander Kirillov at the awesome PSE training facility.
*My New Coach - I am now working with 2004 USA Archery Coach of the year, Alexander Kirillov. Among his many accomplishments, he helped coach the former Soviet Union team to a gold medal at the 1989 World Championships as well as Jenny Nichols to a 1st place ranking in the US and a spot on the 2004 Olympic team.
*New Bow - I have also made a significant change in my equipment. I am now shooting a PSE X-factor and soon will be shooting with their new limbs.
*New Form - I have modified my form considerably and for that reason, I scratched the remaining 3 indoor tournaments for the 2005 season.
UPCOMING EVENTS!!
*2005 Indoor World Championships - Although I am not going as a member of the team (I'm the second alternate), I will be excited to see how my friends compete. If you would like to follow the results as well, go to this link: www.archeryindoor2005.com
*Texas Shootout - Two weeks from today, I'll be on the line in my first outdoor archery tournament since the change in my form and coaches. Should be interesting!
*Fargo & Winnipeg - Although this is not a tournament, I feel that this might be a highlight of the 2005 season. The 4H club of Fargo, North Dakota has asked me to come out and speak with PE teachers about the importance of archery in schools. I will also be speaking at a water conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba a couple hours north of Fargo.
*Arizona Cup - A week after getting back from Fargo & Winnipeg, I will be heading off to the Arizona Cup after a training camp with the top girls in the country in Tucson.
The Long Version:
LATEST RESULTS!!
WORLD INDOOR TEAM TRIALS:
The World Indoor Championships come around every odd year in the spring. Because I had just started archery in December of 2002, I was not good enough to go to the trials in 2003. The 2005 World Indoor Team Trials were held in Hillsboro, TX in mid-January. I managed to hold steady in 3rd place the entire tournament up until the last few matches where I dropped slightly and didn't have enough time to recover. My goal was to get through the entire tournament without focusing on score or my opponents in match play. For the most part, I was able to do that and I only had one bad match out of 15. I also shot personal best back to back scores of 1121 and 1122 out of 1200. In 2003, you needed an average of 112 out of 120 in order to make the team, this year you needed to shoot slightly higher. I did however, manage a 112 average and was extremely proud of that. It is very hard to shoot the same scores in a tournament that you shoot in practice, but I was able to do it, so that was another accomplishment. I am also very thankful to friends and family (and sponsors) who were able to make it. John and Ruth Hogue (Anne Jones’s mom and dad) made the trip from Dallas to watch the finals as did my best friend from Kanakuk Lauren Asher and her boyfriend. Kelly Day, a former co-worker of mine from Chicago and her boyfriend Jeremy also came to cheer me on. Lauren and Kelly were also nice enough to let me stay with them the night I arrived and the night before I left to go back.
CHANGES FOR 2005!!
MY NEW COACH:
After the World Indoor Trials, I made a decision to try out a new coach. My old coaches, Vic and Terry Wunderle, are two of the best coaches in the United States and I was extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to work with them. I made my decision for a lot of reasons, but one was so that Vic could concentrate more on his personal training. A second reason was because my new coach, Alexander Kirillov had just been named the head women's coach by the National Archery Association (NAA). Alexander coaches both Jenny and Mandy Nichols, the sisters from Wyoming who just placed 1st and 2nd at the World Indoor Trials as well as Kathie McCart, who, in the last few arrows of the world trials surpassed me to make the team. He was also named 2005 NAA Coach of the Year. You can read the article on PSE's website by going to:
www.pse-archery.com/Features/Archives/2005/ak_coach_of_year.htm
THE BIG MOVE:
Last year as you might recall, I drove cross country from Boston to Ft. Lauderdale with Emma, one of the girls on the local archery team I used to coach. This year I drove cross country from Chicago to Tucson with my co-worker Sophia Kokonas. The 2,300 mile trip was quite long, but a lot of fun. We made a stop in Denver to eat lunch with my mom and go out for a drink with one of my good friends, Ben Heavrin (also a sponsor). We also managed to blow out yet another tire (you might remember this happened in West Virginia the last trip) on the border of Colorado and New Mexico. I quickly became a member of Triple A and we were safely towed to the nearest town.
NEW BOW:
For the first two years that I shot, I used a Win & Win Infinite, which I really liked. I had at one point in time switched to a Hoyt Aerotech and immediately my scores dropped dramatically. It took me about 3 months to get back to the level I was when I shot the W&W Infinite. The day I switched back to the W&W, I shot a personal best. Sooo... needless to say, I was very concerned that this would happen again and so my stipulation for testing out the PSE X-factor was that I would only shoot it if my scores stayed the same immediately upon shooting it. I was very lucky in that my scores were actually better... some people call it the "new bow effect" but given the fact that I had experienced something totally different the last time I switched bows, I knew this was the right change to make. With the new bow comes new opportunities as well, PSE has a contingency program for their Pro shooting staff, which means that if I do well in tournaments, I can start making some money. This was not an opportunity I had with W&W and I am very thankful to David Kronengold and Pete Shepley for making this happen!
NEW FORM:
Wow! There is really now way to describe the ups and downs emotionally when you change your form. One day I'm overjoyed because I've figured out how to do something that Alexander wants me to change and the next day I'm in tears because it isn't working the way it was the day before. For those of you who have spoken to me on the phone in the last few weeks, first, I apologize for my down attitude, second, I want to thank you very much for your positive, encouraging support - it has made a world of difference. I have to keep reminding myself to practice what I preach - a good attitude will get you farther in whatever you are doing than a negative one ever will. The bottom line is that everything I do between now and the 2008 Olympic Trials are just stepping stones, a form change in archery can take as little as one week to as much as 5 years. In my case let’s hope it just takes a couple of months. ;)
UPCOMING EVENTS!!
2005 WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS:
The 2005 World Indoor Championships women's recurve team will be Jenny Nichols, Mandy Nichols, and Kathie McCart. Because I finished 5th in the trials by a mere 8 points out of over 2,300 I will not be attending. However, they may be fun to follow as the US teams might have a chance to medal. In 2003, Jenny Nichols was the World Indoor Silver Medallist. The Men's recurve team will be made up of 2x Olympian Vic Wunderle and 4x Olympian Butch Johnson as well as Vic's old college teammate, Staton Holmes. You can follow the results for the World Championships at: www.archeryindoor2005.com.
TEXAS SHOOTOUT:
This is the first outdoor archery tournament on the national circuit for 2005. I'm very excited to be back in a tournament situation again since I haven't competed since the coaching change. I am also excited to stay with Nancy Leslie and her husband Roger again for the second year in a row. Nancy is a member of the Rotary Club and last year offered to host me (and Emma) at her home, you may recall they were featured on my Texas shootout postcard. Because of the form changes and Texas' propensity for heavy wind, I am looking forward to the challenge and am as curious as you are to see how it will go. The website for the Texas Shootout is:
http://www.geocities.com/utahtxag/shootoutinfomap.html
FARGO & WINNIPEG:
As I mentioned in the short version, although this is not a tournament, I think it will be a highlight of the season. I have been asked by Joe Courneya to come out to Fargo and Winnipeg to talk about why archery should be in schools. This is a fantastic opportunity to help develop the sport and I'm extremely honored to be asked to do this. In addition to speaking with PE teachers and other educators, I will be giving an archery demonstration to a local elementary school as well as doing a couple of appearances and autograph signings in some of the sports stores in the Fargo area that sell archery equipment.
ARIZONA CUP:
Last year this was the first outdoor tournament of the season and it was a rainy one! The great thing about living in Tucson this year is that all I have to do is drive up to Phoenix for the tournament. I am also very luck as my cousins, the Joneses, have invited me to stay with them. I will be going to the AZ Cup after spending a week in a training camp at the PSE training facility with the top shooters in the country. You can access the results and more information at: www.arizonacup.com.
