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Jack of All Trades,
Master of Nothing
Picture of 2000Z-71
posted
Update 6:

Not much of an update, we're still waiting on formal announcements on team selections. The latest is that the coaches at camp have made their evaluations and recommendations. Those recommendations have been forwarded to Kisik Lee and Songi Woo, the head coaches for the men's and women's US Olympic Archery Team for their review.

The surprise to us was that our daughter's coach had set up a live video stream as his ongoing experimentation with webcasting archery tournaments at our club's Moneymaker tournament this past weekend. There's no youth division in the tournament, our daughter wanted to shoot for the experience so she shot against the adults. Coach Woo logged in to watch our daughter shoot.

A little overwhelming that she's watching our daughter. Not sure if the extra attention is a good thing or a bad thing. I just know my daughter has great form and I'm hoping that's what Coach Woo was looking for.

Anxiously waiting announcements...

Update 5:

Day 5, the final day of camp. Fun day for me because I actually was able to stand back and observe all of the day. The morning started with another 72 arrow scoring round. Just the opposite of their first scoring round, the score really didn't matter, the coaches were looking to see if form corrections and lessons had been applied. It was explained to them it was expected that their scores would go down, they're working on new techniques and scores will decline before they master and improve. Damn kid actually shot 10 points higher than she did at the beginning of camp.

After that it was lunch followed by a presentation on the mental game by coach Larry Weiss. I sat in the back, took notes and pictures of his white board in order to improve my own coaching. A lot of it was material that I already know and teach but I learned so much from his delivery it really made me feel like a novice coach.

Then after that came team rounds and I nearly went into cardiac arrest. Format was single elimination round robin, lose and your team is done. Team rounds are a hell of a lot of fun. Ends are 2 minutes long and 3 archers have to rotate through with only 1 member on the line at a time and get off 6 arrows, 2 targets 3 arrows a piece. Maya and her best friend from our club, Elizabeth got teamed up with Abby Nappen a current JDT member. I'm thinking these girls are going to dominate. We regularly practice team rounds and our club tends to dominate at the state level.

First round, first end and disaster strikes. Our club practices a strategy where an archer comes to the line, fires one arrow, clears the line and the next team member follows with the same. It's trying to make a stressful situation goof proof, everyone does the same thing every time.

Abby shoots a different strategy, the first archer approaches the line, shoots 2 arrows in the left target and clears. The second archer comes to the line, shoots 2 arrows in the right target and clears. The 3rd archer in anchor then has to shoot 1 arrow in the left target and 1 arrow in the right target. Well girls being girls they didn't communicate that. Abby led off and fired 2 arrows, Elizabeth then had a WTF moment of what to do. They figured it out on the fly but Maya in anchor which is where she wanted to shoot, was only left with 17 seconds to get off 2 arrows, she only got one off.

Even with the miss they managed to tie their first round and went into single arrow shootoffs to win. They then went on to dominate and won the next 3 rounds shooting a 59/60 with 5 X's on the final end to make a statement and be the last team standing. It's exactly what I try and coach with our own team; Murphy lives on the archery range, something is going to go wrong, figure it out on the fly, keep shooting, kick ass and take names.

After that was time to clear the field. Head coordinator Linda Beck gave a speech congratulating all of them and explaining the expectations going forward. Since this class has been so strong, there is not going to be a selection camp for next year. Any vacancies will be filled by archers named as alternates. Alternates have the same expectations and required tournaments as team members. They're expected to be able to step in at anytime and fill an open slot. A very different vibe than the rest of camp, everyone is now speculating who's in and who's out. Finished the night with a catered dinner hosted by a family from our club. It was great to give these kids a break and see them left off some steam.

We should know in a few days who's been selected. It's one of those things that I'm scared if she makes it and scared if she doesn't. But, it's been an incredible experience for her. She learned a lot, made some new friends to the point that she almost has a 2nd archery family on a national level in addition to her local one. More importantly she built her confidence and knows she has nothing to fear when shooting with the best. I'm proud of her no matter what the outcome from this camp may be.

Team stretching out before shooting.


And look who's in the middle leading the stretch, she got voted team lead today by the other archers in camp.


Maya receiving some one on one coaching from head coach Larry Weiss and head coordinator Linda Beck.


Not my photo, not my daughter, but it is one of my students, Elizabeth. Taken by another parent, it's just one of the absolute coolest archery photos I've ever seen.


The moment before WTF?


Maya, Elizabeth and Abby scoring their team round targets.


Maya, Elizabeth and Abby walking back from the bale after winning their first round shootoff.


Always fun when I can catch an arrow in flight and this was probably my best shot of the day, Abby on the final end of the team round.




Update 4:

Day 4 and more physical fitness and working with the coaches on form correction. Today was the dreaded Beep Test. It's basically what we used to call a shuttle run in gym class. The twist is there is an electronic timer that beeps at the beginning and end. With each level the interval between beginning and end gets shorter. Don't make it across the line before the beep and you're done. Our kid doesn't think she did that well, coaches don't seem too concerned.

The rest of the day was spent on training and form correction with a lot of one on one attention from the coaching staff. There was also quite a bit of time spent on mental management.

The camp comes to a close tomorrow with another 72 arrow scoring round, team shoot and a group bar-b-que dinner. Tomorrow's scoring round is almost the exact opposite of the one at the beginning of camp. Their score really doesn't matter, the coaches are looking to see how well the archers have adopted their form corrections and how well they have listened. Letters of notice should be sent within the next few days, but already the kids are speculating on who's in, who's out and who may make the team as an alternate.

What I'm really impressed by is how well the archers are getting along. There seems to have been a lot of new friendships made and I'm not seeing any of the bitchiness and cliquiness that was present at the invitee camp earlier in the summer.

The girls seem to love CJDT Camp


Group photo of attendees and coaching staff


The dreaded Beep Test.


"Aim Small Miss Small" drill. Yes that's a roofing nail that got center punched from 50 meters.


The best for last. If my kid can have a smile on her face this big while she's competing so hard for a spot on the team, something must be going right.


Update 3:

Day 3 and the kid continues to rock it! Today's focus was on physical fitness and form correction. This was the aspect our daughter was not looking forward to. While she can pull a bow back like nobody's business, she's not exactly the most athletic kid.

The selection criteria is based off a points system. Physical fitness is measured in pushups, sit-ups and a shuttle run. There's a maximum of 20 points to be earned in the physical fitness category. Her strategy was to try as hard as she could and get as many pushups and setups done to rack up the points so her run score tomorrow doesn't factor in. Gotta' hand it to her, she developed that strategy on her own with no input from us or her coach and it may have worked.

Tomorrow is more of the same. What I'm impressed by the most is how genuinely happy she is right now. She's shooting great, but she's truly enjoying spending time with the other archers there. It's great to see because so often with female athletes we see a lot of pettiness, vindictiveness and bitchiness in general.

Special thanks to one of the other parents at camp getting all of these pictures. It's kind of cool to see pictures of our daughter posted up on USA Archer's Facebook page.

The firing line.


Taking aim.


Physical fitness test.


Bows on the line, as a [arent I shudder to think how many $1000's are in pictures like these.


Full draw.



Update 2:

Well the kid definitely made a statement today. Her goal was to shoot 330 or above, that would put her right in the middle of the top 5 qualifiers at Nationals this year. She shot a 331 and a 338, a perfect score being 360. She ended up shooting the highest score in her division today besting this year's national champion for the division who's also at the camp.

She's off to a great start, hoping she can keep the momentum going for the rest of the week.

Update:

It's a chilly (By Phoenix standards) 52 degrees, calm with absolutely no wind this morning, perfect shooting weather. Last night's meetings finalized details for the schedule and went over the selection criteria. This morning they will shoot a full 72 arrow round for score. This is their audition, no coaching only observation. This is the only score that will figure into the selection criteria.

Selection criteria will be based on coachability, this morning's score, interviews with the coaching staff and physical fitness. There will be another 72 arrow scoring round shot at the end of the week, but that score does not figure into selection. What the staff is looking for is how well archers have adjusted to their training and form corrections during the week.

At this point, it's all up to her, we aren't there and neither is her coach. Hoping she does well this morning and this week, but even if she doesn't I'm proud of her. I don't know many 12 year olds that would embrace a challenge like she has with this camp.

And the Mayaism of the morning. I was trying to psyche her up a little this morning. I told her to remember that she's shooting on her home field. Her response,

"Yeah dad, so were the confederates."

Part of me wanted to administer an adjustment to her snarky attitude, but I couldn't I was laughing way too hard.



Original Post:

Tomorrow afternoon my daughter has the preliminary meeting for this week's selection camp for the USA Archery Compound Junior Dream Team. The Dream Team is 36 member team made up of the best youth archers in the country. The team has 7 openings this year from members who have either aged out or decided to take a different path. She'll be taking the week off from school and be shooting, training and coached by members of the US national team. Just being invited to the selection camp is an honor in itself.

Tonight is a slow night at work leaving me time to contemplate things. I find myself almost as scared of the possibilities of her making the team as I do her not making the team. If she makes it she's going to have mandatory tournaments for the coming season and performance goals to maintain her spot on the team. It will take time and money on our part and even more commitment on hers. If she doesn't make the team I hope it doesn't crush her spirit.

If she makes it, it's going to be an incredible opportunity for her. She'll be training twice a year at an Olympic Training center with the coaches of the national team. She'll be competing in a red white and blue jersey with her name on it and the 3 magical letters of USA. Steel sharpens steel and competing and training with the best in the country is only going to make her better.

Yes, I stress over it. But then I ask myself how many 12 year olds have an opportunity like this? Proud of my little girl and thankful that I'm along for the ride.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 2000Z-71,




My daughter can deflate your daughter's soccer ball.
 
Posts: 11749 | Location: Eagle River, AK | Registered: September 12, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Three Generations
of Service
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Best of Luck to her, not that luck has much to do with it. From what I've seen here, I expect she has the skills and the focus.




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Posts: 15180 | Location: Downeast Maine | Registered: March 10, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Striker in waiting
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Just don’t let her try to hustle the coaches for their lunch money.

... or maybe she should! Wink

-Rob




I predict that there will be many suggestions and statements about the law made here, and some of them will be spectacularly wrong. - jhe888

A=A
 
Posts: 16263 | Location: Maryland, AA Co. | Registered: March 16, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
goodheart
Picture of sjtill
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Can an internet forum sponsor a team member?


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Posts: 18016 | Location: One hop from Paradise | Registered: July 27, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Striker in waiting
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quote:
Originally posted by sjtill:
Can an internet forum sponsor a team member?


I believe there may be NCAA eligibility problems - or at least, that has been one of the major concerns in the past.

No doubt the SF collective is ready, willing, and able to step up when the request is made. I know I'm in!

-Rob




I predict that there will be many suggestions and statements about the law made here, and some of them will be spectacularly wrong. - jhe888

A=A
 
Posts: 16263 | Location: Maryland, AA Co. | Registered: March 16, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
fugitive from reality
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quote:
Originally posted by BurtonRW:

No doubt the SF collective is ready, willing, and able to step up when the request is made. I know I'm in!

-Rob


I'd be down with that. Best of luck to your daughter!


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Posts: 7069 | Location: Newyorkistan | Registered: March 28, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Be not wise in
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Best of luck to your daughter.

My daughter is going to give archery a try as well.

What release does your daughter use?



“We’re in a situation where we have put together, and you guys did it for our administration…President Obama’s administration before this. We have put together, I think, the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics,”
Pres. Select, Joe Biden

“Let’s go, Brandon” Kelli Stavast, 2 Oct. 2021
 
Posts: 5267 | Location: USA | Registered: December 05, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Jack of All Trades,
Master of Nothing
Picture of 2000Z-71
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quote:
Originally posted by kimber1911:
What release does your daughter use?

She shoots a hinge. She just switched back to her Scott Halo and is much happier. She had been using a TruBall Fulkrum, she just prefers the feel of the Halo. For warming up and training to forget bad habits she uses a Nock-On Silverback which is a tension pull through release.




My daughter can deflate your daughter's soccer ball.
 
Posts: 11749 | Location: Eagle River, AK | Registered: September 12, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Old, Slow,
but Lucky!
Picture of dsmack
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I'm keeping good thoughts for Maya's participation in the selection process!

It has been a lot of fun following along during her excellent progress, and I have a lot of faith that she is going to do well.

It will become the defining force of your family's lives for the foreseeable future should she be selected, but of course you, Mom and Maya all know that!!

You have done a wonderful job of guiding and supporting her in her early efforts, and I am confident that the family will grow and thrive in the competitive environment... You'all have already demonstrated you can handle it nicely Wink

Best wishes to you, Maya! You GO girl!

Don


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Posts: 3418 | Location: Spokane, WA | Registered: March 15, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
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Good luck, Maya!
It's been fun getting your updates on her progress, looking forward to the range report on this one.




The Enemy's gate is down.
 
Posts: 15150 | Location: Spring, TX | Registered: July 11, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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A-W-E-S-O-M-E
Go Maya, roll baby roll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Posts: 458 | Registered: August 08, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Jack of All Trades,
Master of Nothing
Picture of 2000Z-71
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Update at top.




My daughter can deflate your daughter's soccer ball.
 
Posts: 11749 | Location: Eagle River, AK | Registered: September 12, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Old, Slow,
but Lucky!
Picture of dsmack
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quote:
"Yeah dad, so were the confederates."


I want to adopt your daughter!
.
.
.
.
... still laughing Wink

Don


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Living the Dream... One Day at a Time.
 
Posts: 3418 | Location: Spokane, WA | Registered: March 15, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
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I'm in for any support as well.
I'm wondering if we could get an archery shirt made with the Confederate flag on it with the SF Coin on top???

Seriously congratulations and all the best in her en-devours.


------------------
Eddie

Our Founding Fathers were men who understood that the right thing is not necessarily the written thing. -kkina
 
Posts: 6309 | Location: In transit | Registered: February 19, 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Jack of All Trades,
Master of Nothing
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Update at top.




My daughter can deflate your daughter's soccer ball.
 
Posts: 11749 | Location: Eagle River, AK | Registered: September 12, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Striker in waiting
Picture of BurtonRW
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What an excellent report to begin a Wednesday with!

GO MAYA!!!

-Rob




I predict that there will be many suggestions and statements about the law made here, and some of them will be spectacularly wrong. - jhe888

A=A
 
Posts: 16263 | Location: Maryland, AA Co. | Registered: March 16, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
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I can’t imagine what kind of high you guys are on. This is great! Pictures are good...


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Posts: 1118 | Location: Vermont | Registered: March 24, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Flying Sergeant
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More Maya gold! Good luck to her, great job Dad! Looking forward to the end of the week!
 
Posts: 1673 | Location: Waukesha,WI | Registered: December 19, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Way to go Maya! Keep up the good work and great attitude!
 
Posts: 2155 | Location: NC | Registered: January 01, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Jack of All Trades,
Master of Nothing
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posted Hide Post
Update at top.




My daughter can deflate your daughter's soccer ball.
 
Posts: 11749 | Location: Eagle River, AK | Registered: September 12, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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