Archery Fitness Champions Review Their Competition and Program Under the Direction of Alicia Weber

By: Weber Way to Wellness Reporter

Six Varsity Archery Fitness Teams converged in Clermont, Florida, on November 15, 2015, for the Inaugural Ready Aim Go Championship. Competitors were between the ages of 7 and 14. There were two competitions based on age groups. First, ages (7-9) competed followed by ages (10-14). Sixty-Three percent of the competitors called this their first-ever athletic competition. Twenty-five percent of the competitors have competed at least once before in a previous competition held by Alicia Weber’s Archery Fitness League.

The first competition (ages 7-9) took place at 8:30am and it was a scaled down version of the competition for ages 10-14, which took place immediately after the first one. In both competitions, competitors began with a complicated bean bag toss cross country relay. Then, they followed with a barebow category archery competition where competitors used the same bows without sighting devices. The winning teams were decided upon the highest combined score achieved in archery + fitness (the highest possible score in the first team competition was 400pts and in the second competition (ages 10-14) the highest possible team score was 800pts).

Review from Championship Team (for ages 7-9):

The first championship competition (ages 7-9) was won by a group of boys from Winter Garden on the team called “Shadow Arrows.” They won with a 12 point lead with a total of 178 points out of 400 possible points. Colin, the oldest and team captain, was their leading archer.

“I love both the fitness and archery components of the championship. I expected our team to do well. It was not too much to expect us to achieve so much in just 8 hours of training,” said Colin who plans to continue in the semester-based archery fitness developmental program, which provides the free competition.

“I took this developmental program just to learn archery and it was a nice surprise to be good enough to make the varsity team and compete in this championship. Only three students in each class will be invited to make the varsity team. Those that do not make it, get to compete in a junior varsity competition,” said the enthused Hudson, Colin’s teammate.

All three on the Shadow Arrows exclaimed,”This is fun and I love archery.”

Review from Championship Team (for ages 10-14):

The Rubies traveled more than one hour away to compete in the (age 10-14) Championship where they won by achieving two “Xs” in archery. The over-achiever, Matteo, (only 8 years old) wanted to compete in the older competition to be more challenged and he was given permission. He earned a “Rising Star Archer” award for his commitment to excellence and challenging himself to harder activities against older kids. His teammates, Sebastian and Morgan, never competed in archery before and they have only begun training once a week this semester. The Rubies beat a team with much more experience than them. The Rubies won the team Championship with 504xx, while the Secret Service took second with 504 points.

The Rubies Show Triumph in Their Big Win in the Ready Aim Go Championship.  They broke the tie with the Secret Service by having two "Xs" in archery. Sebastian and Matteo each hit a 10x - the highest score in archery enroute to break the tie and sin the championship.
The Rubies Show Triumph in Their Big Win in the Ready Aim Go Championship. They broke the tie with the Secret Service by having two “Xs” in archery. Sebastian and Matteo each hit a 10x – the highest score in archery enroute to break the tie and win the championship.

“It’s fun and good to know that I am doing better than people who have been doing archery a lot longer than me,” said Morgan.

“Archery makes kids challenge themselves. It brings out the best in them and the results will surprise parents,” said Ana, Matteo’s mom.

“The archery fitness developmental program is a lot of fun. It does not require too much physical activity and running. I would encourage others to give it a try to experience a lot of excitement and fun challenges. It’s fun to do, but it can be quite challenging to do archery in the wind,” added Morgan who was the second overall female in the windy archery competition on the 15th.

Sebastian and Matteo Draw a "V" for VICTORY after winning the Inaugural Championship for the Development Program.
Sebastian and Matteo Draw a “V” for VICTORY after winning the Inaugural Championship for the Development Program.

Parents enjoy coming to watch their kids train in the developmental program and compete in the free competition.

“The kids can increase focus and awareness, which carries over into everything they do. They are taught safety first and foremost and they have to follow strict rules. The kids rise to the occasion and follow the rules. They are very good at taking responsibility and they enjoy the leadership roles the sport of archery gives them,” added the very observant Ana.

The developmental program provides all students an equal opportunity to build skills and then depending on how quickly they develop, they will get to compete for free in either the varsity or junior varsity competition (or they do not have to compete at all).

Review from Junior Varsity Champions (for ages 5-9):

Ten students throughout Central Florida competed in the 10 Arrow 10yd Junior Varsity contest. The top male and overall winner was Manny from Winter Garden with 54 points out of a possible 100 points. The top female and second overall was Sofia from Clermont with 46 points.

“I am happy that everyone gets an opportunity to compete in this developmental program. It is a good motivator. It makes me feel proud to win this junior varsity competition,” said Manny, the Junior Varsity Fall 2015 Champion.

“I was nervous to train under Alicia at first and do archery. I did not think I would be able to hit the target. To my surprise, Alicia was very nice and fun and I hit the target right away on my first day of practice,” said Sofia, a well-rounded athlete who now calls archery her number one favorite sport.

“I look forward to archery each week. Everything is exciting about Alicia’s developmental program. We do a lot of physical challenges mixed in with archery and each day is different,” said Sofia, the Fall 2015 Female Junior Varsity Champion.

After Manny and Sofia won their competition, their self-esteem sky rocketed. They became more eager to to do archery, they became more responsible, they became more motivated, and they became even better in practice.

“Self esteem comes from doing something and accomplishing something.” – Shari Lewis

Sofia wanted to work on the longer distances. She began hitting the target at 20 meters a week after she won at 10 yards.

Manny and Sofia take Victory in Fall 2015 Junior Varsity Competition

Sofia trains in Clermont at the largest archery range available to the Central Florida students in the developmental program. “I really like working at this very large archery range with my instructor, Alicia, as I know many students in other areas don’t get this opportunity,” reflected Sofia.

Keep your eye on Manny and Sofia as they are on pace to make a future varsity team!

Contact Awinningway@gmail.com to join a Youth or Adult Archery Developmental Program.

END OF REPORT

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