Joy Foster

A letter to my baby

2010-05-14T15:09:00.000-07:00

I was having a hard time trying to find the words for this month's blog, so I decided instead to write a letter to Heidi about what it has been like having her in the world these past 10 weeks. After writing it, I nearly didn't publish it since it is so personal, but then I thought it was the best expression of how I feel at the moment and maybe a few other people might enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Dear Heidi,

The past 10 weeks have been amazing! I can’t tell you what a thrill you have been to your Daddy and me. We have loved every single minute that you have been in this world – even those moon-kissed 4am minutes.

Your first few weeks were full of sleeping and your Mommy trying to figure out how to increase her milk supply. I even spent an entire day with you strapped to my boobs in a sling trying to get you to drink so that the milk supply would increase to meet the demand. As much as I love you, that day nearly killed me and after shedding a few tears, Daddy and I decided that I would supplement with formula until I the milk came in. Now, 10 weeks on, no more tears and you are nearly 90% breastfed.

And babycakes, you are a guzzle chops! In the hospital, it was a huge effort to get you to drink 20mls and today, you easily put down nearly 250mls in one sitting. You don’t wait either – you suck that milk down like it is the last bottle you’ll ever get to drink!

Everyone thinks you are beautiful. Your Daddy and I can’t stop staring at you. Often we look at each other and ask God out loud, “What in the world did we do to deserve you?” You are such an angel!! You never fuss and if you do, it is either because you are hungry or you are tired.

You’ve done a lot in the past 10 weeks. But the highlight came when you started smiling about a week ago. You have a huge, bright smile! It is like watching a sunflower unfold under a clear, blue sky. Your eyes light up and your face is the definition of genuine happiness.

Heidi, I’m so lucky to have you, we are so lucky to have you. There are so many precious Moms and Dads who have lost their little ones. My heart aches at the very thought of not spending another second with you. We must never forget what a gift we have been given.

You probably won’t ever remember this, but every night, after I put you to bed and once you have fallen asleep, I kiss your forehead and say “I love you.” I pray for you constantly. I pray that you will know God and that you will know His love. I pray that you can become everything you set out to be. But mostly, I say “Thank you” not just to God, but to Daddy - for I had no idea just how much you would mean to me.

Your Daddy and I love you with all our hearts,

Mommy

Heidi Elizabeth Foster

2010-03-25T02:11:00.000-07:00

Right now - she is sleeping. Actually, she's been doing a lot of that lately. But whether she is sleeping, eating, playing or snuggling, my daughter Heidi Elizabeth Foster is the most precious, beautiful little thing I have ever seen. My husband Tim and I have been more than blessed to have this little angel in our lives.

Just yesterday, Tim and I were discussing how the last three years have brought so many changes and blessings. In 2008, we got engaged in China. In 2009, we were married in Switzerland and now, in 2010, we have started on the amazing journey of parenthood.

Heidi's birth was such a big event for me. I have to admit that even though I had taken a six week course, done my EPI-NO exercises and had read as many books as I could get my hands on, I was still a bit apprehensive about how it was going to go.

Friday, March 5th, Tim and I went to the doctor around 11:00am for my final check-up. At the appointment, our doctor told us that he didn't think the baby would come before the weekend. After the appointment, Tim and I grabbed a burger lunch at the California Grill. Tim went on to work and I jumped on my bike to go and see my friend Gill.

When I arrived at Gill's flat, I got off my bike and felt a gush of water down my legs - to be honest, I thought I had just been unable to hold my pee back (being 9 months pregnant puts a lot of pressure on your bladder). I decided that I should probably just go home, so I hopped back on my bike and rode home. The same thing happened when I got to my flat. I started to think that maybe my water had broken. I decided to wait it out - and in the meantime - I was grading English papers that students in my class had written.

Tim had to work late and I had a work social function that I had to go to, so I got dressed up and made my way over to Gracie Kelly's Pub. I had been told by my friend Chanda that I should drink a Prosecco right around my due date to get the ball rolling. So, having promptly ordered my baby-come-sooner-bubbly, I sat down to discuss life with my colleagues. After I finished my drink I stood up - and - guess what happened? Another huge gush, but this time it didn't stop!! My jeans looked like someone had put a fire hose to them!

I quickly snuck (or sneaked if you're an English freak) out of the bar and, texting my husband to say that I thought my water had broken, rushed home as fast as my little legs could carry me. When Tim got home, we had dinner and discussed whether or not we needed to go to the hospital. I wasn't having any contractions, but Tim had read that if your water breaks, you need to go to the hospital within 24 hours so that you don't risk getting an infection. I'm so glad my husband remembers this stuff!

We called the hospital and they asked us to come that night, so after finishing a cup of tea and calling our parents, our friend Markus came and picked us up to take us to the hospital. We ended up sleeping at the hospital over night, while the midwives monitored my contractions. Throughout the night I was having 7 minute contractions, but nothing too intense.

By 10am the next morning, our doctor decided that because of the risk of infection, we needed to induce. Inducing means that they force the contractions and it can be more painful than natural contractions. I was able to go about 7 hours before I needed some pain medicine. Basically, until about 5pm, I was very strong mentally, even though the contractions were strong, I was able to do my breathing and Tim was very helpful in pressing against my back during the contractions to alleviate the pain.

With the help of the pain meds through a drip, I was able to go from not believing I could deliver to being able to handle the situation again. Things seemed to be progressing until about 7pm when the doctor said that my cervix was closing back up. It had dilated to 8cm, but was now back to 5cm. Without an epidural, he said, I would risk having a C-section if my cervix didn't open up soon.

Although Tim and I didn't want to do an epidural, we knew that it was probably the only option. And, in the end, the epidural was amazing! I ended up taking a nap, to regain some strength. The great thing about the Epidural was that again, I could feel the contractions, but I could handle the pain and I could stay positive and relaxed.

The most exciting part about the birth was the pushing. It was the realization that my baby was about to be in the world. Even though I had no pain, I could feel the baby moving forward with every push. The doctor had me feel the baby's head with my fingers. It was so surreal! Then the doctor said that we were only about three or four contractions away. It was insane feeling the baby come out, first the head, then the shoulders, then the rest of it's body.

As soon as I heard the cry, I looked at Tim, "What is it? What is it??" He laughed and said, "Hold on, I can't tell!!" and then someone said, "It's a girl!" The next thing out of my mouth was, "Wow, that was so worth it!"

And, it has been sooo worth it. I had no idea how much I would enjoy motherhood. We are now on day 19 and I couldn't be happier or more thankful to God for my precious baby girl. I'm so lucky.

You can see more pictures on my facebook page or videos by going to my youtube.com channel.

The Big 3-0

2009-11-06T03:57:00.000-08:00

When I was 8, I wanted to be 10. When I was 11, I wanted to be 13. When I was 14, I wanted to be 16 and when I was 19, I wanted to be 21. Fondly enough, I never remember once in my 20s, wishing that I was 30.

But... here I am, not only 30 years old - but married and pregnant! Ha, if my 20 year-old self could see me now!

To be honest, I think there is something very sexy and sophisticated about young mothers in their 30s. They seem to have things together, they may not know exactly what tomorrow brings, but they know who they are.

I know who I am - even though I've got a new name and a baby growing inside me. I know that I have been blessed beyond measure with an amazing husband and supportive friends and family. I know that God has always looked out for me and has made sure that even when things are tough, I know He's got my back.

And, I know for the first time that I want to be my age. I don't wish I could turn back the clocks and repeat those years - they were hard enough - I'll gladly leave them behind. I guess the best thing about turning 30, is actually wanting to be 30.

To teach or not to teach

2009-07-23T01:41:00.000-07:00

Having promptly missed writing in June (for good reason, I might add), July somehow almost slipped under the radar. It has been an exciting couple of months here in Switzerland. After Tim and I got back from our honeymoon, I went into full job search mode.

It might surprise you to know that recently even Switzerland has been hit by the global downturn, making jobs for non-fluent German speakers, such as myself, nearly impossible to get. So, I've resorted to a back-up plan, which at the moment seems to be the plan - I've enrolled in a CELTA course in Oxford to learn to teach English as a foreign language.

A month from tomorrow, I'm off to Oxford to start my new career path, unless of course, some surprise wonder job pops up between now and then. I'm excited about the course, not just because I will be able to spend some time surrounded by English speakers, not just because I get to explore the beautiful city of Oxford, but because I will get a chance to look into something that I've always considered doing, teaching.

When I was a kid, my career ambition was to be an art teacher, that changed eventually to being a missionary and then somewhere along the line it turned into Olympian, then wife and mother, then Politician. Oddly enough, the older I get, the idea of becoming a Politician is fading slowly away. My husband thinks I'm too nice, I'm fairly certain that isn't true - personally, I think my missing political ingredient is spine, i.e. how bad I am at stating my case in a heated argument (basically I cry).

Teacher, in one form or another, was on the list and now it is back on... we'll see if "Olympian" ever comes of age. According to the 10,000 hour rule, I still haven't shot enough arrows to warrant quitting. Being a wife and someday a mother are very exciting things, having a happy marriage and home are certainly lifetime goals of mine which, quite frankly, are more important than any other task God has given me to date.

Wedding Countdown

2009-05-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

It seems that just yesterday my wedding was over 190 days away. Now it is right around the corner, in only 34 days I will officially be Mrs. Foster. I have no doubt that I have overdone the facebook messages letting people know how excited I am about marrying Tim, but I feel so lucky to have the love of my life for the rest of my life!

Wedding-wise, everything seems to be falling into place. Tim and I finalized the dinner menu yesterday and decided on a wedding cake. We now have the photographer and the organist booked. There is even a transport surprise for all our guests!

I won't tell you which dress I am wearing from Elsa Gary, but I'm taking a train to Paris to pick it up in just four short weeks with one of my bridesmaids, Simone Gignoux.

For a long time Tim and I were debating whether or not to have flower girls (I kid you not when I say that the aisle is very long - the church is meant to hold 900 people!), but decided in the end that we had to have them in the wedding! The dresses are adorable, I've never seen anything like them in my life.

As for archery, I'm still building up my strength, but my recovery is complete in my opinion. I don't feel any pain when I shoot anymore. In March, I shot at the Swiss Indoor Championships and qualified 2nd. Unfortunately, I had a disqualified arrow which prevented me from qualifying first. Despite not being able to shoot in the Olympic Round because I'm not part of a Swiss club yet, I'm happy that I was able to compete again and shoot well.

My next tournament is in three weeks in Switzerland, I was going to try and shoot in Bulgaria but I still have a lot of work to do to be internationally competitive. Now that I've recovered, my focus isn't about just getting back to where I was, but pushing myself to a new level.

Anyhow, thanks for reading my post, the next time I write, I will most likely be a married woman!

Enjoying life in the midst of the worst economy of our generation

2009-03-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

At 5:00am on Thursday, February 19th, the blast of a canon startled me awake. A second canon boom lured me away from my warm bed to my kitchen window only to see what looked like a Texas long horn conducting a marching band on the cobbled street below.

This would be one of almost 100 "Fasnacht" bands that would continue to play on the streets of the Old Town in Luzern for the next week - ceasing only Friday night and Sunday night. Although, I was exhausted at the end of the week - it is really hard to sleep soundly when drums are banging away below your window all night long - the energy I got from the new experience was incredible.

So often in life, we live day in and day out not realizing what is going on in other parts of the world. The experience of Fasnacht reminded me that this world is just as full of wonderful experiences as it is of terrible ones.

Right now, millions of people are experiencing exponential personal debt, they are losing their homes and jobs. The stress is causing the break up of families and a strain on personal health.

When I struggled financially four years ago, I didn't want to tell anyone and I didn't want any help. Then one Sunday in church, I heard about Crown's Biblical Financial study and I decided that it wouldn't hurt to try. The 10-week Bible intensive study opened my eyes to a whole new way of looking at money - not as my money, but as God's money.

If you, like me four years ago, are struggling to appreciate life right now because of the immense financial burdens of this collapsed economy, find out if a church near you is putting on a Crown study and sign up. It is just one way of getting back to enjoying life in the worst economy of our generation.

Find Crown in your area

Get the "Your Money Map" book from Crown

Read a sample and get the "Your Money Map" book from Amazon

Tribute to Bob Towne

2009-01-29T13:01:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday night, with a heavy heart and tears welling in my eyes, I made a phone call to a dear friend’s mom. “Just tell him that I love him and tell him how much I appreciate everything he has done for me.” I told her how much he had believed in me when others hadn’t and how he took time off of work to coach me in the build up to the 2008 Olympic Trials and then at the trials themselves.

The very next evening Bob Towne died. Bob, also fondly known to the Olympic Training Center athletes as “the babysitter,” had a rare form of cancer that killed his body and took his life in just five short months. I first met Bob when Coach Lee asked him to “babysit” the archers at the OTC while Coach Lee was out of town.

Bob had a very relaxed style of coaching and his love of the sport and the athletes made his babysitting stints very enjoyable for us. Eventually Bob started coming down to the range on a regular basis; he started building us custom finger tabs and was constantly trying to learn more about the BEST technique.

When he wasn’t at the Training Center, he was transferring all of his newly found knowledge to a group of young athletes whom he was mentoring. One of his pupils Anna, a very ambitious and happy eight year old, won every tournament she entered last year.

In 2007, when I was asked to shoot three personal bests in order to stay at the training center, it was Bob who stood by me and told me that I could do it when I was on the brink of throwing in the towel. If he ever doubted me, he never said so and when I did hit the numbers, he was the person I was the most excited to tell.

Eventually, I was asked to leave the training center despite hitting my personal bests. When others had given up on me, Bob agreed to help. We spent three days a week together and his unconditional encouragement despite all the obstacles I was facing was refreshing.

At the end of my phone call with Bob’s mom, she said with a crack in her voice, “When you win that medal, I hope you do it for Bob.” “Without question” I answered. Additional information about Bob on US Archery's site.

'Tis the season

2008-12-13T04:19:00.000-08:00

In my 29 years on this earth, I have only spent a handful of Christmases away from Colorado. This year will be my third international Christmas.

1995 - I'm the King!

In 1995, I celebrated Christmas Eve, French-style in Nantes, eating a "Galette Du Roi" cake with little figurines in it and dancing "La Britanique" until midnight when we opened our presents. In 2006, I went to Italy with my mom and attended midnight mass at St. Peter's Basilica following a wonderful Christmas dinner (with live Opera) and a couple ridiculously expensive Limoncellos at the Hassler Hotel at the top of the Spanish steps in Rome.

2006 - St. Peter's Basilica Midnight Mass (View Pics)

This year I'll share Christmas between Switzerland and England. I've throughly enjoyed the traditions associated with Christmas here in Luzern - brass quartets and alp horns, holiday markets, the Klausjagen procession with St. Nicholas, the Schmutzli and the men with cow bells (click here to see a video). In London, I'll take another stroll down Oxford Street and Regent Street to see the lights and if I'm lucky, I'll sneak into midnight mass at St. Paul's Cathedral after a Christmas Eve dinner with close friends.

2008 - My nose blackened by the Schmutzli (View Pics)

But of course, the core of Christmas is truly only about one thing... the birth of Jesus Christ and He was truly only about one thing... dying on the cross to save us. So in spite of all of these traditions, presents and time with family, I will try and remember to take time to be grateful that my sins (many that they are) have been forgiven.

And in doing so I hope that I will remember to keep those less fortunate in my prayers... orphaned children in Sudan, families all over the world that have been left homeless and/or jobless in the wake of the financial crises, those who have lost a loved one this year and will experience their first Christmas without them, the list goes on and on.

That being said, it is with my most heartfelt sincerity that I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and if you are struggling this year as so many are and would like me to pray for you in any way, don't hesitate to email me.

Life Changes...

2008-11-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

As it has been a while since I've updated my website or input any blogs, I thought I would use a lazy Saturday morning to get caught up. Life has changed quite a bit for me in the past few months... I got engaged, moved to Switzerland and will start a new job in a week.

Tim and I the night we got engaged (more pics)

My fiance, Tim, proposed at the Beijing Olympics in a paddle boat on Lake HouHai on August 18th. It was a bit of a surprise since besides a 10 month stint of dating in England back in 2001, we hadn't seen or spoken with each other in 7 years until China. Tim was at the Olympics as the head rowing coach for Switzerland and I was there covering Archery for the Olympic News Service.

Among other things, the Olympic spirit runs in our veins... before coaching, Tim was a three time Olympian for Great Britain, winning Gold at the Sydney Olympics and Bronze at the Atlanta Olympics.

After the Olympics, I returned to California and packed up my stuff, visited my family in Colorado for a couple days, met my nephew (who was 3 months old at the time), and then moved to Luzern, Switzerland. Luzern is absolutely beautiful and I've enjoyed living in Europe again (I lived in France 1995-96 and England 2000-01).

Luzern, Switzerland (more pics)

The adjustment has been major but I am very blessed to have found a job which starts in Zurich next week. For the past 8 weeks as I've been waiting for my work visa to come through, I've been taking German courses und jetzt - ich kann ein bisschen Deutsch sprechen.

As for archery... I have been meaning to start shooting for some months now but my equipment has literally been sitting on a boat crossing the ocean. Overall it has probably been a good thing that I haven't been shooting - for starters, I needed to let the tear in my teres minor fully heal which I wasn't able to do last year and secondly, I needed to enjoy it again.

I have however, been preparing myself physically for the World Indoor Trials in Iowa in January. Tim wrote a training program to build up my strength and fitness which I have been following for about 7 weeks now. I've been cross-training with the erg (indoor rowing machine) and my scores have been steadily getting better week by week. I may even row at the Swiss Indoor Championships in January if I feel like I can get close to my personal best.

Well... that is all for now! Hope you have a great day! To see more pictures check out my website.

Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon - Yay, I finished!

2008-06-02T04:22:00.000-07:00

First, I want to thank all the people who helped me raise money for Team Darfur. I don't know the final number but I'm pretty sure that we hit the $2000 goal. Second... my legs hurt soooo bad! But however bad my legs feel, all 5 hours and 20 minutes of running was worth it!

This was the second marathon that I ran (also the second that I was dumb enough to run without training). In 2003, I ran the Boston Marathon in just under 5 hours (4:59). Marathons are challenging and make you push yourself to the limit. Something that surprised me was just how many people ran the marathon. There were all body types and ages.

The highlight of my run (besides seeing all the "Elvi"), was when Jon showed up at mile 20 and ran the last 6 miles with me. I was really happy to see him and he helped me push through the hardest part of the race. One of the other touching parts of the race was how many people were running for someone else. There were people running with pictures of their loved ones on their backs. It felt good to know that I too was running for someone, the children of Darfur.

Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon & other stuff...

2008-05-23T04:23:00.000-07:00

Last week I sent out a new enewsletter with pictures from the photo shoot as well information on my plans to run the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon to raise money for Team Darfur. I've decided to use some of the money I made from the Polo Ralph Lauren Photo Shoot to match all donations going into Team Darfur up to $1000 through June 1st (the day of the marathon). So... that means, if you donate $10, I'll give $10, for a total donation of $20. Or, if you can give $50, I'll match it and make it $100. Please consider becoming a "fan" of Team Darfur. The money raised will go to help schools in Sudan.

Press Release on Team Darfur's website: http://www.teamdarfur.org/node/336

Other happenings... I went to the McCain rally yesterday in Stockton at the AG Spanos Jet Center yesterday. I'm so thankful the Spanos' for letting me join them on this trip! I met Senator McCain and got to hear him speak about his time in Vietnam and on the campaign trail. While I was waiting to go to the rally, I also got to meet Norv Turner, the head coach of the Chargers. He has a really great outlook on football and life and it was a privilege to get to talk to him.

I'm still undecided about McCain and Obama. Obama inspires me and McCain has a huge heart for the men and women who protect this country. I guess the key is that eventually I decide who I want to vote for... not voting isn't really an option!

Apart from training for the marathon, working and trying to educate myself about the presidential race, I'm enjoying the beach and I've actually shot a few arrows. I hope you have a great memorial day weekend!

Polo Ralph Lauren Photo Shoot

2008-04-30T04:25:00.000-07:00

I have 8 minutes until I have to catch a car that is going to take me to the airport so I can go home to San Diego. I had a blast in New York city. I'm so thankful to the Polo Ralph Lauren crew and Shawn Frack from the USOC for putting it all together.

There were three other athletes for the shoot, Brianna Glenn (athletics), Giuseppe Lanzone (rowing) and Deontay Wilder. We had a blast... Giuseppe even got to be on the Today show this morning (we went as his posse).

I'll write more later, but pictures are up on my facebook page and also at: http://www.pixagogo.com/5702924365.

Budweiser Youtube & 10 year high school reunion

2008-04-25T04:27:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm back in Boston (I was here a few weeks ago for the national championships) and fortunately as of yet, there have been no rental car accidents (my rental car was totaled on my last trip as I was driving to the tournament). Last night, I hung out with a couple of my buddies from college. We had a great time hanging catching up.

One of the things that we talked about was my youtube videos for Bud (www.youtube.com/jfahrenkrog). I shot the videos after the first trials when I was in North Dakota promoting the 4H shooting sports program. My buddies were so excited about them and wanted to know if I really did shoot the one can on a single shot... the truth is that I did! That is why I was so excited about it. The Bud guys basically gave me 7 or 8 shots at 70 meters at a practice can to sight in (with NO warm up... usually I shoot 40-50 arrows warm up) and then they had me pull my arrows and put up a second can for the real deal.

They told me to look at the camera and say "One shot, one arrow, no problem" and then actually do it. A dream I always wanted to accomplish in archery was being in the gold medal finals against the Koreans and being the anchor shooter (the last person to shoot) and needing to shoot a 10 to win on the last arrow. In my visualization, I always nailed it... so when they asked me to do this, that is what my mind immediately went to and then I just took a deep breath and thought about my technique and shot. IT WAS SOOO COOL because the arrow nailed the can at that moment. Even though it wasn't in the gold medal final against the Koreans it was a lot of fun.

Anyhow, enough about that... the rest of this weekend is going to be great... I'm going to my 10th year high school reunion, something that I couldn't have done if I'd made the finals of the Olympic trials (given the choice, I'd probably still pick the finals... but there is always a reason!). So, I'll be out here with all my old friends, catching up and sharing fun stories. Ironically, a couple of my classmates won't be there because they are still trying out for their respective Olympic teams (one in mountain biking and one in rowing).

I'm waiting to hear back but I may have a chance to be on the Today show next week for Polo Ralph Lauren... I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, I also wanted to keep you up to date about the book I'm reading about Darfur. If you get a chance, please sign up to be a Team Darfur fan (or part of the team if you are an athlete) at www.teamdarfur.com. The book, "Not on our Watch" is an incredible insight into the background of the Darfur genocide. It gives two distinct perspectives, one from a life long advocate for Africa and one from a famous movie star.

From what I have read, it seems that the situation in Darfur is extremely complicated. The perspective that the book takes is that Sudan's government is behind the killings but is trying to make it out to look as though it is tribal civil war based on limited resources and opposing religious beliefs. I still have a lot to learn and I would encourage you to learn more as well.

I also watched a documentary called "The Devil Came on Horseback." It was incredibly graphic so I would recommend not watching it with your kids. The documentary highlighted just how much red tape is involved in trying to make a change. The guy behind the documentary talked about how he would write reports on violations that were being made but only 8 of the 40 or so he wrote ever went anywhere and nothing was done about the ones that did get turned in. The documentary argued that other countries were aiding Sudan's government by providing the ability to purchase weapons from profits made in the sale of oil.

On that note, please keep Darfur in your prayers. Please sign up to be a fan and spread the word.

What next? Surfing & Sudan

2008-04-10T04:28:00.000-07:00

Many people have been emailing and calling the past few days with words of support and love. I am so thankful that other people care so much about what I am doing. Ironically, one of the emails I got from a very dear friend of mine pointed out something that is becoming clearer as the fog from the past week is starting to burn off.

Most people who know me well, know that there was only one reason I got into archery and that was to go to the Olympics. It is fair to say, that I have loved the pursuit of the Olympics and the purpose that my life felt in that pursuit more than the actual sport of archery itself. When I realized that rowing, a sport that I loved, wasn’t going to be my vehicle to the games, I tried to find another one. Unfortunately in that transfer, I left behind the key ingredient to success, the love of the sport.

Immediately after I broke my bow down on Friday following the conclusion of the Olympic Trials, I was on the web looking into other Olympic sports that I could still try and pick up... 10m air pistol, some kind of track and field event, anything... and then I stopped. I thought, "Holy crap," immediately it hit me, it didn’t matter if I switched sports, if I didn’t love what I was doing, it would never work. Archery, unfortunately for me, was just a means to an end and that is why it didn’t work.

So, what next? Well, I guess the first thing to do is try and figure out what I love to do, try different things, leave archery for awhile and see if I miss it. Two of my closest friends, independently of each other told me write out a list of things I wanted to do and try in my life. The past 5 years, everything has been on hold. I’ve missed weddings, graduations, vacations, skiing, rowing, etc.

I decided to do something completely out of character, I went surfing. I have never surfed in my life... in fact, to be honest, I’ve never really liked salt water and the way it gets in your mouth and eyes. But, I decided that I would try it and signed myself up for Surf Diva school (www.surfdiva.com). It rocked! Wearing a wet suit made all the difference in the world as far as me not being bothered by the salt water. I actually got up on my very first try! It was so cool, the water moves so quickly under you. For two straight hours on both Saturday and Sunday, I smiled non stop - even when I wiped out!

I also started working full time... now to be honest, I was working 40-60 hour weeks before but it was over 7 days not 5. It was strange to be sitting in my office realizing that I was there for the next 8 hours. What normally took me a whole week to do, I was able to get done in two days. I actually had to pace myself and take required state law breaks!

Despite the surfing and working and even trying outrigger canoe, a piece of the puzzle is still missing. The purpose that I felt in training for the Olympics is now void. I need to fill it with something... but this time, maybe not a personal quest so much as contributing to make the world a better place. That is where Sudan comes into play.

A while back, Joey Cheek, a three time Olympic medalist in speed skating, emailed me and asked me to be a part of Team Darfur (www.teamdarfur.org). I’m so impressed with what Joey has done with his fame, he has a true heart for making a difference in the world. The same day that I was knocked out of the Olympic trials, I received a packet with a book called Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond by Don Cheadle and John Prendergast.

As I’ve begun to read it, I feel convicted that this is something I can put time into and feel a sense of purpose again. In the coming weeks, I will share with you my thoughts on reading the book. I would encourage you to purchase it and read it along with me and have an open discussion with me by leaving comments in my blogs. One thing that the book has already taught me is that one of the most powerful things you can do to stop genocide is to stop turning a blind eye to it. I look forward to your thoughts on the issue!

Links:

What you can do: http://www.teamdarfur.org/takeaction

Purchase the book: http://www.amazon.com/Not-Our-Watch-Mission-Genocide/dp/1401303358/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207819216&sr=8-1

Educate yourself: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/08/google.refugees.ap/index.html

Olympic Trials Day 2 & 3 - Beijing Bound without a Bow...

2008-04-06T04:30:00.000-07:00

I’ll be in China, just not the way that I pictured being there. The second and third day of the Olympic Trials didn’t exactly go the way that I had hoped or planned. In fact, in my five year archery career, I have never shot with such an out of body experience as I did during this tournament. It was as though my mind was in one place (the right place) and my body was in another (on Mars).

I thought all the right things; I didn’t react to bad shots. I kept a smile on my face and I even laughed off a couple of misses. Outwardly and inwardly, I did my best to show and feel that I wasn’t upset about how miserably this tournament was going down.

The one light at the end of the tunnel for me was that on the second day of the trials, I received an email saying that I had been hired by Infostrada Sports to work as a reporter during the Olympic Games in Beijing. As many of you know, I love the Olympics and that is why I did archery in the first place. For most of the people who make the team this summer, that sentiment is the opposite, they love archery and the Olympics is just a bonus.

I don’t doubt that is one of the biggest lessons that I have learned from this whole experience. Ironically, when I asked my dad for career advice growing up, he would always say, "Find something you love and figure out how to make money doing it." So where does that leave me now? Well for starters, I’m going to hang up the bow for the rest of the summer and spend some time trying to figure out what my next move is.

Regardless of what I end up doing, if you are reading this, you have probably been praying for me and encouraging me and/or even donating money to me over the years. It is really important to me that you know just how much I appreciate all of the support! You have made a difference in my life and I am so thankful for it.

Olympic Trials Day 1

2008-04-03T04:31:00.000-07:00

Success depends not on whether you win or lose, but on how you play the game. I always thought people who said that had never won anything. I don’t like losing and I don’t like shooting below my potential but than again, who does? I shot some really good arrows today. I had some magical shots that went straight from my bow into the 10 ring. At the same time, I found myself just a little too wound up to feel comfortable the whole day and it wasn’t until I put all my energy into calming down that I was able to start shooting well.

Despite finishing 15th in the qualification round, I only dropped from 7th to 9th due to the point carry over from the 1st Olympic trials. During match play, I struggled to get the shots off and lost my first two matches, 93 to 99 against Kendra Harvey and 88 to 99 against Nicole Rasor. In my third match though, I turned a corner and won my match against Karen Scovatto, 101 to 99. My last match was against Khatuna Lorig, I lost 99 to 107.

One thing that took me a while to realize was just how wound up I really was on the inside. I didn’t feel tense and I certainly wasn’t showing it, but it wasn’t until I told myself to get really calm that I actually started shooting well. I now have something to take into tomorrow that will be very helpful. I still have 11 matches until they make the top 8 cut, if I just do my best I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. No matter what I know God’s got my back, my best interests in mind. As it says in the Bible, if God is with you, who can be against you?

On the eve of the 2nd Olympic Trials...

2008-04-01T04:32:00.000-07:00

19 days ago I sat down at my computer and wrote for six hours. As I wrote, my throat hurt and my head was pounding, my eyes were red and swollen from crying. For the first time in 5 years, I was prepared to admit failure and walk away from archery for good. The gist of the letter was that so long as I believed that I could make the Olympic team, I would continue to pursue it but that I had always promised myself the moment that I stopped believing would be the moment that I would stop shooting. To me, on that day, the moment had come, I was done.

Now, on the eve of the 2nd Olympic trials, I am thankful that I never sent that letter and that I’ve had some time to reflect on this journey. In many ways, my courtship with archery has been like that saying "it is better to have loved and lost, than never have loved at all." There are a lot of things that I could have been doing the past four years that would have made me a lot more money or that would have given me a lot less heart ache, but I doubt that any of them would have challenged my character and my faith in God more than archery.

The irony is that while I’ve only been shooting archery for the past five years, it was on an archery field, nearly 15 years ago, that I first accepted Christ. My journal entry from June 22nd, 1993 reads: Today my counselor Kris and I went to the archery field during F.O.B. (flat on back)(rest period) and talked… we came down to one question, "What do you want to do now?" I answered, "Start all over." So I asked Him into my heart because I wanted to, not because someone told me to.

So, when I question archery, or when I feel as though I have failed, I am missing the bigger picture. I’m missing all the joy that having a real relationship with God has brought back into my life. I’m missing that feeling of true forgiveness and unconditional love that only Christ’s sacrifice can give me. Whether I make the Olympic team or not, I will always have a rock to build my house on that no one can take away from me.

My goal is to compete this week without fear of failure, without the need or desire to prove anything to anyone. My goal is to enjoy the blessings that God has given me, to be thankful to all those who have supported me and believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. My hope is that if I can do this, I will succeed in God’s eyes, ultimately the only eyes that matter.

Vegas World Archery Festival 2008

2008-02-25T04:36:00.000-08:00

I’ve shot enough tournaments to realize that performing well 100% of the time is nearly impossible. That being said, it never ceases to amaze me that knowledge of this fact fails to be comforting when those bad tournaments inevitably happen. If you’ve already seen my scores and placement from Vegas, you may have already guessed that the tournament did not exactly go the way I had hoped it would. Despite not shooting well, I gained some valuable friendships and managed to win $200 in the slot machines, so I can’t complain too much!

I’ve shot Vegas three times, the first time was back in 2004 where I placed 3rd. I didn’t shoot it in 2005 or 2006 because of all of my form changes but decided to shoot it again in 2007 where I finished 4th. This year, I finished 11th. Of the past three times that I have competed, this year was the toughest field by far. It included 6 of the top 7 girls from the most recent Olympic Trials, 3 of whom are past Olympians.

The beauty of failure, especially when it happens in spectacular form, is that it charges you up and forces you to rethink the way you are doing things. I have every right to sit back and blame the circumstances of the past few months for my performance but what good will come out of doing that? In life, when we are faced with a challenge, we can focus our energy on the past or change the future.

The very best indoor tournament that I’ve shot to date from start to finish was the 2005 World Indoor Team Trials. I set some personal goals and then I trained day in and day out for three months with those goals in mind. I accomplished those goals but came short of making the team by a few points. Had I shot those same scores in the 2003 or 2001 trials, I would have not only made the team, but won both trials.

Right now, the level of shooting in this country for women has never been tougher. Jenny Nichols is a 2004 Olympian and has qualified for every world team indoor and outdoor since 2003 that she has tried out for, not to mention the national titles she has won over those same years. Karen Scavotto has won so many national titles and records, she probably can’t count them anymore and was on the 2000 Olympic team. Khatuna Lorig is an Olympic bronze medalist and 3-time Olympian for the country of Georgia, she too has gone to numerous world championships and holds national titles. Lindsay Pian has been on both junior and senior worlds teams, she holds national titles and has won international medals. Kate Anderson is a national champion at both the collegiate and senior level, she has won medals internationally as well. Ashley Kamuf-First, Stephanie Miller, Phyllis Shipman, Mandy Nichols, and Kendra Harvey have all qualified and competed on teams that went to the world championships. Seven of these women have broken 1300 in a competition, something that has not happened in the history of the sport in this country.

I am honored to be a part of this group of elite women and realize that the stakes are higher now than they have ever been. Each one of these girls has failed from time to time, but one thing that we all have in common is that we have never quit. I told some of my friends back in 2004 that the 2008 Olympic team was going to be one of the hardest teams to make and that statement is proving to be true.

What does any of this have to do with Vegas? Nothing! That is the beauty of it all, Vegas has absolutely no bearing on the Olympic team, it is just a fantastic place to get the tournament season jitters out of the way and a wonderful chance to practice rebounding. The morning after I returned from Vegas I went grocery shopping. There were two cards on the card rack right at the entry of Trader Joe’s. One card said "I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my boat," Louisa May Alcott. The other card said "Fall down seven times, get up eight." I don’t doubt that God had every intention for me to see those cards and learn a valuable lesson. I hope and pray that if you are going through a difficult time in your life or that if you have recently failed you too will get up again and keep moving forward.

Go Chargers & Injury Update

2008-01-20T04:37:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!

It has been a while since I've written a blog so I wanted to make sure I didn't lose complete touch with everyone. I wanted to first say Go Chargers! I hope they win tomorrow (for those of you who know me as a major Pat's fan, just pretend like you didn't read that).

I'm really excited at how well the Chargers are doing. It has been fun watching them climb their way to the top. Many of you know that the Chargers hold a special place in my heart. One lesson that I think we can all learn from them is that if you keep working hard, eventually you will succeed. It has been 12 years (1995) since the Chargers went to the Super Bowl and tomorrow they will be knocking at the Super Bowl doors again!

As for me, I'm still recovering from an injury to my right shoulder. I haven't been very vocal about it, but I guess now I need the prayers and support to turn it around in time for the Olympic Trials in April. Back in July, I had some pain in my shoulder. I was getting up to four treatments a day and taking a ton of over the counter pain pills. Shooting through the Nationals was tough, but not nearly as tough as shooting through the Olympic Trials.

Anyhow, long story short. I thought it was just inflammation and so I took the month of October off thinking that I would be able to pick it back up again in November. I saw a couple of doctors and got a cortisone shot. Around the same time, I found out that I was no long a resident athlete so I had to find a job in addition to trying to figure out how to take care of my shoulder without sports medicine at the training center.

I landed a sweet job downtown working for Northwestern Mutual and I continue to work at my church running the coffee ministry. I officially began working 7 days a week November 1st and while I wanted to start my training back up again, my shoulder was continuing to bother me and the shot was starting to wear off. Dr. Lenihan had asked me to get an MRI but I held off due to the sheer cost (even with insurance, it costs around $900). Finally, I decided that I needed to get it done.

The MRI came back saying that there was a chance that my teres minor had a small tear in it. I called Troy Bassham, my mental coach and was in a little bit of a panic. There is no time to get a surgery (7 month minimum recovery) and I was afraid that this might be the end of my career. I'm such a competitive person that I almost quit because I thought "If I can't go to the trials at 100%, I don't want to go at all."

Troy encouraged me to get in touch with Dr. Rintala at the Del Mar Chiropractic Sports Group. I'm so thankful that he has offered to work with me. I drive about 45 minutes north 2-3 times a week for treatment. So far it seems to be working and I began shooting again a few weeks ago (after 3 1/2 months off!).

I'm definitely not at 100%, more like 60%, but it is coming together. My shoulder is hurting less, but is still not allowing me to shoot my normal volume or pulling weight. My plan is to be ready to shoot in Vegas in a month... get the competitive vibe kicked in and see where I am with my progress.

Hope you are well! My enewsletter will be coming out in about a week, so be sure to sign up on my website if you haven't already (www.joyofarchery.com).

Thanks!

Joy

Joy resumes training at the OTC - Merry Christmas!

2007-12-23T04:38:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!

First off, Merry Christmas! My heart goes out to all of my close friends who have lost loved ones this year and this is their first Christmas without them. When my dad died 5 years ago, I remember how hard it was for me and I want you to know that I am praying for you and your family as you get through this first major holiday without them.

Secondly, I'd like to share the good news!! No doubt, thanks to all your prayers and support, I've now resumed shooting at the Olympic Training Center three days a week. Praise God! I'm very excited to have the opportunity to continue my training with Coach Lee and thankful for the help of some very key people who made it possible.

Have a blessed Christmas and I'll be speaking with you soon. If you would like to be added to my New Year's card list, please email me your address at joyfahrenkrog@yahoo.com. I'm going to be sending out a little surprise with it.

Love in Christ!

Joy

Tribute to Jack Aborn

2007-12-08T04:39:00.000-08:00

In the past five years, I've befriended hundreds of people within the archery community throughout the country and across the globe: archers, judges, coaches, parents of archers and Olympians. If I had a top 5 list, Jack Aborn would have been on it. Jack was, hands down, one of my absolute favorite archery people.

I first met Jack at ArcheryUSA in Dedham, MA in December of 2002 when I showed up for my first day of training in my new sport. From day one he believed that I would make the Olympic team and when things got tough along the way, he always lifted my spirits. When I moved from Boston to Florida to Illinois to Arizona to California, we always kept in touch.

One of Jack's favorite things to do was send me blonde jokes. I think he always felt it was his duty to keep me laughing, he knew how serious I was when I was competing and training. After I didn't make the Olympic team in 2004, Jack stepped up the humor a notch and started sending me every blonde joke that came his way. So, in an effort to help everyone who is suffering from the loss of this amazingly compassionate man feel a little better, I'm including many of his jokes below for your pleasure.

I'm am so very sad that he is gone, but incredibly happy that he was in my life. I thank God so much for such an amazing friend and confidant. I love you Jack!! The final words I'll leave you with are from a recent email that Jack wrote me "Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile."

JACK'S BLONDE JOKES (and then some other jokes):

My personal Favorite:

A blonde gets on an airplane and sits down in the first
class section. The stewardess tells her she must move to
economy because she doesn't have a first class ticket.

The blonde replies, "I'm blonde, I'm smart, I have a good
job and I'm staying in first class until we reach Jamaica."

The stewardess gets the head stewardess who asks the woman to leave and she says, "I'm blonde, I'm smart, I have a good
job and I'm staying in first class until we reach Jamaica."

The stewardesses don't know what to do because they have to
get the rest of the passengers seated to take off, so they
get the co-pilot.

The co-pilot goes up to the blonde and whispers in her ear.
She immediately gets up and goes to her seat in the economy
section.

The head stewardess asks the co-pilot what he said to get
her to move.

The co-pilot replies, "I told her the front half of the
airplane wasn't going to Jamaica."

SHE'S SO BLONDE THAT.....
She put lipstick on her forehead because she wanted
to makeup her mind.

SHE'S SO BLONDE THAT.....
When she heard that 90% of all crimes happened
around the home, she moved.

What do you call 9 blondes standing in a circle?
...A dope ring.

Son asked his mother the following question: "Mom, why are
wedding dresses white?"

The mother looks at her son and replies, "Son, this shows
your friends and relatives that your bride is pure."

The son thanks his Mom and goes off to double-check this
with his father. "Dad why are wedding dresses white?"

The father looks at his son in surprise and says, "Son,
all household appliances come in white."

Two blondes walk into a building,
You'd think at least one of them would have seen it.

Q. Did you hear about the blonde who shot an arrow into the air?
A. She missed.

A blonde's car gets a flat tire on the Interstate one day. So she eases it over onto the shoulder of the road.

She carefully steps out of the car and opens the trunk, takes out two cardboard men, unfolds them and stands them at the rear of the vehicle facing oncoming traffic.

The lifelike cardboard men are in trench coats exposing their nude bodies to approaching drivers...

Not surprisingly, the traffic became snarled and backed up. It wasn't very long before a police car arrives. The Officer, clearly enraged, approaches the blonde of the disabled vehicle yelling, "What is going on here?"

"My car broke down, Officer," says the woman calmly.

"Well, what the hell are these obscene cardboard pictures doing here by the road?" asks the officer.

"Helllllooooo, those are my emergency flashers!" she replied

A blind guy on a bar stool shouts to the bartender, "Wanna hear a blonde joke?"

In a hushed voice, the guy next to him says, "Before you tell that joke, you should know something."

Our bartender IS blonde, the bouncer is blonde. I'm a 6' tall, 200 lb black belt. The guy sitting next to me is 6'2", weighs 225, and he's a rugby player. The fella to your right is 6'5" pushing 300 and he's a wrestler. Each one of US is blonde. Think about it, Mister. Do you still wanna tell that joke?"

The blind guy says, "Nah, not if I'm gonna have to explain it five times."

Q: Why are gingerbread men the best men of all?
A: They are cute. They are sweet. And if they give you any lip, you can bite their friggin' heads off.

Q Why do little girls whine?

A Because they're practicing to be women.

Hear about the blonde who...
* Was trapped on an escalator for hours when the power went out.

* Couldn't call 911 because there was no 11 on any phone button.

What's the difference between a blonde and a parrot?
You can teach a parrot to say No.

Hear about the blonde who...

* When asked what the capital of California was, answered "C."

* Can't make KoolAid because eight cups of water won't fit into
one of those little packets.

Hear about the blonde who... Got hurt when she fell out of the tree while raking leaves.

Why are there no blonde ranchers?
They can't keep their calves together.

WHAT DO YOU CALL GOING ON A BLIND DATE WITH A BRUNETTE?
Brown-bagging it.

WHAT DO YOU CALL A BRUNETTE IN A ROOM FULL OF BLONDES?
Invisible.

WHY IS THE BRUNETTE CONSIDERED AN EVIL COLOR?
When was the last time you saw a blonde witch?

WHAT DO BRUNETTES MISS MOST ABOUT A GREAT PARTY?
The invitation

KNOW WHO INVENTED BLONDE JOKES?
Brunettes, they had nothing better to do on Friday or Saturday nights

What is the difference between a battery and a woman?
A battery has a positive side.

San Diego 211 - Firestorm 2007

2007-10-26T04:43:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I am currently writing this blog with about 6 hours of solid sleep since midnight Wednesday morning. As you may have heard, the fires have been raging in California since Sunday, October 21st. There are tons of pictures on the web but I thought these were incredible: http://www.pixagogo.com/6706394206. These pictures are of the training center taken by Marlon Shirley and distributed by Diana Wright. They show just how close the flames came to the OTC.

As I mentioned on my website, even though I am no longer a part of the Olympic Training Center program, they were very good about accounting for all the whereabouts of the athletes and taking the proper precautions to get people out of the training center in time. Fortunately, the flames did not actually reach the training center and no physical losses were sustained. The air quality is still not good enough to train outdoors.

San Diego residents have been incredible in their responsiveness to the need for volunteers. As the cities news stations reported around the clock, thousands of donations and volunteers showed up to help aid those in need. One of the organizations who needed help was 211. 211 San Diego (www.211sandiego.org) is an information hotline for San Diego County. Before Firestorm 2007, people could dial 211 from their phones and they could ask questions about services offered in and around San Diego County. Overnight it became the hotline for people who needed to know if they were under mandatory evacuation and where they needed to go to get out of harms way.

Because of the mass numbers of evacuees, current reports are saying up to 1 million people were displaced by the fires, 211 needed volunteer reinforcements and so they hooked up with www.volunteersandiego.org to find volunteers to man the phone lines in the 211 headquarters. Qualcomm came in and gave 211 everything they needed, instantly hooking up over 50 new phone lines and some large screen tvs.

It turns out that one of the gals who attends my church is heavily involved with San Diego 211 and she was looking for volunteers. By 2:30pm, I was in the headquarters offering my services as a volunteer coordinator. For the next 6 and a half hours I sat on the phone (we had been given pay as you go cell phones) and started calling the hundreds of volunteers who had signed up on the web. It was INCREDIBLE! There were so many emails that the piles were a couple of feet high. Our goal was to have 50-70 people at the 211 headquarters around the clock, serving 4 hour shifts.

My number one goal was to fill out the volunteer slots for the midnight to 4am and 4am to 8am shifts. People were amazing. I think partially because most people weren't working and because they knew they were needed, hardly anyone said they couldn't do it. I decided that I too would come back at midnight to help out, if I was asking others to do it, why couldn't I?

So there I was at midnight, helping train and direct the new volunteers, many of whom, I'd spoken with on the phone earlier. The phones were ringing off the hook, we had all types of calls; People who were bed-ridden who needed to know what to do if they were evacuated, people in areas where they could see flames outside their kitchen window and needed to know where to go, Army commanders who needed to know what roads were closed so they could get truck loads of supplies to the local shelters. The phones rang off the hook all night, over 1,000 calls an hour. We did the best we could with limited information.

I stayed until 9am that morning, went home to get some sleep then returned again at midnight last night. Fortunately by midnight on Thursday, the phone calls had started to die off, meaning people who needed the information had it for the most part. However, at 7am the phones started going nuts when a press conference announced that 211 would have information on who could return home. I was so impressed with how many people wanted to help, how many people put themselves aside and focused on making a difference.

Please continue to pray for those who were displaced, who lost their homes, and those who are helping to restore order!

Joy

New season, new time - Joy is no longer a resident athlete

2007-10-19T04:44:00.000-07:00

Ecclesiastes 3 A Time for Everything

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

In the 1965, as the United States was about to enter a time of political unrest, the Byrds used this scripture as the basis for their number one billboard hit, "Turn! Turn! Turn! (to everything there is a season). In 2002, we placed Ecclesiastes 3:1 as the verse under a photo of my dad happily enjoying a ride on Italian wooden speed boat, his hair tussled by the Venetian wind, on the front of his memorial card.

Today, as I sit back and reflect on the past two years, as I try and understand what is happening around me, it is this verse that sticks out above all others. It hasn't been more than a few days since I received an email with the words "Dear Joy, Please see the attached letter in reference to the RA Program." Attached was the following letter:

Dear Joy,

This letter is sent to inform you of the direction and status of the 2008 archery Resident Athlete Program for the United States Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California.

The program is taking a new and dynamic approach to athlete training in preparation for the development of elite archers for the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. At this time, the upcoming program plan is well focused on the continuing development of a strong Women's team. In complying with this new direction, the resident athlete program will retain our two top women resident athletes. Additionally, the program will bring in elite junior athletes to fill the remaining program spots. We are fortunate to have such talented Olympians to lead this new team and even more fortunate that one of those individuals is an Olympic medalist. These two women will provide the leadership and set the necessary example for the new recruits to follow. Furthermore, our resident Olympians will act as mentors for these young athletes, providing the guidance, experience and additional motivation to help them grow into future Olympians. What is currently unknown territory to these budding athletes will quickly become a much easier transition with the help of two seasoned Olympic archers.

While moving forward in our new direction, we do wish to take this moment to commend you on the effort and progress you have made in the RA program under the teachings and guidance of Mr. Kisik Lee, considered by many to be the World's top archery coach. We feel you have learned a great deal through your experience in the RA program and can now forge ahead with the skills you have learned from Coach Lee. Coach Lee has left you with the ultimate tools to continue your elite training in a setting of your own choosing. Although you have progressed and continue to show steady improvement while in the RA program, your skill sets and scores are not yet to the level required to be internationally competitive. We feel strongly that if you continue to train diligently, compete on a regular basis and steadily refine your shooting technique; you will eventually develop the ability to post scores that will earn you a slot on future international teams. We also want to inform you that the High Performance team will always have an open door for you or any high level athlete to reapply to the Resident Athlete Program during those future dates when applications are being accepted.

Presently, the High Performance Team is attempting to work within the parameters and restrictions of limited bed space at the OTC. However, we fully understand the constraints that are placed on the Olympic Training Center and greatly appreciate what they are currently able to offer. As US athletes gear up to compete in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, the pressure on the training center to meet those needs maximizes the capacity of the facility to adequately house those many athletes from a variety of sports. This fact sparked the inspiration to look further toward our future. We must develop our new Olympians now so that we may again dominate the world in Olympic Archery. One of the compelling reasons that have driven the decision to change directions in the RA program is the simple fact that since 1988, the US Women's Team has not won a single medal. The pendulum must again swing in our direction and therefore, the High Performance Team has chosen to follow a new plan and one that is considered to be a highly promising road to success. Success is vital to the growth of archery in the US and to obtain the much-needed funding opportunities provided by the USOC for medal winning sports.

We wish to thank you for your participation in the Resident Athlete Program for the sport of archery and wish you great success in all of your future archery endeavors.

Sincerely,

USA Archery High Performance Team:

Tom Parrish
Kisik Lee
Don Rabska

So where does that leave me now? I've known for a long time that I am an Olympian at heart, becoming one is in the very core of me. Although I have no status as a resident athlete, a resident athlete is not what defines me. No, I am defined by, and my identity is found in, Jesus Christ who has plans to "prosper me and not harm me, plans to give me a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

I rather like the verses that follow Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:

9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

God has put me in a situation where the only possible way to make it now is going to be through Him and in the end that may have been his very plan.

European Grand Prix in Sofia, Bulgaria

2005-07-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

The Sponsors: I would like to give ample thanks to all the people who sponsored this trip. Without them, it would not have been possible for me to gain this valuable experience. Monetary donations from Eugene Manalo, John Kothanek, Eric Nevalainen, Stan Boyd, Joe Melchiorre, Francisco Lopez, Anson Tyau, Jason Hansen and Fred Julian allowed me to pay for my airfare from London to Sofia as well as pay for extra costs associated with the trip that weren’t covered by PSE. PSE (Precision Shooting Equipment – www.pse-archery.com) covered the hotel, food, registration and transportation to and from the airport while I was in Sofia. Dr. Ted Byrom (www.ted-byrom.com) generously donated 100,000 of his AA miles to cover my plane ticket from Phoenix to London. Again, if it weren’t for them this trip would have been impossible for me to go on as it would have easily cost over $2500. I feel very blessed to have so many people behind me!

The Scoop: During the qualification round, I shot a personal best at 70 meters of 302 in a FITA (note that a FITA is four distances 70m, 60m, 50m, and 30m - last year at Olympic trials I shot a 313 but we didn’t shoot any other distance, just 70 meters). At 50 meters I shot a 307 besting my 302 from the Gold Cup. My overall FITA of 1253 was also a personal best, improving on last years nationals where I shot a 1246. I was most proud of the fact that it was the first time that I broke 300 points at each distance. Being able to shoot my personal best at an international tournament has really boosted my confidence.

At the end of the first day I was ranked 35th and a good second day moved me up 6 spots to 29th. On the third day we shot individual elimination rounds. I struggled a little bit on my first end shooting a 46 to Japan’s Suga who shot a 48. On the second end, I lost more ground when I shot a 49 to Suga’s 53. I was down 6 points, 95 to 101. On the final end I continued to improve, shooting a 50, but Suga only faltered slightly shooting a 49 to win by 5 points, 149 to 145. I wasn’t too disappointed with my overall finish of 36th as it was my first outdoor international tournament, but I knew that I could have done better. My teammate Jenny finished the best of the three of us tied for 5th while her sister, Mandy finished slightly behind me in 40th place.

In part because of Jenny’s 3rd place ranking in the qualification round with a 1330 FITA, our PSE team was ranked 5th. Our first match was supposed to be against 12th ranked Serbia and Montenegro but for whatever reason they didn’t show up on the last day and we basically received a bye. Our quarterfinal match was against the British team, who in recent months, acquired the coach who helped Marco Galliazo win the individual gold medal in Athens. After the first 9 arrows we were up 3 points on them with Jenny shooting a perfect 30 (10,10,10). On the second end we shot a 76 and were down by one point to the Brits (153-154). The last end both teams shot the same score and the Brits retained their 1 point lead beating us 227-226. Despite our loss, I felt I shot well under the pressure with a 76/90 (25,26,25). They then moved on to the semi finals where they beat the Chinese putting them in contention for the Gold medal which they lost to the Ukrainians.

Day by Day Personal Journal:

Day 1: Sunday, July 3rd, 2005

As the alarm went off at 5am, I was already more than half awake. My bags, probably for the first time ever, were fully packed. Usually I’m really lazy about packing and it takes me forever, but given that this was an international tournament, it was important to me that I be on time. Last year coming home from Amsterdam I learned the hard way that international planes don’t wait on customers who take their time getting to the airport.

My friend Antony had agreed to drop me off at the shuttle stop as well as take care of my dog Cassie until she could get into the kennel after the 4th of July. Of course, I forgot to call and wake him up so when I showed up at 6:45am he was still in his pajamas. We still made it to the shuttle drop off on time though, in fact slightly early. The shuttle picked me up promptly at 7:15am and my first leg of my trip was in motion. A little over 90 minutes later we were pulling into Sky Harbor where I checked my bags in for the long haul to Sofia.

My first flight was from Phoenix to Chicago, once I arrived in Chicago, I had a short delay before getting on the flight to London Heathrow. By the time I landed in the UK, I had been in a moving object (shuttle or plane) for roughly 13 hours with a couple of layovers. However, the anticipation and excitement surrounding my trip to Sofia helped me relax and enjoy it.

Day 2: Monday, July 4th, 2005 – Independence day!

Jenny, Mandy and Alexander met me at Heathrow and after a short layover of about an hour we were on our way to Sofia. Despite being one of the eastern most European countries, Sofia was only 3 hours away from London. On the plane, I had befriended a local Bulgarian who insisted on helping carry my bags all the way to the baggage claim. When we finally did get to the baggage claim, I was happy to get my bags right away. Although I have only lost my bags once while flying, you never know when it is going to happen.

Just two years ago, Magnus Peterson (aka the “Korean-eater” since he beat two Koreans on his way to the bronze medal match in the Sydney Olympics) lost his bow on the way to the Vegas World Indoor Festival and he had to put together an ad hoc bow made up of parts from several different people’s back ups. Although he shot well, he lost a lot of ground against everyone else until his equipment arrived. Unfortunately for Jenny and Mandy, it seemed as though they might be sharing the same fate as Magnus. Double unfortunate for them was that I didn’t bring a back up bow, jokingly, I suggested that we could all share mine. Needless to say, even though they were disappointed that they missed practice, we were all relieved when their bows showed up the next evening.

One last note about the fourth was that we were still able to enjoy fireworks. Jenny and Mandy came up to my room for a team meeting and while we were talking we started to hear these fireworks. It was a great moment, knowing that we were half way around the world able to still partake a little bit in our countries 4th of July celebrations.

Day 4: Wednesday, July 7th, 2005 - The Short Distances

I woke up tired this morning despite trying to go to bed a little earlier then the night before. For whatever reason, it took me a lot longer to fall asleep last night then the other nights, I guess I had a lot on my mind. Tuesday had gone well but it didn’t show my true potential and I felt some pressure to do well today.

I met Jenny, Mandy and Alexander for breakfast. Despite being there right at 7:30am, there was barely any food left. I think the hotel restaurant was a little under prepared for hungry archers as it seemed that every meal they were just short of the right amount of food every time the last few people got through the line. However, this morning I was one of the lucky ones, and I managed to scrape up all of the remaining eggs and three pieces of toast.

After breakfast, Jenny and Mandy went to get their stuff and I proceeded to put my bow case and extra bag on the bus. I’ve also learned that it is good to be one of the first on the bus, well that is if you would prefer to have a seat. Some of the teams are so large that they don’t really care if you have stuff on a seat saving it, they’ll just sit right down on it as was the case with the Chinese yesterday morning.

The bus ride is a quick 15 minutes, this morning we decided to sit in the front seat, which was most likely a mistake as Jenny almost had my breakfast all over her lap. The driving in Bulgaria leaves much to be desired, with no official lanes and aggressive drivers, it can often be a recipe for potential disaster. Nonetheless, we made it there in one piece and we made our way to the range for the start of the short distances.

The sky was dark, but the rain seemed to be holding off. Every once in a while I would feel a light rain drop, but it didn’t seem to want to accumulate to anything. As we did yesterday, the team decided to warm up on the practice field shooting blank bale for the first 3 rounds. I felt pretty good but despite shooting blank bale, I still didn’t feel like I was where I would like to be. I decided to shoot a couple of rounds at 50 to get a little bit more comfortable.

On my first few practice ends I was really trying hard to stay in control, it felt a lot like the National Indoor Championships when I got 5th… but it was without a doubt too stiff and I knew that it wasn’t the type of form that I shot a 325 in practice with. I was also struggling with my release and whether I wanted to keep it tight against my face as Vic had taught me over a year ago or whether I wanted to have it come back the way Alexander wanted it. I know I should be doing the latter, but I’d been having some trouble with it and the old way can sometimes feel like a mini security blanket. Eventually though, just as children have to shed their first “binki,” I too will have to release” my old release.

We made our way back to the official range saying hi to a couple of stray dogs along the way. Apparently, as it was in Athens, there are several stray dogs around Sofia and as in Athens, they are simply tolerated. My focus shifted back to the task at hand, I was still undecided about how I was going to approach today… which release was I going to shoot? Was I going to allow myself to be a little edgy? By the time we got to the official range, the practice whistle had blown. When I made my way to the line, I felt really comfortable. In fact in general, I’ve felt really comfortable about my shooting but it seems that there is a shift in how I feel in the practice to how I feel when I’m about to score.

I know that I don’t want to focus on score and that I just want to shoot, but it seems that that never really happens. Part of me thinks that eventually I’ll get to the point where I’ve done it so many times that I don’t even think about it. In fact today, I was doing pretty well with watching the score cards to make sure that it was accurate, but then being able to forget about my actual score when I was back on the line… well at least until the very end.

So, the first end was the start of a possible disaster. As usual, I really didn’t have any obvious nerves (i.e. butterflies, etc) but my muscles seemed to want to tighten up. I decided that it was important for me to remind myself to remain calm no matter what. I made a conscious decision to shoot extremely controlled on the first three arrows as it had worked on the practice range. I shot the first arrow, 8. I thought, ok, not so bad, then I shot the second arrow, 7.

At this point, even though I knew that I didn’t want to think this way, my brain was stuck on wanting to shot a 10 to even it up to a 25. My goal at the Gold Cup was to shoot every end 25 or better because that would guarantee me a 300+ finish. Last night, I had decided that if I could pick up 2-3 points on every 2 ends, I would be in a good position to shoot a 312-318 which would push me into second place for the Americans. The only thing is, I am not supposed to think about score… ever! It is the one thing that holds me back and I’m not really sure why I even let myself entertain the idea.

I’m sure you can see where this is going… my third arrow was a 6. Bam, 21. Nothing like dropping 4 points on the first end. When that happens, your brain starts running 100 miles an hour and trying to figure out how to calm down becomes your number one priority. When I came off the line I gave Alexander this look like “I know you’re pissed, I am too.” But what I said was, “I don’t know what happened, I’m having some problems with my eyes, you know that stigmatism, it is acting up again.” Which was partly true, but what was truer was that I was on the brink of getting my butt handed to me if I didn’t make some kind of change soon.

I was so mad at myself, I knew that I could turn it around, but the question was how quickly and would it last. I am always dreaming about the day that I can just stand up and shoot without having to think about it… that day when I am so calm and so collected that shooting is simple and easy, seamless and strong. I’ve often had this dream about shooting the last arrow at a tournament (a big one too… like the Olympics) and I need a 10 to win. I shoot the arrow and it just makes its way smack dab in the middle. I drop to my knees in amazement at this moment. The next shot is me on the podium, although it isn’t clear if I’m in first or somewhere else on the podium… but it doesn’t really matter to me because I value the precious moment when I know that my shot was perfect the second the arrow left my bow.

Of course that particular image didn’t appear right then, but I did manage to talk myself into changing back to the smooth and relaxed form versus the tense, over calculated form I was about to shoot. My next end was a 28, bringing my two end total to 49. Well… not where I wanted to be but not so bad, only being down 1 point on the first 2 ends wasn’t going to kill my score. Things picked up from there and I shot a solid 52, 52, 50, 53, and 51 finishing with a total of 307. Again not to my fullest potential, but a personal best by 5 points in a tournament. One more step in my personal ladder of confidence.

After 50 ended we decided to go to the practice range and get our sites for 30 meters. I shot 3 ends and each end I had 3 tens out of 6 of the arrows. I knew that if I consistently shot like that I would be able to pull off a 340 or so, but again, I was trying to let go of score and just focus on my form and my ability to stay calm. However, I’m still not at the point where I can just let it go. When we were done with practice, we made our way back to the official range.

As we got ready to shoot 30 meters for score, my whole body felt this wash of relief come over it. I was so glad to have made it through the toughest distances… and to know that for the first time ever, I’d broken 300 on each distance. I am slowly learning to take pleasure in the small things and not obsess over the short term but to remain focused on the long term.

At the end of the first end, I remember walking down to the target with Jenny and Mandy and I looked at Jenny and said, “Doesn’t it feel it feel great to shoot the first end at 30 meters?” Mandy looked back at me and said, “Yeah especially when you shoot a 30.” I smiled back and said, “Yeah that would be nice, I guess I’ll have to do it next end…” and as I said that I realized that I had in fact shot a 30. Which is great, except that again, it can be a pressure cooker, I had to really calm myself down for the second end. Of course the next 7 ends I managed to shoot 5 29s broken only by 2 28s somewhere in the middle.

Now the weather had held out quite well until about the 4th end and then with the crack of thunder and a flash of lightening, the heavens opened up and started pouring down on us. The water was so strong that the automatic timing system died, forcing us to shoot according the whistle rather then the buzzer. It got my nerves a little bit since I had no real concept of how much time I had left to shoot. Even when I had a clock, I still had one very close call in which I let an arrow go with only 1 second left on the clock. Fortunately for me it was an 8. The combination of the buzzer and the rain made it more difficult for me.

During the breaks in between each end I was using Jenny’s baby powder to keep my chin, equipment and hands from getting too wet. It seemed to work but as I started the last end I was surprised at where the arrows were going. All of the sudden with 4 arrows to go I couldn’t calmly hit the gold as I was doing before. For whatever reason, I happened to look at my finger tab only to see the shelf (the piece that rests under your chin) had shifted forward and down. Needless to say, it was quite frustrating because I wasn’t sure exactly where it was supposed to be and furthermore, even if I changed it back, I would need to make a sight adjustment to make sure it was in the right place.

I attempted to fix it and I was able to get it so it wasn’t perfect but it was better even if it didn’t reflect in my score. The next three ends cost me a lot of points, in part because the shelf on the tab moved, in part because I was very surprised (I don’t know why) as to how well I was doing and in part because it was raining. To qualify for USAT, I needed a 1260 and on the last four ends I dropped enough points to miss the 1260 by 7 when I could have easily made it and have finished ahead of Mandy who I came third to by 5 points.

Although I was happy that I shot a personal tournament best, I knew that I could have shot much better.

Day 5: Friday, July 9th, 2005 - Individual Eliminations

I apologize that I did not write a journal on this day... the summary is at the top of this page.

Day 6: Team Elimination

I stand firmly by the fact that when a team loses, it is not just because of one person – unless of course the other two people shot perfect scores and they lost b/c the third didn’t. I had a lot of hopes for a medal from this tournament, especially the team round. I felt mentally prepared and confident this morning when I woke up. I had done a lot of work mentally to make it come together and I was somewhat pleased with how I shot, but I knew I could shoot better – seems to be the theme of this tournament.

We got up around 8:30am and went down to breakfast, there wasn’t much conversation, in fact Jenny and Mandy didn’t come down until it was near time to go. It wasn’t that big of a deal since the night before though we had spent about a half an hour talking about how we felt about the nerves that tournaments give us. Jenny and Mandy said that they actually physically shook… I personally had not had that feeling, but after today was over, I definitely knew what they were talking about. It is funny, because I tend to not get extremely nervous, sometimes I feel like maybe I should be more nervous than I am because I am so calm. However, Alan (my sports psych) keeps telling me that it is more important to be really calm then to be nervous, so I guess I’m doing something right.

Our first match was supposed to be against Serbia and Montenegro however, they didn’t show up which was a shame because it would have been really good for all of us to get our nerves out and for me to build up my confidence. We shot for score anyway and I think that due to the lack of pressure I didn’t shoot my best. I had a lot of 7s and a blueberry. I had been really worried that I would shoot a 2 in competition before we came to Bulgaria, but luckily for me that thought didn’t even cross my mind when we were on the field.

I made it a point not to look at the British or to even look at their target. I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but for me it keeps me focused on myself which is the number one ingredient to succeeding in a sporting event (in my opinion). The new UK coach, a Korean came up to me and shook my hand as well as Jenny and Mandy’s. I thought that was an interesting gesture. As they played the Gladiator 2 minute count down music, I reminded myself to stay calm and cool, loose and relaxed. Mandy shot her first shot and it was in the red, as I got up to shoot mine, I told myself to remain calm… I could see everything, I still can. I was very aware of what I was doing and how I was doing it. I believe I shot an 8 left. I adjusted my site and Jenny got on the line and shot a 10. Mandy shot again and I believe it was a 7. I shot another 8 right next to the other one and adjusted my site again. Jenny got up and shot another 10. Mandy shot, I believe hitting a 9 and I got on the line and shot a 9. Jenny got up and shot a 10.

At the end of the first end we were up 3 points… it was a strange position in to be in because you have the upper hand. I remember thinking, “Oh, this is great; if we can just hold it together we should be able to win this one.” I thought a little too quickly. You can never be too comfortable in international competition… a 3 point lead can be reversed in an instant… I remember my first match against Lindsay Pian at the AZ Cup in 2003, after the first end she was up 7 points but I managed to win by that margin in the end. On the next three arrows, I managed an X which very well could have been a lot lower given the amount of time I held the bow. I also got a little nervous on one shot and hit a high 7. Yet on another I aimed off just a little to the right and hit exactly where I aimed shooting an 8.

After 18 arrows the Brits had pulled out ahead of us by 1 point. I remember being a little surprised because I thought that we had shot the second end pretty well, just one point lower then the first with a 76 for a total of 153. On the last end, I felt particularly bad for Mandy, while she was in the middle of a shot one of the British girls popped a 6 and Naomi (one of the GB Olympians) called the arrow just as Mandy was releasing the shot. Had I been in the same position, I might have found it difficult to shoot my shot without being distracted by her shouting the number 6, I have a hard enough time trying to keep my mind from thinking about 5s or 6s let alone hearing it. Whether Mandy shot the 6 b/c she heard it or just because she was nervous really doesn’t matter because there was nothing we could do about it at that point.

When we got down to the target and we added the scores up, my stomach almost dropped (and I think Jenny’s actually did) when we saw that we only lost by one point. The British were nice about it though, instead of rubbing it in our faces they nicely shook hands and went back to the line to get ready for their next match against China. There were (and still are) several moments where I look back at that match and wish I could go and redo it. A 6th place finish was pretty good for the team, but it was also very disappointing given the fact that the Brits then went on to win the silver without us.

I didn’t cry. In fact, I think I was too disappointed to cry. Jenny and Mandy decided to go over to the practice range to work some of their frustration out and they asked me if I wanted to come along. At first I said no because I felt so bad I just wanted to pack it up, but then I decided to join them to show them that I supported the team and that I wasn’t mad at Mandy. We barely talked on the practice range, I asked if they wanted pizza again for dinner (since they had ordered it the night before), then shot a final round (with 5 arrows smack in the center of the target and walked back over to see the finals.

About an hour later, when we were changed for pictures, Mandy and Jenny were talking about the loss. Mandy asked Jenny if she ever got mad at the person who shot the lowest score on the team. I thought Jenny had a great answer, “No…”she said, “In fact, I get mad at the people who get mad at the person who didn’t shoot the best.” She then added that she hated to see when people got hard on themselves for being the one who shot the worst. I then tried to explain how I felt about it… even though she had the toughest round out of the three of us, I was more mad at myself for my 7 and 8 which cost us up to 5 additional points. But, “More Importantly,” I told her, “I could never have blamed you for the loss unless I shot a perfect score, which I didn’t.” David Kronengold later mentioned something even more important to me… unless someone deliberately blows a match, there is nothing to be upset about.

Later on at dinner when we were reviewing it yet again, Mandy and Jenny both said that I did a good job. The funny thing is, I had been praying for the past month and a half that I would do my part and not fail the team… they had no idea how glad I felt that I did what I wanted to do.

So the tournament came to an end, the banquet and party was the next logical step to finish up the grand prix circuit. Oddly, I was very pleased with how things went overall. I shot two personal bests at individual distances (70m in a FITA and 50m). I shot a personal best FITA in a tournament (and not just any tournament, an international one) of 1253 and I was able to hold it together in the team round and not let anyone down. My weakest link was probably the individual eliminations which was really the one aspect of the tournament that I hadn’t done as much mental preparation as the others.

Building Up

2005-05-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

Quick Version:

3/31-4/3 - TEXAS SHOOTOUT: 1st place finish in the team round with team members Angela Teggart and Nikki Stull. 3rd place finish individually, my highest outdoor finish yet. Read on...

4/4-4/7 - FARGO/WINNIPEG: After the Texas Shootout, Joe Courneya arranged for me to fly out to Fargo, ND and Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada) to talk to students and physical education teachers about why archery should be in schools. Read on...

4/13-4/15 – ARIZONA CUP: Team PSE (Jenny and Mandy Nichols and myself) finished up 1st beating the team from Poland in the final. Individually, I finished in 9th place. Read on...

NEW SPONSORS: Brunton, Easton Arrows, Doinker, and 4 new personal sponsors.Read on...

UPCOMING EVENTS: 2005 World Outdoor Trials – May 10th-15th in Orlando, FL.Read on... Results should be posted on www.usarchery.org.

Long Version

3/31-4/3 - TEXAS SHOOTOUT:

Ever had the feeling that you weren’t prepared to do something, but that you had to do it anyway – no matter the outcome? That was how I felt going into Texas. I went in part because I had already scratched from three major indoor tournaments and I was itching to compete again. I think the other half of me just wanted to get the first outdoor tournament out of the way, get the jitters out. If archery has taught me anything, it is that I have to be patient and trust that the outcome will be in God’s hands, good or bad, and not in mine. That being said, I still have to show up at every tournament as prepared as I can be and not be scared to do well or even to flop.

Probably the best part about the trip was getting to stay with Drs. Nancy Leslie and Roger Smith for the second year in a row. Last year, one of my Rotary sponsors, Les Lilly helped me get connected with them. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them again and spend some one on one time with Roger’s mom, Sue – who by the way makes an excellent casserole. While I was there, Nancy had me try a computer program that uses virtual reality and body signs such as your heart rate and your breathing to lift balls into the air, build staircases, and even shoot an arrow.

I arrived in Texas a day early. I learned last year that flying in on the practice day can be dangerous if the weather is bad or if your bow doesn’t arrive. An extra day always gives you a cushion in case anything dramatic happens. It also helps get over the plane sickness you get after flying on the puddle jumper from Houston to College Station, something which I inevitably suffer from every time.

I went to the practice range to sign in and shoot a couple rounds of arrows only to find out that the wind was steadily blowing at around 20 miles per hour, with gusts up to 30 mph. At that point, I only had 8 arrows to compete with (you get 6) and I was afraid that if I lost anymore I’d be in trouble. That night I stocked up on my traditional balance bars and orange juice and headed off to bed not knowing what the next day would bring.

If you have been following my E-newsletters, you will know that one of the most important things that I stress is that success comes not without failure (or at least some dips along the way). The first day of the tournament was one of those days that I wished that saying wasn’t true. I shot terribly, so terribly in fact that I missed my last arrow at 50 meters out of pure frustration.

My frustration that had been building all morning exploded after the miss. I had promised myself that outcome didn’t matter, yet I wanted to do so well. I had told myself that I didn’t care about score, only about form, yet I felt like a total fish out of water. My form felt awful, my attitude was terrible and it seemed as though nothing I did would help. Fortunately for me, Kate Anderson (2005 US Indoor National Champion) and Stephanie Arnold (2004 Olympian) both came up to me and were very consoling. They didn’t have to be nice, after all they were my competitors, but they were true sportswomen.

After a rough day, I had an option to call it a day or stay another hour and shoot in the team round. I decided I needed to get rid of some of the cob webs and put a team together. We called ourselves stealth and despite having never practiced together, we managed to beat three varsity teams to win the gold.

Although the team round win was a very positive experience, my individual shooting had still shot a hole in my confidence. That night I had to make a decision about my attitude, I needed to change it around somehow. I needed to enjoy the tournament and not dread it. I went to Target to buy a cheapo watch because I didn’t have one that was functioning and while I was there, I happened to see a pair of Superwoman underwear. I figured that the tournament couldn’t get much worse, so I was going to have fun the next day knowing that I was the only woman out there wearing hot pink superwoman underwear.

The decision must have been a good one because the next day was a totally new day – and it went really well. My first match was against one of the Texas A&M aggies who had just started shooting archery and my second match was against Angela Taggert, one of my teammates from the team round the night before. Although I got through my first match pretty easily, it was the start of the second match that was a little more challenging. At the end of the first end against Angela, I only had one or two points up on her. I really had to dig deep to open up the point spread on the second end. It can always be a bit more challenging to beat a friend than someone you know, but I wasn’t about to go out in the second round – I had no desire to repeat last year’s 30th place finish when I freaked out against Nicole Rasor.

My next match was against Stephanie Miller from Columbia University. Stephanie, as you may recall from Gold Cup 2004, was on the 2003 gold medal Pan American Team as well as the team the US sent to the world championships in 2003. She is ranked 2nd in the US and was seeded 1st after the qualification round. I was excited, yet calm at the same time. I love that feeling right before you go into a really tough match and your heart starts beating. I love steep competition and challenging my mind to think clearly and my body to react smoothly. Despite some wind, I managed to win with a couple points to spare and for the first time in any national-level competition, I managed to make the top 4 cut.

Once you make the top four you still have to win your next match in order to go into the gold medal match. My semi-final match was against Lindsay Carmichael, a member of the 2004 Paralympic team who set several world records in Athens this past summer. I wasn’t necessarily nervous about shooting against her, I had beat her team in the team round the night before, but I think I was a little too focused on shooting perfectly so that I could shoot for the gold. You may know exactly what I’m talking about… it is like taking a test and trying so hard to remember everything that your mind goes blank and you can’t even begin to think about what the right answer is or how to solve it. Basically in archery, your body just shuts down and you can’t remember what you are supposed to be doing to make the arrow go in the middle. My very first arrow was a miss. The match was over before it even got started. It is nearly impossible to come back in a 12 arrow match with a miss. My destiny for this tournament was not a gold medal.

I entered the bronze medal match with mixed emotions. I knew I was good enough to be in the gold medal match but there was no point in dwelling on that, it would only cause me to loose my focus on the task at hand which was to do the best job I could do to give myself the best chance at winning the bronze. My opponent was 2004 Olympian Stephanie Arnold. Stephanie had been so nice to me when I was struggling the day before and here I was, finding myself shooting against her for the 3rd place spot. After the first end, I was up a few points and by the half, I was up enough that she couldn’t come back and win. I remember thinking, Wow! finally my first medal finish in any major outdoor tournament! Of course sharing the moment with my hosts who had seen me go home extremely disappointed the year before was on of the best parts. The first person to congratulate me was the gal handing out the awards, the second was the US Anti-doping agency escort.

The dope testing was quite the process. You have to be followed around until you are ready to go to the bathroom. Once you are ready to go, they escort you to the testing area where they ask you pee in a cup in front of someone. I was a little nervous about the testing because I had just started on a new vitamin regimen and USADA (US Anti-doping agency) won’t tell you what vitamins you can or can’t take. Fortunately, I was pretty sure that they wouldn’t cause any problems because I was assured by my nutritionist, Dr. Smith that the vitamins were made out of whole foods. Still, you never know and I was very happy when I received a letter on the 25th saying that I had passed the doping test.

In the end, I think I was a bit relieved that I had finished 3rd despite feeling totally unprepared. It taught me a lot about my inner strength and my ability to turn a bad start to a tournament around.

4/4-4/7 - FARGO/WINNIPEG:

In between the Texas Shootout and the Arizona Cup, I flew to Fargo, ND and Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada) thanks to a lot of hard work on the part of Joe Courneya, the 4-H director for North Dakota. In Fargo, I spoke briefly in front of a JOAD (Junior Olympic Archery Development) program that was just getting started. I then gave a demonstration, hitting balloons first and then an apple and then strawberries. After the shooting, I signed autographed cards provided by PSE.

For many of the kids in attendance at the meet and greet, it was their first time shooting and their enthusiasm was extremely inviting. The amazing thing about the program is that it wouldn’t even exist if a guy named “Rags” didn’t offer to volunteer and Joe Courneya hadn’t put it together. I am always encouraged to see such willing volunteers.

The next morning Joe arranged for me to film a public service announcement that will air on television promoting 4-H shooting sports and local JOAD programs in North Dakota and the surrounding states with the possibility of being aired on a national level.

After shooting the psa, we went to Centennial grade school. Before meeting with the students, I had an opportunity to speak with physical education teachers from several different school districts about the benefits of the NASP (National Archery in the Schools Program). I also learned a lot about the statistical impact of archery in schools. Did you know that attendance goes up on days that students participate in archery? Or that discipline issues are lower on archery days? The main thing I talked about was how archery can be used as a character building tool as well as a platform to teach math and physics, and finally as a sport that increases agility and ear/body coordination (i.e. getting your body to do what you are asking it to do).

Although speaking with the teachers was important and I enjoyed it very much, it was being around the 5th graders that really made my day. Many of them had never seen a bow before let alone shot at a target with one. I had a blast talking to them about encouraging their fellow students and really enjoyed getting them riled up. I asked them to yell “you can do it!” and they were all over it, the noise in the room was deafening! The best part though was when their fellow classmates came up to shoot and you could hear them continue to yell and cheer on their friends whether they hit the gold or not. Afterwards, I stuck around to sign more PSE autograph cards which the kids really loved.

The Fargo Forum wrote a really nice article about the event, click the link below to read it and see a fantastic picture of one of the young girls shooting her arrow with me cheering right next to her:

The Fargo trip didn’t end with the school visit. A friend of Joe’s, Delmere, contacted Joe and I to see if we would be interested in making a home visit to a local archer. Having spoken with Joe a little bit about Chick, I knew that she was disabled but had no idea what a champion she really was until we arrived at her home. You see, Chick has practically the same injury as Christopher Reeve had and she is confined permanently not only to her wheelchair, but to her home. Because of state laws, she is not aloud to leave her house, let alone her state.

Before Chick was injured she was a 4-H volunteer teaching archery and an active archer herself as well. After her car accident 9 years ago this July, it was a miracle that she even lived let alone started shooting archery again. With the help of Al from Scheels All Sports in Fargo, they were able to develop a PSE crossbow that aims with a laser and that she shoots with a button she presses with her cheek. This amazing woman continues to press on and has not only continued to do something that she loves but has come up with other ways to occupy her time. One way of doing this was to write a cookbook using computer equipment specialized to her. Soon, you will be able to purchase Chick’s cookbook from my website for just $12 and 100% of the profits will go to help fund a nursing scholarship that she set up to honor the student nurse who saved her life. I will send a link in the next e-newsletter.

My trip in Fargo was then followed by a four hour drive to Winnipeg. I have only been to Canada twice before, once for a rowing trip to Toronto and a second time to visit a friend in Montreal. I was very excited to have the opportunity to visit a more western part of Canada. In the process, I learned an extensive amount about the Red River and the problems that are currently being caused by its overflow into Canada. My purpose for being at the water conference was to speak to high school students about making their dreams become a reality and I did my best to do that. I also learned that a few of them had dreams of their own… one student wanted to change the snowboarding world another wanted to run her own nightclub business… and yet another wanted to be the left arm wrestling champion of the world.

Overall the trip was a fantastic opportunity for me to encourage the growth of archery and learn a lot at the same time. I only hope that opportunities like these will continue to exist. If you know of any club or team or corporation that would be interested in having me speak to them, I would be more than happy to do this again.

4/13-4/15 – ARIZONA CUP:

After coming back from Winnipeg, I started shooting again and things seemed to be going from bad to worse in practice. I was just getting over a cold and a muscle in my back had been acting up. Part of me started putting a lot of pressure on myself to do well and during my last practice before the tournament my coach and I had a long discussion about whether or not I should even attend. I shot one more end, nearly all of my arrows hitting the blue ring and decided to throw in the towel on the tournament.

When I got home, I called my mom to ask her if I could come out and stay with her for the weekend instead of shooting the tournament. She said I could if I really wanted to, but she helped me to talk through why I really wanted to scratch the tournament. In reality, one of the main reasons I didn’t want to go was that I was afraid I would flop. The only way I was going to get through the tournament was if I thought that the most important thing was not how I did, but that I participated and didn’t give up. So with that, I packed my bags and drove to Phoenix.

I had a better first two days than Texas and was able to build up my confidence a little bit. My first match in the elimination round was against a gal from Pima community College who, like the girl in my first match in Texas, had just started shooting archery. I won easily by over 100 points. My second match was a little more difficult, I had to shoot against a friend that I train with in Tucson, Maggie Huff. Maggie was a member of the 2004 Junior World’s team and was a JR national champion last year. At the end of the first end, I was down by 5 points. Even though I really like and respect Maggie, my brain kicked in and pushed me into the zone. The next end, I shot nearly every arrow in the gold and not only reclaimed my deficit, but pushed ahead by about 6 points. On the last end we both shot the same score and I moved on to the quarter finals where I had to shoot against Marie-Pierre Beaudet.

Marie and I had shot against each other the previous year during the 1/16th round at the Gold Cup in New Jersey. There, I managed to beat her and finish 5th overall after losing to Stephanie Miller in the quarter finals. I knew I was capable of beating her, but that my focus had to be on my form. At this point, my form still didn’t feel right and so finding my confidence in that was a bit more difficult. During the previous match I was able to sight in (meaning move my sight) despite the wind but at the start of this match, the wind had picked up strongly in a different direction. I adjusted my sight the way I thought I needed to and then shot the first arrow. It was a low 6. I didn’t know whether it was me or the wind, and seeing as how I had just changed my sight I figured it must have been me, so I shot another one and it too hit a low blue. I knew that Marie-Pierre wouldn’t give me much breathing room and that those first two arrows would be tough to recover from. I calmed myself down and tried to focus on form and adjusted my sight one more time. I shot a low 7. 11 points dropped on the first 3 arrows. I couldn’t believe it. On the next end, I just went for it, I shot quickly, I shot strong and I barely missed the gold – probably because I wasn’t focused on it.

As we started the last end, I shot pretty well, my form, still not feeling very comfortable came through for me. In the end, I lost the match by 6 points but cut my deficit in half. Despite not winning, I shot the highest losing score and finished 9th. This tournament taught me a lot about the importance of participation. As Tiger Woods said before this years masters when questioned about why he went to all the other majors when he was struggling with his form, “If you don’t go, you don’t have a shot, if you go, at least you have a chance.”

In the end, even though both the Texas Shootout and the Arizona Cup were very stressful and at some points frustrating, they were excellent preparation for the Olympic Trials to be held in a little less than 3 years from now. Thanks sponsors for helping make these tournaments a huge success!!

NEW SPONSORS:

The past two months have been very exciting. Brunton made me a member of it’s national staff, providing me with top of the line optics equipment (www.brunton.com). Doinker has set me up with new stabilizers and accessories just in time for the 2005 World Outdoor Trials (www.doinker.com). Easton provided me with 2 sets of X-10 arrows (www.eastonarchery.com). New personal sponsors include Paul Roden from Homestead Ag Products (Bronze), Paul Smith (Silver - who I made a web site for: www.hocawards.com), Joe Courneya (Gold), and my mom (Platinum).

UPCOMING EVENTS:

2005 World Outdoor Trials – May 10th-15th in Orlando, FL. Results should be posted on www.usarchery.org.

The Season Begins

2005-03-31T10:56:00.000-08:00

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.

End of 2004 - Face 2 Face

2005-01-01T10:42:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! This is the first E-newsletter of 2005 (or the last of 2004). If you do not want to receive these in the future, please respond to this email with "take me off the newsletter" in the subject line.

2004 YEAR RECAP: Overall, my 2004 season couldn't have been better. Although missing the Olympic team by a mere 40 points, I finished in the top 8 in 7 of the 9 national and international tournaments I attended. To see all the 2004 results click on: http://www.joyfahrenkrog.com/id42.html

NEXT WEEK!! World Indoor Trials, Hillsboro, TX: Next Thursday, I will be leaving for the World Indoor Trials which will be held in Hillsboro, TX. Results will be posted along with a press release on my website on the evening of the 16th. You will also get an email within 24 hours of the tournament stating my result - a feature of the 2005 sponsorship program! Within a week, y! ou will be able to see video of me shooting in the tournament as well as download my scorecard should it be provided - another new feature of the 2005 sponsorship program! The NAA should be updating the results as well... you can check for them on www.usarchery.org.

THREE WEEKS AGO!! Face 2 Face Tournament, Amsterdam: The Face 2 Face tournament finished up December 12th in Amsterdam. I had the third highest score overall on the final day of the tournament but only placed 5th because I didn't not win enough matches to advance to the finals. A full recap of the tournament is below. You can also read the press release at: http://www.joyfahrenkrog.com/id58.html. The pictures of the Americans at the tournament can be found by clicking on: http://www.pixagogo.com/7158835235. My personal photo album from the tournament can be found by clicking on: http://www.pixagogo.com/3152805754. Be sure to enter the password: sponsor.

Face 2 Face Tournament Recap (for the reading hardy):

I arrived in Amsterdam on the 8th after taking an overnight flight from Chicago which connected in Zurich. The airfare for the trip was provided by USA Crossbow president, Bill Pimm. Given that the cost of a week long international tournament without airfare runs around $800, I would not have been able to attend this tournament had it not been for Bill's generosity.

The anticipation of this tournament had been building for some time. Having only shot a couple of local tournaments since the end of the US Nationals in July, I was excited to be in a high profile, high pressure tournament once again. But the real anticipation was its own dichotomy. On the one hand, the anxiety I felt could be contributed to not knowing how I was going to fair in my first international tournament. On the other hand, I could trace the feelings that I was having to knowing that I had been shooting well enough in the weeks prior to fly home with hardware. I've learned that the latter is much more powerful ! of an obstacle to overcome than the former and I know that is one of the reasons why I advanced to the second qualification round was nothing less than a gift.

Don't fool yourselves; Europe in the winter is cold. Having lived in London and France already (each for a year) and having never come home with a tan from either place, you might think that I would have remembered this tiny little detail. While it was 50 degrees in Chicago, I was sitting in a freezer in the Netherlands - but, I used the extra 24 hours I had worked into my trip as to cope with jet lag, one way to keep warm was to do some indoor sight seeing before the main event got underway.

For those of you who've read Anne Frank's Diary, you'll appreciate the fact that I actually stood in the secret annex that she and her family hid in during World War II. Having read the diary, I was surprised that I couldn't recall the writing ambitions that young Anne had, on May 11th, 1944 she wrote "You've known for a long time that my greatest wish is to be a journalist and later on, a famous writer. In any case, after the war I'd like to publish a book called The Secret Annex." Inspiration comes in many ways, but given the course of history that ended Anne's life, the following entry written by Anne when she was but 15 years old moved me in a way that only confirmed all things in life are possible - even when you don't live to! see the outcome. March 25, 1944 "I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people. And therefore I am so grateful to God for giving me this gift of writing, of expressing all that is in me!"

Needless to say, I left the Anne Frank House with a sense of hope and encouragement. Two hours later I was in the practice hall warming up, focused on the next few days and what they might bring. My practice went well, but not great. The fatigue from travel was wearing on me and after only shooting 60 arrows, a fraction of what I shoot at home, I took a small break so that I wouldn't get overly frustrated with myself. One of the main things that I've learned from Archery is that frustration kills the moment, the end, the day, the everything. It is important to stay focused on the big picture and not on the little one, especially the day before a stepping-stone in the plan.

Friday was the first day of the competition, I arrived at the venue an hour early, warmed up and started soaking everything in. The day before, only the competitors from the US and countries further away from Amsterdam had arrived so today there was a montage of national team warm up suits and a buzz in the air of ja's and oui's, hallo's and si's. Having not competed in an international tournament outside the US, I didn't know many of the competitors. Many of them were nice and by the end of the week, I had a couple of new Dutch, Slovenian and British friends.

As I walked from the practice hall to the competition hall, my mind was racing with the overwhelming feeling of wanting to do well having come all this way and not wanting to focus on wanting to do just that. I knew that only 4 or 5 girls were getting cut on the first day and that all I really needed to do was focus on the right things, shoot like I did at home and I'd be competing in the second round... but something didn't feel right and somehow I had a sense that this day was going to be a struggle. Only three of my matches were against opponents, while two of my matches were for score. As I allowed the frustration to settle in, I started trying to hard to aim - and even though I thought I was in control of my out of control feelings - I had lost my focu! s. These feelings manifested themselves particularly well in my last match against Naomi Folkland.

I knew Naomi was coming and of all the girls at the tournament, I knew Naomi was one of the ones to beat. Naomi was a member of the British Olympic Team this past summer as well as a 5 time British National Indoor Champion. The problem with knowing this is that you can dwell on it and by the time you stand next to her on the line, you'd rather have her autograph than shoot against her. At the end of the first three arrows, and having not won any of my matches to this point, I was two points up on her. You might recall the match this past summer when I beat the Canadian Olympian Marie Pierre Beuadet - it wasn't entirely as if I hadn't been in this type pr! essure situation before. Despite thinking I was ready for it, the expectation and the anticipation that mounted forced me to drop 4 points on next end, tying up the match. During the third end, I dropped a 6 and during the fourth end, I missed - my once 2 point lead was now a devastating 12 point deficit. A sudden wave of panic hit me. I did not come all this way to miss the first cut, I did not enlist a sponsor for the airfare of a trip that I was only going to be competing in for one hour. But at this point there was nothing I could do, my fate at the tournament was to be determined by whether or not I could qualify by score.

The next 5-10 minutes felt like an hour. I found myself all of the sudden having to figure out what I would do if I didn't make it. Then suddenly I saw it - the screen flashed the names of the top four non-automatic scorers who would advance to the second round. I had grabbed the last spot by just 4 points. It is amazing how when it is all said and done, you have no idea how important those precious points are until they save you. Relieved as I was, I had to wait there until I saw my name pop again. I knew that anything was possible and they could come back and say they miscalculated a score and I'd be out. After it came up a second time, I packed up my stuff and headed to the practice range to brush up on my shooting issues.

That night I got on the phone with my tournament coach and we laid down the rules for the second day. I spent another 15 minutes that evening outlining what I wanted to keep focused on during the second round. Amazingly, that night I had an excellent night's sleep and woke up refreshed with a few butterflies. I don't think it is good to be so nervous you can't focus, but I tend to find that when there is some edginess I can concentrate just that much more.

I took the next morning easy but was constantly aware that I had a job to do later that day. To get my mind off of the impending tournament, I decided that laughing would be the cure. So, to accomplish this goal, I decided to watch a lighthearted movie. Looking through my DVD stack, my chick flick choices ranged from Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in You've Got Mail and Renee Zellwinger's Brigit Jones Diary to college cult favorites Happy Gilmore and The Wedding Singer starring Adam Sandler. I avoided at all costs the temptation to pick a movie from my inspirational stack The Cutting Edge, Rudy, and Miracle. I've found that although they may motivate one to perform well, the basis for each movie's plot is that people come from behind and win. Not that winning is a bad thing - it is thinking about it that can get in the way of doing it in a sport like archery.

In the end, I settled for golf and Happy Gillmore's happy place. Yes, yes, you could argue that the plot of the movie is similar to what I was trying to avoid, yet there is something about hand eating alligators and beer drinking fans that distract one from such plot.

As the movie came to an end, I stood up stretched and as if in slow motion, calmly got up, very aware of my breathing, and started to get ready to leave. 20 minutes and a cup of sugar-free decaffeinated coffee later (trust me it is not as bad as it sounds) I was loading my stuff into the van and on my way to the sport hall.

As I set my stuff up, I made eye contact with various other archers nodding my head and smiling as if to say, "best of luck to you." Today, I would shoot just enough to get sited in and muscles warm. I had no desire to wear my arms out early as I had done the day before. After shooting a little, I went out to watch the men's compound as they wrapped up. I had two friends shooting in it who were capable of winning and I wanted to be there to support them. With 30 minutes left before we started shooting, I shot another two ends on the practice range and then headed out to the competition range.

The hall had emptied out during the short break between the divisions and I was alone on the competition floor. I set my USA jacket up to face the crowd, placed my bow strategically next to my chair and sat down, plugging my head phones in to keep me calm. As I looked around, I soaked it all in. I love competing, in fact that is the biggest difference from when I used to row. As a rower, I would walk into a race wishing it was already over. The pain associated with winning was not nearly as enjoyable to me as a 90 minute steady state row on the Charles.! In archery it is not so much painful as it is mentally straining. Most tournaments take about 2-4 hours and in some cases all day, the mental preparation for an 8 minute race versus a 4 hour shoot is hardly similar. Given the choice, I'd rather 4 hours of mental strain to 8 minutes of sheer pain.

Suddenly the room went dark, the lights started flashing and techno music began playing. Clearly, I had missed the memo on something. Turning around, I saw the parade of athletes as they entered the room. Realizing I missed the grand entry, I turned back around, upped the volume on my diskman and continued to focus on my breathing. I knew I felt different from the day before, I knew I had one thing to do and that was focus on form and I would be fine.

I hadn't checked my grouping until we started and it was then that I noticed that I had the tougher group. Both the top girls who had been in my group yesterday were again in my group today. My first match would be against the top Dutch shooter, Femke Bonnen. Although I didn't mind shooting against her, it wasn't exactly the easiest first match. Her near perfect score of 119 out of 120 earned her a win to my 114 - a personal best 12 arrow match. My second match was against Naomi. Having crumbled against her the day prior,! I kept my focus on my form and off her or the score. Although we were tied for most of the match, a one-point slip somewhere along the line lost me the match (114 to 113) yet again. With the two toughest girls out of the way, the pressure was on to win the next three matches... of course if you haven't picked up on it by now, in archery focusing on the outcome can be disastrous.

I don't remember the names of the next three matches, although I believe two of the girls were on the Ukrainian team and one on the Dutch team. The dynamic of these 12 arrow matches is that typically, if you can get a couple of points on someone in the first two ends, there is little room for the opponent to come back barring any major mistakes on the leader's side. During my third match, I was at least 4 points up after my second end and I remember a sort of weight lifting off my shoulders. It wasn't as though I could give up, rather if I put my energy into the right thoughts, I would be ok. The end result was a 117 on my part, enough to win easily and set a new personal tournament best.

The trouble with shooting to your max is that sometimes your brain and body get excited and it is hard to stay intent on the thing that are important... then when try to level yourself, you end up trying too hard. Such was my problem, something that only experience can tame. My next match, I got caught up on score and the fact that I was tied most of the match. On one end, I dropped enough points that in any other match I would have lost. Fortunately, my opponent was having a similar issue and the end result was a tie. I suppose a tie is better than losing, but the experience was invaluable. My last match was similar to the ! fourth, not having the experience to bounce back from the mental pressure of the day, I again lost by just one point (112 to 111) and finished the day with only 3 match points to my name.

Deflated, I waited to see the scores. I knew that I wasn't in the finals, but that my score couldn't have been too bad, maybe good enough for a top 5 finish. It was the first time all day that I had looked up at the scoreboard, something I had failed to do during the Olympic Trials this past summer. As the scores popped up it became clear to me that although I had secured a 5th place (the highest losing scorer), I had shot the third highest score overall - higher than every single girl in the other qualifying group. Happy with my placement, happy with my score, my heart broke to know that I was good enough to be in the finals, but would be watching from the sidelines instead. I pushed my stabilizer into the ground a few times, took a moment to pack up and slowly walked out of the competition range, the crowd a blur as the images in front of me seemed to merge together.

By the time I reached the practice range, my emotions were gone and my attitude positive. I smiled to passers by and to the question "Are you through?" I at first said yes, then realizing they meant though to the finals, I quickly said "No, but it was a great experience." And that is what it was at the very least. It was the first time I had traveled abroad to compete, it was the first time I had shot against archers from Europe, many of whom will be attending the World Indoor Championships in March... to not be ecstatic about the experience would be a big mistake.

Out of respect for the archers who did make the finals, I did go and watch the following day. I also got to shoot (and win) a mini tournament that was held by Beiter (a major equipment manufacturer from Germany). The target is black foam with 6 plastic yellow circles. Each archer, there are six in a game, shoots one arrow at a time, the person who hits the most out of six wins. My score of 5 out of 6 was enough to win me 1st and 30 euro to cover dinner that night.

2004 Olympics and US Nationals

2004-08-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

FINANCIAL UPDATE:

As the trials came to an end, so to did the sponsorship money. However, I was able to bring in another $100 from Pam Fales, an agent at Fuller Towne and Country. Thank you all for your support for the 2004 season. I am trying to gather information about whether or not to continue my sponsorship program for next season, please take a few seconds to fill out the survey that is attached to your email.

JUNE/JULY RECAP:

After the trials finished up, I spent my last few weeks of the 2004 season preparing for the US Nationals. A 7th place finish along with a successful last minute attempt to shoot a qualifying score was enough to secure my spot on the 2005 US Archery Team. Read the article in my Latest Articles section or click on: http://www.aim4athens.com/id36.html (you can also find a copy of the article on the usarchery.org site). See below for the full detail on how the tournament progressed.

FINAL RANKING:

I finished up the year ranked 6th for the National Team and 6th for the Rolling Rank. You can see how I measure up to the rest of the US Women by clicking on: http://www.thearcher.com/usarchery/rollingranking/.

2004 OLYMPICS:

Despite not making the team, my mom thought it would be a good idea if I was able to experience the Olympics first hand and she generously offered to fly me out to Athens for two and a half weeks. No doubt that I learned a lot for next time. Thanks Mom! The trip started with the Opening Ceremonies and while I was there I saw every archery match I could possibly see including Vic’s excellent top 8 finish individually and his 4th place finish in the team round. I was also able to see the US women win the gymnastics team silver, the hammer throw and the decathlon, Michael Phelps win his first gold in swimming, and a gold medal men’s 8 performance in rowing. Click here to see my photo album: www.pixagogo.com/6158585171. Special thanks also go to Scripture Union and Athletes in Action for finding me housing for the second week and to John Hodges for his company and fluent Greek which kept me entertained!

WHAT IS NEXT:

I’m looking for ways to broaden my sponsorship and yes… I’m looking for a job. If you know of any Companies interested in sponsoring athletes I would love to talk to them about how they might want to sponsor me. My phone number is 309-303-5650 and you can direct them to my website.

US NATIONALS REACAP:

Reading, PA – After the trials I took a four day break to regroup, reflect and most importantly look at what my options were. My 6th place finish had put me in a great position to make a run at the US National team, so I decided to push the job hunt off until after the Nationals. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the US Outdoor Nationals, it is a four distance tournament (called a FITA) as opposed to the single 70 meter distance I’ve been shooting all year long. We still shoot 70 meters, but it is only ¼ of our final score. Basically, each archer shoots a total of 144 arrows, 36 arrows at each distance. The women shoot 70, 60, 50, and 30 meters, while the men shoot 90, 70, 50, and 30 meters. The total amount of points in a FITA are 1440.

Last year, I shot 4 FITAs and had improved scorewise from 981 to 1150 by the end of the season. For these Nationals, I had two goals in mind. First, I wanted to improve aspects of my game that I felt I had struggled with at the trials, and second, I wanted to shoot well enough to grab a spot on the 8 member 2005 US Women’s Archery Team.

The first day of the Nationals went pretty well despite struggling to come out of the gates strong. It would be day two that would prove to be the most challenging of the whole tournament. That morning we woke up to threats of a thunderstorm which quickly became a reality as soon as the whistle blew to commence shooting. Shooting in the rain for archery is similar to running a race with a ten pound weight on your back. The good news is that it handicaps everyone, the bad news is that if you don’t have a lot of experience shooting in it, you may end up with problems. Again, I struggled in the beginning, but as I got used to the rain and started feeling less timid, I made some progress and finished my fifth ever FITA with a personal best of 1220/1440.

Day three was similar to the first day, for some reason throughout the tournament I continued to struggle on the first half, but would get my act together for the second half. I felt as though I was lacking the confidence I needed. But there was another reason why I was struggling with my shooting. This one I could explain. The NAA has a set of standards you need to meet in order to qualify for the US Archery Team. I needed a top 8 finish in overall standing (which is composed of your US Nationals finish and the next two highest finishes) as well as a series of qualifying scores.

The qualifying scores they require to make the team had been recently raised and I needed to have shot a 158+ and a 106+ in the elimination rounds at some point during the year. Fortunately I had done both, I shot a 161 in Arizona and a 110 in Ohio at the trials. The third qualifying score I needed was either a 1260 on a FITA or a 630 on a double 70. At the Olympic trials I had come within 9 points of the 630, but it wasn’t good enough. My first FITA at the nationals was well below where I needed to be and so I risked making the US team but not qualifying for it.

I was faced with a decision, do I try to shoot my 1260 despite the chance of bad weather or do I shoot a third FITA after the morning 70 and 60 meters are done? Needless to say, once I start focusing on score, I struggle to shoot my best. I decided to wait until the third day was over, and then see if I thought I could shoot the 1260 I needed. If I felt that I couldn’t, I would go ahead and shoot the third FITA I had pre-registered just in case.

At the end of the first 72 arrows, I had a score of 611, meaning I would need a 649 the following day. It was a close call, and I had struggled with the pressure all day. It was more important to me that I didn’t risk it, so I went a head with the third FITA. After asking my training partner Ashley Kamuf and Emma Gillespie, one of my team mates from Boston to help me score, I headed over to the practice field to get the ball rolling. Three hours later, and 10 hours after I had started shooting that day, I qualified with only 2 points to spare. With the pressure off, I was able to finish up the last day on a high note, placing 7th overall. Not only had I made the National team, but I had qualified as well despite having to score an additional 144 arrows.

US OPEN RECAP:

By the time the US Open rolled around, I was relieved that I had made USAT and was looking forward to shooting elimination matches again. I really enjoy the thrill of individual matches. At the same time, I was ready to go home, exhausted from the pressure I had put on myself. Despite the mixed emotions, my first match couldn’t have been better. My head was in the right place, it was the first time the whole tournament where I came out confident and strong. I won my first match easily, and moved into the top 32.

My next match would be my last. I started out on pace, but then struggled through the second end. I lost my focus and shot a 9 on the wrong target. In archery when you shoot the wrong target you have to forfeit the points that you would have received. Going into the last end I was down about 15 points. A deficit that is usually unrecoverable. Despite this the person I was shooting against got shaky and had a really bad end. I had an excellent last end shooting a 57 out of a possible 60. I recovered 10 points but it wasn’t enough to win, I placed 22nd over all.

Although I learned a tough lesson, it was a really valuable one. Sometimes you learn more when you have to struggle than when you have an easy ride!

Olympic Trials Special

2004-06-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

RECAP:

The trials finally came and went. I have to admit this is one of the hardest E-newsletters for me to write. I have selfishly spent over a week trying to find the right words. I apologize for taking so long. My hope for you is that you might have gained something from this experience – that you might have learned, along with me, what an amazing difference you can make in someone’s life simply by believing in him or her. Had it not been for you, I know that I could not have placed 6th in the Finals of the Olympic Trials only 18 months after putting a bow in my hands.

A Special Thank You: In addition to my sponsors, I’d like to take a moment to recognize those who worked with me on a personal basis the last 6-18 months.

2004 US Olympic Trials Results: Although I didn’t make the US Olympic Team, I had a good run and finished 6th in the country, technically putting me on the alternate team. See below for the day-to-day results. Next stop: US Nationals in Reading, PA.

Financial Report: Another good month for fundraising, I was able to bring in $800!

May/June Recap: Leading up to the Olympic Trials, I had some amazing practices and continued to make progress with my arrow volume.

A SPECIAL THANK YOU

One thing this journey has taught me is that you cannot do things on your own; you need other talented, positive people to help you accomplish your goals in life. In addition to the 100+ individuals and families who have emailed, called and written with support and donated hard earned money, a few exceptional people who have worked with me personally over the last 6 to 18 months need to be recognized. My sports psychologist Alan Goldberg of Competitive Advantage (www.competitiveadvantage.com), has done tremendous mental work with me the past 6 months on a weekly basis and every day during the trials. Terry Wunderle a.k.a. The Shot Doctor for giving me enormous help during the trials, watching every shot and keeping me cool. Special thanks to my mom and sister for flying out to Ohio to watch me in the finals and give me family support (my mom also flew to Arizona). Jeanne Wunderle for listening to me when I needed an ear and giving me a room in their home the last 2 months. Doc Brandfass for housing Vic and I four months free of charge while we were in Florida. Anthony Bellettini for not laughing 18 months ago when I said I wanted to start Archery to go to the Olympics. Finally, Vic Wunderle, for introducing himself and asking me out to dinner a year ago – my life and my archery will never be the same.

2004 US OLYMPIC TRIALS 6/12/04-6/19/04:

Below is an excerpt from a follow-up interview I did with Mike Oakley from the Castle Rock Daily Star; I think it gives you the best recap of the week.

Can you describe the experience of the trials and the emotions you felt?

There was a mix of emotions, to say the least. On the first day, I spent most of the morning in 2nd place having worked my way up from 9th, but finished in 7th only 8 points out of 2nd. On the second day, the wind kicked up and my inexperience definitely showed. The day started out well, I was able to move up to 4th place right away, but then as the day wore on, I slowly moved back down and finished in 8th. I made a huge charge on the third day, winning 6 straight matches (only losing the first one) and worked my way back up to the 5th place spot hardly out of fourth and still close to 3rd. The fourth day was again another lack-luster day and pushed me back to 7th place. This particular day frustrated me because I knew I could shoot hand over fist better than I did and I felt as though every time I had a legitimate shot at making the team, my body and my mind refused to accept it. The last day I remember waking up knowing that there was an outside chance I could still make the alternate spot, as I was only 30 points or so out of 4th place. The day before had been bad but not too damaging. I basically figured I had nothing to loose and went out with a great attitude, winning 4 of my 7 matches and moving up one spot to finish in 6th place. My last match was exceptionally exciting, if I won it Kendra Harvey, the 16 year old would be get the Alternate spot and if I lost it, Jessica Carleton, who had been the alternate for the past 2 Olympics would have made it 3. Needless to say, for my own pride, I wasn’t about to lose the last match of the Trials and I won by 1 point!

You had to face several cuts - the first one to 16 and then the next one to eight. When you made the cut to eight, was it tough to sleep at night?

The cuts were definitely interesting. Until this point, I had not had a successful start in any of my tournaments. My qualification rounds usually put me in 14th to 18th place and then I would work my way up during the elimination matches the next day usually to 4th or 5th place. I knew going into this tournament that placing that low in the qualification round would put me in a tough spot for having any hope at all of making the team. I had expressed these concerns to my sports psychologist, Alan Goldberg with Competitive Advantage and he had helped me shift my focus from making the qualification round one of the most important days to "just another day." I think you saw a lot of the women put too much emphasis on the first day, for example, number 4 ranked Stephanie Miller didn't even make the first cut, neither did number 2 ranked and 2000 Olympian Karen Scavatto. Once I was able to get through the first cut, I was pretty happy with myself, for starters because the tournament had started out so well, and also there is some weight lifted off your shoulders knowing that you aren't going home.

My biggest concern about making the top 8 was that my mom and sister wouldn't get to see me compete. I had told my mom not to come until the last two days because I thought that would be when I needed them most. Of course at the end of the second day, all sorts of thoughts were running through my head. First, I didn't know it, but the computer system had a glitch and had me in 10th place instead of 8th, so I went home thinking that there was a real chance I wasn't going to make the cut if I didn't have a better third day. Fortunately for me, I was a little more occupied with my shooting than with the computer error. It wasn’t until the day was over that I realized, even with the scores fixed, I had only been "in the cut" by 2 points. Not knowing how close I was to the edge, I blindly went in the next day telling myself I was going to do the best form I could and hope it was enough. It was and I can promise you I slept well that night! I had made the finals of the Olympic Archery Trials.

What were your expectations heading into the trials? Obviously, you feel some disappointment at not making the final three, but isn't there a lot of pride in finishing sixth overall?

As far as expectations leading into the trials, I was trying to focus on not having any. I know it sounds like a hard concept to grasp, but I've found through working with Alan Goldberg and attending different tournaments, when you expect things, they usually don't happen. Needless to say, although I was working on not having expectations, it is hard to deny that deep down I wanted a spot on that Olympic team; maybe in the end that was my downfall.

Having said that, there is an enormous amount of respect reserved for those who make the final 8 in the archery world. Technically, spots 4, 5, and 6 make up the alternate team even though only the 4th spot is announced and awarded. So I do feel very honored and privileged to have made it that far.

What does the future hold? You are still really young. Will you continue to compete?

First stop, the 2004 US National Outdoor Championships in Reading, Pennsylvania. Shooting good form there could put me on the 2005 US Archery Team and put me in a position to be selected for next year’s European Grand Prix Team. Next stop, Athens, Greece. I will be going to cheer Vic on. He placed 1st in the Olympic Trials and will hopefully lead the US Men’s Team to a third consecutive Olympic Medal. I am very thankful that my mom has stepped in and offered to cover the cost of my trip. She wants me to experience it now so that I have something to look forward to the next four years.

After Greece, I plan to take some time off to get refreshed for the next season, which kicks off with an invitational match play tournament in Amsterdam the second week in December.

THE FINANCIAL REPORT:

Thank you all for keeping the sponsorship money coming! I had three new sponsors sign up during the Olympic Trials for a total of $800. Jack and Pat Durliat, neighbors of mine when I was growing up signed up as Silver Medal Sponsors. The Madigans, old time friends of my parents signed up as Gold Medal Sponsors. Finally Mike Reddin, the man who admitted me to the London School of Economics in 2000 sent me a nicely decorated $50 bill to help pay for food while I was at the trials.

MAY/JUNE RECAP:

May shooting leveled off a bit as I was approaching the Olympic trials, I increased my shooting by 2%. The last month before trials, I continued to focus on my shooting, getting 65 practices in which accounted for 83% of my time. 11% was spent off and 5% was dedicated to weights and cardio.

June is winding down and so has the shooting, after the Trials were over I took 4 days off to figure out the next step. I’m back in training now and setting my sights on the US Nationals next month in Reading, PA.

April/May Recap 2004

2004-04-30T10:26:00.000-07:00

RECAP:

Financial Report: 6 new sponsors came in April and May for a total of $1580. Thank you all so much! I am now up to $14080 in funds raised. Please keep telling others about me!

April/May Recap: I continued to make progress, improving on my previous month’s arrow volume yet again.

Gold Cup Tournament 2004: The last event before the Olympic Trials, I had a less than stellar qualification round placing me 14th out of 45, but I was able to get it together during the elimination rounds and bump myself up 9 spots to 5th place. I also had the third highest elimination round average out of everyone! See below for play by play detail!

National Ranking: Not including my shooting performance at Gold Cup, my 2004 national rolling ranking is 8th place. The last four rankings had me slowly creeping up the scale from 61st to 31st to 21st to 8th!

Extra Adventures: I went to the 2004 McDonald’s Air & Sea show in Fort Lauderdale with Jan and Mark Beggs. Also, I drove 25 hours over four days from Florida to Illinois just in time for mother’s day with Vic’s family, but before I left we had a BBQ at the club in Ft. Lauderdale.

THE FINANCIAL REPORT:

At the end of April an exceptional opportunity came my way. Toll Brothers, a luxury home builder has offered to pay me $50 for every realtor who brings a prospective client into their Castle Pines office – the first two weeks already brought in $550! SO, if you live in Colorado, be sure to go check their product out- make sure to sign a visitor’s card! (Call my Mom, Judy Fahrenkrog with Fuller Towne and Country Properties at 303-888-4760 for more info on how to participate.) Also, keep your eyes open for their full color ads in the paper featuring me shooting.

The past two months, additional sponsors include the Castle Rock Rotary Club, who matched a gift from one of their members, Dave Watts. I was also excited to recently learn that my Aunt Pat and Uncle Skip Jump will be paying for the full cost of my hotel room at the Olympic Trials. More sponsorship came from Ben Heavrin, Les Lilly, The Plouff Family, and Reese and Alberta Johnson, Thanks! For those of you who have given money in the past and I did not specifically mention you in E-newsletters, I apologize – I am learning as I go what people enjoy reading and adding things to make the E-newsletters better. All my sponsors are listed on the Sponsorship Thermometer page. I AM THANKFUL TO EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!

APRIL/MAY RECAP:

April was my last month in Florida. Although I was sad to leave, I was looking forward to cooler weather. Some of our training days had hit the mid-90s with lots of humidity! As the Olympic Trials get closer, my focus has continually been on shooting more. I upped my arrow volume again by about 16% over March. 85% of my time was dedicated to shooting, 4% of my time to cardio and the remainder was recovery.

May is going well, I’ve already shot the same amount of arrows this year that I did in all of last year! I’ll have more for you in the next E-newsletter.

GOLD CUP TOURNAMENT 2004, May 22-23rd:

(see EXPLANATION OF AN OUTDOOR TOURNAMENT at the bottom of this page if you want more detail about how an outdoor tournament is run)

Bloomfield, NJ – As far as travel goes this was definitely a challenging one. Because of bad weather in Chicago, our original flight from Springfield to O’Hare was delayed, not once but three times and then cancelled. Fortunately we were able to catch a flight to St. Louis and then another one to Newark later that evening. By the time our 15-hour journey had finally ended, it was 3:30am.

Later that morning, Anthony Bellettini, my first coach and the man who got me started in archery picked me up at the hotel and took me to the field. I was lucky that I didn’t have to shoot until 2pm, but the late bedtime certainly played a role in how disoriented I felt during the qualification round. I was really happy to see that the weather was much better than Arizona and Texas, no wind and a lot of sunshine.

As I started the qualification round, I struggled to get my bearings. It was one of those days that you shoot an arrow you think should go in the middle but instead it lands on the right side. You shoot another arrow, now compensating for the reason it went to the right and it pops a left. I started to loose faith in my shooting, and I got confused and forgot how to shoot well and how to bring myself back. My score reflected it with a 561. The exact same score I had shot in Texas, and only 2 points off Arizona. The only difference? New Jersey had ideal weather; Texas and Arizona were plagued with wind!

That night I did a lot of reflecting; I called a few people who I knew I could count on to help me through the experience. No matter what happened, the next day I needed to refocus, forget about the day before and move forward. Unlike my other tournaments, I decided that I didn’t want to lookup who I was going to shot against in the elimination round the following day, what did it matter? If I was shooting well, I knew I could beat most of them. My first match was against the number two Columbia University shooter Nazreen Bakht. Right away I was up a couple of points, on my second end I shot a 55 out of 60, and closed the match with a 50, winning by about 25 points.

My next match was against the number one ranked Canadian, Marie Beaudet. She was fresh from winning the Mexican Grand Prix and was ranked third after the qualification round. I knew she would be tough to beat but there was something inside me that said I could do it if I stayed calm and took smart shots. After the first end I was up a couple of points, on the second end I picked up another point and the third end gave me a win by 10 points. Similar to Arizona, I would find myself in the quarterfinals, this time against another member of the 2003 US World’s Team, Stephanie Miller.

The match started off well, the first arrow I shot a 9, the second arrow a 7. Suddenly my focus shifted from staying relaxed to whether or not I could win if I shot another 7. Time too was running out, only 29 seconds to shoot the last arrow. I over thought the last shot and popped a 6 – so much for that 7 I was so worried about! I would have to recover well to keep a close match. Over the next two ends, I shot a 28 and a 26, both tying Stephanie. Then on the last end I shot a 27 which beat Stephanie’s 25, but wasn’t good enough to win it. I lost by 3 points but had the highest losing score putting me in 5th place overall.

I’m glad I was able to learn something new and in the process prove to myself that I had control over what I was doing.

NATIONAL RANKING:

Although where I am ranked nationally has absolutely no bearing on whether or not I make the Olympic Team, I am proud of what I have been able to accomplish in just less than a year and a half. The rolling rank is determined at different points during the year and is based on the shooter’s top 4 tournament elimination round averages. Early in the year, the rolling ranking was mostly based on the 2003 tournaments, but now the latest ranking only includes tournaments from this year.

At the beginning of this year I was ranked 61st. Many of you believed in me and came forward to sponsor me. During the second round of rankings I moved up to 31st, then in the third round, I moved up another 10 spots to 21st. The most recent ranking has me in 8th and I will most likely move up a couple of spots when Gold Cup is added. I want to thank you all for being there to support me and allowing me to train full time. I know that your commitment to me has helped make this happen!

Thank you so much!

Joy

p.s. For those of you who pray, please keep my quest to make the Olympic team in your prayers. I know it is small in the grand scheme of things, but Philippians 4:6 says, "Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything." I will continue to keep you in my prayers and ask that you be blessed for helping me when I needed it most.

EXPLANATION OF AN OUTDOOR TOURNAMENT:

This year because it is an Olympic year, the tournaments are run similar to the Olympics. The only distance is 70 meters and the first day is spent shooting 72 arrows – this is called the qualification round. Based on your score (maximum is 10 points per arrow) you are then ranked 1 through 64, if you are 65 or lower you get cut.

The second day is called the OR Round or the Elimination Round. It is basically a bracket that pits the top archers against the weaker archers, i.e. the number one archer has to shoot his/her match against the number 64 archer, while the number 2 archer has to shoot against the number 63 archer. If you win your first match you move on, if you don’t, you’re done. The OR Round is a relatively new format developed for the Olympics in 1996 to make the sport more television friendly, it used to be whoever shot the highest score over four distances would win the gold.

Also, here is the definition of an end, many people weren’t clear what one was in my last E-newsletter – an end is each time you complete a certain number of arrows. For example, in the qualification round we shoot 12 ends of 6 arrows, up until the quarterfinals during the elimination rounds we shoot 3 ends of 6 arrows, and once we are in the quarterfinals, we shoot 4 ends of 3 arrows.

March/April Recap 2004

2004-04-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

THE FINANCIAL REPORT:

Thank you to my sponsors who sent additional money in the past month. I was able to raise $1300, with a third of it coming from sponsors who increased, and in some cases doubled, their initial sponsorship. I will be making a rather large arrow purchase (+/- $1200) soon and I will need it!!

MARCH/APRIL RECAP:

March was another great volume month, I was able to increase my total arrow count an additional 14%. As for the percentage breakdown, having spent 83% of my time shooting, that left only 3% for time off and about 13% devoted to cardio and yoga.

April is going well, however, the volume initially dropped slightly since there were two major tournaments back to back – the Arizona Cup March 31st-April 4th and the Texas Shootout April 16th-18th. But now they are over, I’m back to my regular routine having upped it slightly to continue to build my confidence and experience.

EXPLAINATION OF AN OUTDOOR TOURNAMENT:

Let me first explain how the outdoor tournaments work since up until now I have only participated in indoor tournaments. This year because it is an Olympic year, the tournaments are run similar to the Olympics. The only distance is 70 meters and the first day is spent shooting 72 arrows – this is called the qualification round. Based on your score (maximum is 10 points per arrow) you are then ranked 1 through 64, if you are 65 or lower you get cut.

Also, here is the definition of an end, many people weren’t clear what one was in my last E-newsletter – an end is each time you complete a certain number of arrows. For example, in the qualification round we shoot 12 ends of 6 arrows, in the first three elimination rounds we shoot 3 ends of 6 arrows, and in the last three ends of the elimination rounds, we shoot 4 ends of 3 arrows.

ARIZONA CUP 2004:

So, now that you know how it works, I can explain what happened to me at the Arizona Cup. You may recall my last E-newsletter where I stated something to the effect that my main focus in Arizona was my form and I wasn’t going to be concerned with where I placed. Sometimes when you least expect it things turn out better than you could have ever imagined.

Arizona is unique in that it is the first tournament of the year. Because of its status, it attracts quite a few international archers. This year they boasted 13 countries and a record number of entries. Unlike the Olympics, the Arizona Cup held two days of qualification rounds. After the first day, I was in 26th place overall, and I was ranked 15th among Americans. I was pretty proud of how I had shot considering that it was a very windy, hot day and it was only my second major outdoor tournament since I started shooting. Although my score and placement was good, every part of me said I would have a better day the next day.

The next day came and instead of hot, windy weather, we had very cold, rainy weather – for the first time in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and California it was raining at the same time. Instead of being disappointed I was glad… rain meant less wind, and less wind meant I could really show these girls what I could do. My roommate Melissa Stone and I had everything figured out; we’d get to the range nice and early, wear plenty of warm clothes and find a nice dry spot to camp out at so we didn’t get too wet. While everyone else was complaining, we were secretly smiling at each other knowing that we were totally prepared.

We decided to only shoot two of the practice rounds instead of all four, we figured it was better to keep ourselves warm and our equipment dry. In the meantime, my mom had turned into angel of the day and had delivered some tarps and trash bags for us to keep the area around us dry. At the end of our first scoring end they decided to call the tournament for the day. The only end that counted towards our ranking was our first end. Fortunately that moved me from 26th to 23rd.

As my mom reminded me that night, the elimination round is a whole new tournament, it was time to forget about placement and focus on the best way to get through the next day. Larry Skinner, Vic’s coach came up to me right before we shot the OR round and reminded me that this tournament was all about me and my form, nothing else. Glad he reminded me!

My first match was against Lindsay Pian, she was the second place winner in Las Vegas, I was down by 7 at the start of the match, but on the second end I was able to move up a couple of points and then I shot a great last end to win the match. My second match was against Ashley Kamuf who happens to be one of Vic’s (and his sister Sally’s) good friends. I didn’t know what to expect, Ashley is usually a very strong shooter, she has a couple world championships with the compound bow and so I know she is mentally tough. After the first end it was clear though, that all I needed to do was stay strong, shoot good shots and I would win the match. My first two ends of that match, I only lost 11 points, that is less than one point per arrow! I closed the match with a score of 161 to 134, a personal best in a tournament for me and the third highest match of the entire women’s competition.

My third match was against Kathie Loesch, who is a member of this year’s national team along with Ashley. Kathie was also on the 2003 World Championship team. I was able to win that match as well, advancing to the quarter finals where I met Janet Dykman, 1996 and 2000 US Olympic Team member. Janet has been on top in this sport for years. On the first end I was able to grab a 2 point lead, then on the second end, I shot a 3. Where it came from, I will never know… my only consolation was that when I got home, I continued to test that arrow and found that in fact it would constantly shoot low on the target. My biggest mistake against Janet was that I didn’t pull the arrow. The third end went well, I shot a 27, but so did Janet. On the fourth and final end (remember quarter finals to the finals, you shoot 4 three arrow ends) I shot the same arrow again and landed in the 3 ring. Pretty much the match was over. Although I was a little disappointed that I was knocked out, I was more than thrilled to be in 8th place. Never in my life have I ever done so well individually in a sporting event! My mom nearly missed her plane she was so into the matches.

TEXAS SHOOTOUT:

Before I talk about Texas, I would like to THANK Dr. Nancy Leslie and her husband Roger for letting Emma and me stay with them. Les Lilly of the Castle Rock Rotary was able to arrange for us to stay with Nancy and Roger instead of having to stay in a hotel about 30 miles away. They were excellent hosts and I am so thankful to Rotary for its wonderful members.

One of the things I learned at Arizona Cup is that sometimes when you least expect it things will turn out great. For the Texas Shootout, I can only re-phrase that to sometimes when you lease expect it, things turn out like crap. BUT THERE IS ALWAYS A REASON!! Now, almost a week removed from Texas, I realize that it was not the end of the world and that it has no bearing on who is on the US Olympic Team…

I arrived in Texas ready to rumble. I think I figured that since I did so well in Arizona there was no stopping me. I somehow forgot that I felt completely different in Arizona, all I cared about there was getting through the weekend without embarrassing myself and sticking to my form. I would have done well to heed the lessons of the past.

The practice round went great, every arrow I shot made its way to the yellow center of the target. It was only when the real tournament started the next day that I suddenly was timid and scared of the wind. Let’s just put it this way, the wind was averaging at least 20 mph, with gusts up to 35 mph. My first arrow hit the target, my second one didn’t. It was going to be a long day.

I finished off the qualification round with a 270 and a 290 for a total of 560, only a few points off my qualification score from Arizona, putting me in 18th place. Even though I was less than thrilled with my 270, I was excited about another personal best in a tournament of 290. Unfortunately, I was a little too concerned with the score and not concerned enough with how I was going to deal with the elimination rounds the next day.

My first match in the OR was against Lieren Hackbarth, I was able to win that easily with a 148 to 126. The wind was tough but I was able to manage it. Then came my second match. I was up against Nicole Rasor, this years Las Vegas Champion. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, Nicole and I were exactly the same going into the match. She was ranked 15th and I was ranked 18th. Her last match she shot a 148, my last match I shot a 148. I misread the wind and my first shot hit the 4 ring. It took me another 5 arrows to make my way into the gold, by that point I had lost nearly 24 points in one end alone. I was going to be strong though, I shot the next end really well and even managed to eek out a few 10s. My last end however did me in pretty quickly… I started telling myself I needed to shoot a near perfect end to win the match. I’ve learned since that thinking that way was one of the main reasons I lost.

Unfortunately sometimes we have to learn lessons the hard way, hopefully that was one of the hardest ones I’ll have to learn this season, I try not to make too many mistakes twice. Thanks for reading. I apologize for the length!

Joy

Mark 10:27

p.s. Vic and I went on two mini trips around Florida. One was to the Keys for a two day break from shooting, I’ve included some of those pictures in the new Pixagogo gallery if you are interested. We got to see sunken treasure that was recovered by Mel Fisher at the Mel Fisher Museum, we ate sloppy joes at none other than Sloppy Joe’s, and we got to feed the HUGE tarpon at Robbie’s just before traveling over the famous 7-mile bridge. The second trip was to Naples, on the west coast of Florida, Vic and I went to visit some new friends. While he was out fishing, I was able to catch some great beach time.

Feb/March Recap 2004

2004-03-17T09:53:00.000-08:00

THE SHORT VERSION:

Thanks to my sponsors for the continued support this past month, please keep telling people about me; I still need to raise money.

Training is going well, In the first few months of training full time I’ve shot nearly 50% of my total arrow volume for all of last year.

Two major tournaments, two major results since the last E-Newsletter! 3rd in Las Vegas, 5th out of 93 at the US Indoor Nationals.

I’ve updated my site to include a NEW!! Product Sponsor’s page, please check it out; I have featured companies who have given me discounts and/or product.

THE EXTENDED VERSION:

First and foremost, THANK YOU to my sponsors. Because without you, I wouldn’t be able to train full time and the results from the past month would not have been possible. Since the last E-newsletter, I have been able to bring in an additional $725.00, much of which came from people who heard about me from people who were already sponsors - so a special THANKS to those of you spreading the word with your t-shirts and conversations. Please continue to tell people about me, the more publicity I can get the better. I still need to raise about $8000 to have my expenses fully covered.

FEBRUARY/MARCH RECAP:

I stepped up the arrow volume in the month of February; let’s just say that in the first two months of 2004 I have shot almost 50% of my total arrow volume for all of 2003! Here is the percentage break down for February: 78% Shooting, 14% Cardio and Yoga, 8% Recovery. As far as scores go, I was able to shoot consistently above 300 at the Olympic distance with high scores in the teens and low scores just above 300. (For those of you who are just joining us, I need to be shooting in the 320-range to make the Olympic team in June).

March is going well, I am on track to shoot about the same volume as February. However, my main focus for this month is not on my score, but on some of the technical changes that Vic and I have made with my form. For those of you new to Archery, any archer will tell you that the number one thing that will improve your score is good form. So even though I was hoping to make a real appearance at the Arizona Cup (March 31st-April 4th http://www.azarchery.com/azcup2004/azcup2004.htm), I will be much more satisfied with my performance if I am able to make some headway with my new release.

LAS VEGAS WORLD INDOOR ARCHERY FESTIVAL:

February 20-22nd, I was in Las Vegas at the World Indoor Archery Festival, my first major tournament since last year’s outdoor Nationals. The second I got there, my heart started beating about 20 beats higher per minute than normal. It was as if all the sudden someone poured a vile of acid in my blood. I had never experienced anything like it and I knew instantly that I had to control my nerves if I was going to get through the weekend. At the end of Friday, I was tied for fourth place but only behind first by 3 points having shot a 277.

Saturday I had a little luck on my side – some of my biggest sponsors, Susie and Deno Spanos came to cheer me on with their friends the Duggers (see pictures). Although the nerves were still lingering, having close friends to talk with in-between shots kept me calm, allowing me to shoot a tournament personal best score of 281. It was good enough to put me in second, ahead of third by one point.

Sunday, I shot a 272 to finish off my first major tournament of the year with a third place finish. One thing I learned was that I still need some work on staying cool under pressure and not letting outcome rule my performance. My goal was to shoot to the best of my mental ability and the byproduct was that I beat some of the top US women and won $400 in prize money.

You can see the Results online by going to www.worldarcheryfestival.com, click Vegas (under tournaments on the main page), then click on results, then select 2004 for the year and RLF for division, click on Get Results and you should see my name.

US INDOOR NATIONALS:

Nationals are held over two weekends in 11 cities with roughly 1000 competitors ages 5 to 95. I chose to shoot in Boston mostly because I missed my ArcheryUSA family (Anthony Bellettini and all the kids and their parents from Team Elite www.archeryusateamelite.com) and secondly, having shot in Massachusetts last year, I was familiar with the facility. Being in Bean Town also gave me an excuse to drop by Schwab and catch up with my favorite colleagues as well as stop at Mike’s Pastry to pick up some treats for Doc, my host in Florida, who said he would rent out my room and all the stuff in it to someone else if I forgot.

Saturday, the first day of the tournament, I was on cruse control whether I liked it or not. It was one of those days where you go to put your foot on the accelerator only to find out you forgot to fill up the tank, lucky for you the gas station is only a block away and all you have to do is coast to get there. At the end of the day, I had shot two 276s back to back. Although I was pleased that I had held it together and not crashed, I went to bed knowing I had to reach in deeper and find that next level to make a bigger impression on Sunday. That night I made it a point to get a good night’s sleep and to keep my focus on a mentally strong shoot.

Sunday I found that second gear, I burst out of the starting blocks with a couple of 29s and a pair of 30s (for those of you who are confused about the scoring, each arrow is worth 10 points, there are 3 arrows per end, and 10 ends per game: 30 is a perfect score for an end and 300 is a perfect score for a game). My first game was a 284, my personal best game performance in a tournament, only 2 points shy of my all time personal best practice score of 286. My second game was a 277, leaving me with an overall personal best tournament score of 1113. Late last week the NAA published the final results online at www.usarchery.org as it turns out I finished 5th in the country out of 93 girls. Having placed 44th in 2003, I’m pretty excited about the finish, if I do say so myself!

Thanks again for tuning in – and of course for the sponsorship, I could not have gone from 44th to 5th in one year without it! Look for my Indoor Nationals post card in your mailbox soon.

Keep your dreams alive!

Joy

Mark 10:27

Jan-Feb Training 2004

2004-02-16T09:40:00.000-08:00

First a HUGE THANK YOU to you my sponsors for making the past month and a half possible. Without your support, I would not be able to train full time, and I would not be making the progress I am making. I appreciate all the emails, letters, and phone calls. I am up to $11,706 and much of it has come in the past 6 weeks. Please continue to tell your friends about me and continue to forward this newsletter to people you think might be interested in my story. With your continued support, I will make this dream a reality.

The Weather Report:

Which would you rather hear first? That the hottest day was a sizzling 87 degrees or that the coldest day was a mere 50 degrees? I doubt you actually care if you live one bit North or West of the great state of Florida. I promise you though, I watched the East Coast weather report a couple of times just to make sure I appreciated my tan.

January/February Recap:

As you might have guessed, January was a great month for me to be in Florida soaking up the sun… just kidding! I meant to say a great month for me to train my heart out. I had a total of 49 practices, 70% of which was dedicated to shooting a total of 3,838 arrows. Twenty-three percent of my time was focused on weights and running, leaving the remaining 7% of my time to be used to recover.

In January, I rarely shot the indoor distance of 18 meters because I was mostly focused on trying to make some progress with the Olympic distance. My goal for January was to push my average up another 10 points, getting that much closer to the scores I will need to make the Olympic team. I accomplished that goal and then some by shooting an average of 284 for the month. By the end of the month, I was consistently in the mid to high 290s pushing for that 300 mark.

February proved to be an even more successful month for me. On February 9th, after being inspired by the movie Miracle a few days before, I performed a little miracle of my own – I shot a 321 at 70 meters out of 360 points. To give you an idea of what this means, let me simply say the US record is a 329. Ok, ok and only a few American women shot that high in competition last year… not one of them consistently.

My New Personal Best Score:

Here is what happened, I stepped to the line and it was amazingly calm, eerily nice out. The sun was just about to set and I told myself that I wanted to shoot 6 consecutive ends at or above 50 points to break 300. I had only done it once before and I was determined to do it again. I shot the first end, 56. Wow, great start I thought. I stepped up to the line again, 55. Sweet continuation. The third time I stepped to the line I just told myself to keep shooting the way I had been shooting, to try and remember what a great shot felt like. I shot 6 more arrows for a score of 54. On my fourth end, I had my first mini battle with my head. You might relate to this experience, even if you aren’t an archer - when you start doing something really well, better than you expect, you may naturally start questioning yourself and your ability to keep it up.

Here I was, I had just finished shooting a 165, 15 points off a perfect 18 arrow score and naturally a thought popped up in my head, “If I keep shooting like this, I just might break the national record in practice!” Within seconds of that statement I shot a 5. Oye Vey, to put it politely. I had to regroup, refocus, and conquer the doubts. If I wanted to shoot the rest of this game well, I had to forget about the National Record, I had to forget about what I was doing and just do it. My next three arrows were 10, 10, 10 – dead center. An 8 and a 7 would secure my 4th end at 50. On to the last two ends, I again re-found that feeling I was looking for and shot the arrows the way I knew I could and finished it off with a 53, 53 for a total of 321.

Tournaments:

Some people have been emailing asking how I was doing in various local tournaments in January. I continued my winning streak, going undefeated in 7 straight tournaments since October. Although none of these tournaments have included women on USAT (United States Archery Team), the competition has been good and has forced me to deal with pre-competition butterflies, pressure situations, etc. As far as specific results go, most notably, I won the Florida State Indoor Championship. I shot the entire thing in one evening, meaning I shot 120 arrows instead of 60 arrows and I didn’t sit down for a whole four hours. It was a great experience and taught me more about how to deal with unexpected surprises; such as flat light so bad you could not see the arrows in the target.

The Hog:

I promised you all riveting stories about the Fort Lauderdale Archer’s new mascot… Broadview. Broadview a.k.a Stinky a.k.a. Blackie was at first just a myth, a good story, a silly little house pig let loose to roam the wild. As days past and sightings increased, he turned into a 400lb, 4 foot tall monster that would chase grown men around the range, forcing them jump on benches to save their souls. Needless to say, having not seen the mysterious “thing,” the slightest rustle in the leaves or snap of a stick made me jump. I write my spookiness off to good practice for the Olympics when I will have to handle people yelling and sneezing as I am about to take my medal winning shot.

When we finally did catch up with the illusive Mr. Broadview, he was about as much fun to hang out with as a swarm of mosquitoes – he never left you alone and he always showed up right as you were about to start a game. Nonetheless, he was hardly the monster some had claimed; the final survey said he was only about 150lbs and sadly half the propagated size. Oddly some of the archers actually like him, I will admit he had kind of a cute nozzle. However, it didn’t take long for them to wake up and finally smell him. The bad news, for a short period of time, although I am hardly sympathetic to the beast, we all thought bulldogs had killed him when he disappeared mysteriously off the range. The good news, he actually just escaped and set off down route 441 in search of a new home, which he found when Wild Life Rescue picked him up and taxied him to the nearest sanctuary.

The Everglades:

One other note on January adventures, Vic and I spent a couple of days in the Everglades I’ve included the pictures from this trip on the website. Swamp Bill was our guide appropriately named for his knowledge of the Florida swamp. The pictures also include an airboat trip that we had with Mark and Jan Beggs. It was one of the coolest experiences ever – imagine you are floating across water at the speed of a racing boat without the wake. If I can get my video streamlined into the website, I’ll be sure to include a link in the next E-newsletter.

Stay tuned for the next E-Newsletter where I will cover upcoming events such as the World Indoor Archery Festival in Las Vegas as well as the Indoor Nationals in Andover, MA. I’ll also share some professional pictures that Giovanni Laudicina took for Vic and me to help us with publicizing our quest.

Thanks again!!! Keep your eye on the prize!

Joy

Mark 10:27

December 2003/Mid-January 2004 Training

2004-01-03T09:34:00.000-08:00

The December Recap:

The purpose of my December training was to get refreshed for full time training. When you train full time in any sport, it is important to incorporate periodization to keep things fresh and also give your body a chance to rest. Although September is the ideal month to take time off in archery, December worked well for me as it was the one year anniversary since I started. Also, the National Outdoor Championships are over and the National Indoor Championships are still 3 months away.

December Percentage Breakdown:

Knowing that I was going into full time training in January and wanting to be ready for it, my main focus in the month of December was on archery (77%). I had a pretty good month as far as arrow volume, the additional 1800 arrows I shot allowed me to cap the year off with 26,000 arrows. Despite the relatively low cardio activity (only 5% of my training – off time comprised roughly 18% including holidays), I managed to shoot a personal best indoor score of 284 out of 300 twice. For perspective, last year a 284 average over 4 games won the indoor nationals. However, I suspect that since this year is an Olympic year, the scores will probably be higher.

Other happenings in December:

On December 30th, I had to say good-bye to the team that I have been coaching/mentoring for the past year at ArcheryUSA in Dedham, MA (www.archeryusateamelite.com). They are a really great group of kids… and behind them are exceptional parents. Working with the kids and their families is the thing that I loved the most and will miss the most about Boston. Every team night for the last three weeks, it was one surprise after another: first, they made me a cake that they all signed and managed to sneak past me, then they put together a going away basket complete with a Fitness Magazine, sunblock, snacks for the road, books, and a custom cd with songs hand-picked by the team members. They also put together a quilt that had patches that each one of them designed (see picture). Needless to say I was spoiled with love! Anthony my coach also sent me off with a beautiful Greek shooting statue and a leather-bound gold leaf journal to keep all my thoughts in as I embark on this journey.

The Move:

My job ended the afternoon of December 31st and I was on the road the morning of January 1st. Fortunately for me, my best friend from high school, Jared Craft came to the rescue again. If you don’t know about Jared, the best way for me to describe him is superman; he hears your cry for help and just shows up. So, he showed up with sleeves rolled and some new year’s cheer - before long we had most of my room emptied out and packed away.

My other saving grace was Emma Gillespie (and her parents for having faith in me that I would get her to Florida and back safely). At 9am, I picked Emma up at one of the rest stops off of the Mass Pike. With the words “Olympics or Bust” etched into the dirt on my back window and a car full of healthy snacks from Emma’s parents and unhealthy snacks from Woody Paige (one of my sponsors and a columnist featured on ESPN’s Around the Horn) – we were off.

We were making great time until about 6pm when my right tire blew up. No joke, there we were, two young girls on the side of a Virginia highway with a blown up tire. Emma, having just finished her driving school had enough sense to get us out of the car. We then sat behind it just in case an oncoming car didn’t see it – 20 minutes later thanks to the Gillespie family, AAA showed up, changed the tire and within an hour we were off again.

By mid-day January 2nd we were in Georgia, meeting up with Vic, the thermometer in my car had steadily crept up from 44 degrees in Boston to 68 degrees in Georgia. Likewise, our sweatshirts and jeans had switched to t-shirts and capri’s. About 7pm we rolled into Lighthouse Point, FL elated that we had made it and that the temperature had continued to make steady progress reading a warm 82 degrees – reports from home indicated that Boston was about 70 degrees less fortunate. Sadly for Emma, she had to go back to school on January 6th, so on the 5th I drove her to the airport and sent her safely home. I realized as I dropped her off and drove back to our host’s house that I was truly starting on a new phase in my life, she was the last tie to Boston that I had and now she was flying away. On the ride home, I played the Olympic theme song and made a commitment to myself to work harder than I had ever worked before.

The recap:

First, before I give the recap of the past two weeks, let me give thanks to Doc Brandfass for offering to house Vic and I for the next few months, as well as the Ft. Lauderdale Archery Club for arranging for us to shoot at their club (www.fortlauderdalearchers.com). These two new sponsors have really helped us out in more ways than one!

Now to the recap – remember how I said that in the month of December, I totaled 1800 arrows? Well, I kicked off the first week of training in Florida with two shooting sessions a day and a run every morning. Even I was surprised to see the total arrow amount at the end of the first week was 1200. It defiantly helps to train full time! Thank you all soooo much. Because I have raised almost $10,000, I am able to train all day long. As a result, I have already picked up about 6 points on my average and I am getting closer and closer to the scores that could put me on the Olympic team everyday.

Stay tuned for next month’s newsletter:

Results from the Florida State Indoors, count down to indoor nationals… introduction to Stinky the Hog… more adventures from arrowland… and of course the weather report (I wouldn’t want to deprive you).

Thanks again to all of you who have made this possible, in the last two weeks, five more families have sponsored me for a total of $780. I will be using that amount to purchase new X-10 arrows ($300/dozen) and a new riser (can be as high as $500) so that I have an indoor bow and an outdoor bow instead of having to re-tune my bow every time I switch from indoors to outdoors. I feel very blessed!

Go for the Gold,

Joy

Mark 10:27

November Tournament E-Newsletter 2003

2004-01-02T09:21:00.000-08:00

If you are new to Archery and want an explanation of what an Indoor Archery Competition is, go to the bottom of this post first!

2004 Indoor Season Kicks Off:

I know what you are thinking... it isn't 2004! No worries, all of the archery tournaments that start in the fall of 2003 are all for the sole purpose of building up to the 2004 US Indoor Nationals this coming March. Last year, after only 3 months of training I placed 44th out of 86 at the 2003 US Indoor Nationals. This year I'm looking to win the regional tournament and place in the top 3 on the national level.

October 17th, the 2004 season was kicked off by the Bay State Indoor Championship held at ArcheryUSA in Dedham, Ma. It was my first tournament since the Outdoor Nationals and although I was the reigning 2003 Bay State Outdoor Champion, I felt a little shaky. The advantage to doing lots of small tournaments is that you start to learn what to do and what not to do. What not to do lesson #1: Don't change arrows the day before you shoot a tournament.

BAY STATE INDOOR RESULTS OCTOBER 17th, 2003:

Although I shot well, I was 10 points below my average and was in second place after the qualification round. Mind you, I had also rowed the single in Head of The Charles that same weekend (the HOCR is the world's largest long distance rowing race in the world, held annually in Boston, Ma). Another good lesson learned, don't try to do too much in one weekend. Anyhow, I didn't stay in second for very long, during the Olympic round (similar to a tennis bracket system), I won the Gold Medal Match by coming back from a 2-point deficit after 6 arrows to win by 5 points. In a Gold Medal Match you only get 12 arrows (4 ends of 3 arrows). Whoever has the highest score wins.

HALL'S WARM-UP TOURNAMENT NOVEMBER 11TH, 2003:

The first weekend in November, I decided to take some of the kids that I coach on a road trip to Connecticut to shoot in the Hall's Warm-Up tournament. I was hoping to go head to head against National Team member, Roxanne Reinmann, however she wasn't able to shoot as she was running the tournament instead. So, with the pressure off, I beat my previous tournament's score, shooting a 272 average. There are two pictures from this tournament included in this E-Newsletter, the first is of me, Vic Wunderle (the Silver and Bronze Medalist from the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia), and some of the members of my team at the tournament. The second picture is of all of us again as we stand with the Tow truck guys... by accident, I locked the keys in the car when we returned to the archery shop that night. We had a good laugh about it though as you can see from the smiles on our faces!

BAY STATE BOXER SHOOTOUT NOVEMBER 9TH, 2003:

It is what it sounds like... in order to have your score count, you must wear boxers on the extremity of your clothing. Those snoopy-raking-leaves-silk boxers must have been really lucky because I shot my personal best in a tournament at the 2004 Bay State Boxer Shootout. My first game was a 278 and my second game was a 276... a 277 average for a total of 554 points (at nationals last year, that would have put me in 6th place after the first day. Needless to say, I was thrilled...) too bad they don't allow you to wear boxers to all the tournaments!!

CTAA DUAL DISTANCE SHOOT NOVEMBER 26TH, 2003:

This was my final tournament of November... phew! On the 18 meter distance, I shot a 274 out of 300. This month was really a success performance-wise. To give you an idea of what these type of scores mean to me, all you have to do is look back at my scores from 11 months ago when I picked up a bow for the first time. In December of last year I was shooting a 229 average. So it is a great accomplishment for me to be performing consistently above a 270 (41 points higher in just one year). The dual-distance shoot also included 30 arrows shot at 25 meters... I found out very fast that my arrows are way too heavy to shoot much further than 18 meters... I only shot a 240 out of 300 on a 3-spot target. Good thing 25 meters is not longer the National distance!!

What is Indoor Archery and what do Indoor Competitions Entail?

The indoor season is a time to focus on form and fine-tuning. In case you are new to archery, Indoor tournaments are shot at a distance of 18 meters (the Olympics is shot at a distance of 70 meters). Indoor tournaments are also shot on smaller targets (40cm versus 120 cm).

Adult Recurve shooters shoot on a target called a 3-spot. It looks similar to an inverted Mickey Mouse, with two circles on the bottom and one on the top center. This type of target is used for advanced shooters for many different reasons. The first is that often, advanced shooters will hit the same spot on the target multiple times thus hitting their own arrows. In many cases, arrows can cost up to $50 an arrow, so the prospect of willingly killing your own arrows usually leaves a bitter feeling in an archer’s stomach. The second reason is that it eliminates the 5,4,3,2, and 1 point rings that you typically find on a single spot, making it a little bit more challenging because if you miss one of the targets on a 3-spot you get 0 points for that arrow.

If you are unfamiliar with how games are scored in archery, here is a brief explanation: A single spot target has 10 rings, 2 white, 2 black, 2 blue, 2 red, and 2 yellow (3-spots as I have said before only have the 6 rings). Most people have heard of the Bulls-eye. The Bulls-eye refers to the center of the target, the yellow 10 ring. As I mentioned earlier, each ring is allotted a certain point value. The center ring is worth 10 points, the second ring out is worth 9 points, the third ring out is worth 8 points, and so on... In a game, an archer shoots 30 arrows for a maximum point total of 300 points.

Indoor archery tournaments usually consist of 2 games with a 10 minute break and can take up to 4 hours to complete depending on the amount of people shooting. Archers typically get 2 minutes (40 seconds an arrow) to shoot 3 arrows, and then they walk down to the target and score. The entire act of shooting 3 arrows and then retrieving those arrows is called an end. In archery-speak, an indoor tournament consists of 60 arrows for a maximum of 600 points over 4 hours broken down into 20 ends of 3 arrows with a 40 second time allotment for each arrow. Have I lost you yet?

November Training 2003

2004-01-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

THE BIG DECISION:

November was a busy month for me. I finally took the leap of faith and decided to train full time starting January 1st, 2004. This was a big decision for me to make because I have a great job as a Sales Trading Assistant at Schwab Capital Markets in Boston, MA and it will be hard to leave. However, if you had the opportunity to make the Olympics, wouldn't you give it your best shot?

Now that the decision has been made, I am in the process of fundraising. Thanks to you, I've been able to kick it off.

Details about where I'm training:

I will be training in Florida - I can't wait! If you are in Boston you know that just this past week we got slammed with snow. As much as I like a white Christmas, it doesn't go very well with training for the Summer Olympics.

November Training Recap:

My training for November was quite successful. I shot a 274 average out of 300 for my 18-meter indoor scores. If you are new to Archery, 18 meters is the official distance for indoor competitions. The targets are much smaller (40cm) than the targets used during the summer outdoor competitions (120 cm). The advantage to shooting indoors in the winter are numerous - first, you can practice form to your heart's desire and you have no wind to contend with, second, you don't have to walk 70 meters every time you shoot 6 arrows. However, that being said, I am more than thrilled to be shooting outdoors again in a month.

To give you an idea of what shooting a 274 means to me, let me just tell you that in December of 2002 (my first month of archery training), I was shooting a 229 average out of 300. That is a 45-point increase in my average in 11 months. My training in November focused on several different aspects, besides shooting, I was rowing on the erg, weight lifting, attending yoga, and of course taking the appropriate amount of time off to eat turkey and let my body have a rest.

Training Breakdown:

The weight-training program comprised 17% of my training last month. The program I am using was written by one of my good rowing friends, Brian Moribito. So far it is working out well. I am only doing about 5-6 exercises a week but it is relatively tough. Yoga also took up 17% of my training in November. I had read about the benefits of yoga on the FITA website (www.archery.org) and decided to give it a try. It was really hard at first, but the more I did it the more I got used to it, the easier it got. The best asset that I think yoga provides an archer is the opportunity to clear your mind for an entire 90 minutes and just breathe.

My cardio recap this month was a little poor - only 7%. Usually, I like to do an equal amount of cardio to my shooting but because of my job and the increases I made in Yoga and Weights, something had to go. However, I did manage to go out for a 6 mile row on Thanksgiving day. The water was soooo flat and the weather was soooo warm that for the first time in a long time, I can actually say I enjoyed every second of my row.

Books I read in November:

I try to read inspirational books to keep my mentality positive. This month I read "Gold in the Water" by PH Mullen. It was incredible. It is a book about the lives of top US Swimmers and their coach leading up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Although I swam in High School, you don't have to be a swimmer to enjoy this book - you just have to love the Olympics and/or the pursuit of Olympians. www.goldinthewater.com

I also read "The DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown. There are several reasons I read this book. First, Dan Brown went to my High School, Phillips-Exeter Academy and I had the opportunity to meet him at the Exeter Annual Dinner in Boston, MA. Second, I was given the book as a present for my birthday (November 6th) from one of my dearest friends, Simone Gignoux (also an Exeter alum). So the combination of being given the book for my birthday, and then having to admit to Dan Brown that I hadn't read it, but would like him to sign it, made me feel so guilty that I finally finished it and LOVED IT!!! www.thedavincicode.com

Thanks for reading my November Training E-Newsletter!