CENTRAL FLORIDA, Dec 10-11, 2016— Only the Top 22 – 26 percent of all archer-athletes qualified for the 2016 Championship Series. The athletes had to get down an array of athletic routines and skills involving sprinting, archery, volleyball, hand-eye coordination, jumping, and strength. One set of athletes competed in an Obstacle Championship, while another set of athletes competed in the Domino Archery Championship.
The Team Champions in the Weekend Championship!
Highlights of the Double Championship Weekend
The Diamond Cheetahs performed an outstanding (perfect scored) 13 yard volleyball routine.
Finally, here is an exclusive interview with coach and athletes.
Interested competitors can contact Awinningway@gmail.com
Alicia’s 113th victory came on a Clay Trail!CLERMONT, FL—-On November 20, 2016, Alicia Weber, an advocate for soft surface running, dreamed of achieving her 113th victory in the Clermont Clay Trail 5k and her dream came true. On a sunny, 50 degree morning, Weber faced 241 great competitors who shared the same mindset of “soft surface running is the way to go” and she finished as the first woman on the hilly, sandy, bumpy course on Schofield Road on the Clermont Clay Trail (and 4th overall) in 21:50.
It was an out and back 1.55 mile course (10:46 out and 11:04 back for 21:50). She was shooting for low 10’s at the half-way mark, but with the many bumps and thick sand, she knew it would take longer. The challenging terrain and extra strength and balance required draws Alicia to events on sand, dirt, and off-terrain. The races do not focus so much on the time, but rather the fitness required to go as fast possible on the courses. The thicker the sand, the longer the ground contact time, and the double the effort for a workout = greater the challenge and more health benefits. Due to the soft surface, your legs feel really great when you are done. Soft surface running is the healthy choice for running, which brings you closer to nature.
The Clermont Clay Trail Race drew a total of 658 competitors (242 in the 5k and 416 in the 15k). This is tremendous participation, which is greater than in many road races. Many other runners agree that soft surface running is the way to go for longevity as a runner and athlete. The races bring awareness to clay trails and raise funds to restore and build more clay trails in the area.
Alicia’s 113th Victory on Clermont Clay Trail
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
This is Alicia’s 11th competition for 2016 and her final race of the season. She competed in 4 sports. She competed in one world championship (23rd in world), two world qualifiers (both first place), one national championship (2nd place), regional championships (1st and 2nd place), and four local Florida events. She competed in cross country running, beach running, paddle boarding, and indoor rowing this year. She also took up learning the new sport of footgolf, but she has not competed yet.
World Record Weber’s favorite holiday is Halloween for the fun, creativity, and characters that come with it. This year she had 4 days of Halloween events, which included two Inaugural Championship competitions for youth athletes.
Double Endeavor Halloween Championship Weekend
On October 29th, World Record Weber hosted a Halloween Archery Contest, which tested new and veteran archer’s skills at Halloween targets (where a lot of pumpkin smashing took place). The contest was 10 times more challenging than shooting at regular targets, but after a lot of “warming up” all the archers excelled with flying black and orange colors.
A new team called Constellations prevailed on the female side to take individual first (Lanissa with 15pts) and second places (Jadyn with 11pts). Veteran 2 x champion archer, Indaya of the Camo Hunters, took third place with 7pts. On the male side, Robin Hood (Matteo) won with 28pts, brothers Alex and Nicholas tied for second place with 26 pts, and Henry from the legendary team called The Rubies secured third place with 17pts.
The adrenaline for Halloween competitions was just beginning to brew as some athletes returned the following day and new athletes poured in for the Inaugural Halloween Cross Country One Mile Championship.
World Record Wonder Woman challenged the excited youth runners to what must be one of the toughest one mile races in the state of Florida. Prior to this competition, Weber (who has competed all over the state and nation) ran the mile course twice in 6:19 each time. Her time is a little more than a minute slower than what she would do on flat grass. She warned the racers that this is very tough and times would be slower than normal. Acting as the pace setter aka Rabbit, the Wonder Woman got the runners off to a whip, roaring start where they huffed and puffed to an incredible triumph (where approx 1,000 meters was on 12 percent grade hills and the remaining 0.4 miles were rolling or flat).
New cross country runner, nine year old JP, took the victory in 7:56 followed by teammates Nicole in 8:54 and Eli in 9:23. They took 1-2-3 and represented the Mariners.
Cody who helped set a Global Running Day world record, took 4th place. Our male and female Halloween Archery Champions, Matteo and Lanissa, finished this challenging course and called this their first-ever running race as they crossed the line in 5th and 6th place.
“The harder the challenge, then the sweeter the victory,” said Matteo who had a terrific Halloween weekend.
“It feels amazing to win archery, but I like to challenge myself at events where they are difficult for me,” mentioned Matteo.
Lanissa agreed with Matteo. “It feels good to try this run because I never raced before. It was a great motivation to get me out there. It felt great to win in archery yesterday with the top competition,” said Lanissa.
All athletes agreed that they were happy that Coach Weber challenged them to this tough cross country course rather than give them an easy, flat race.
Now, these motivated young athletes will prepare for their next events as they remember and are inspired by the words from Matteo,
“The harder the challenge, the sweeter the victory.”
Most new archers look forward to their first bullseye as their mark of success and excitement in archery, but Alicia Weber’s Creative Archery Summer Camp goes above and beyond shooting for Bullseyes. Young campers did not know what to expect other than they would be doing archery. Some waited months for this camp to take place. One thing was certain, Alicia Weber’s Creative Archery was out-of-this-world with jammed-packed activities geared to getting young students to master skills quickly and successfully.
Student-Athletes in Alicia’s archery programs become great athletes and excellent students. They develop mental and physical skills and focus needed to achieve any goal they set their minds on achieving. In spring 2016, all the archer-athletes who won the spring championship were also on the Honor Roll. Excelling in athletics and academics are equally important and the Creative Archery Summer Camp allows students to gear up academically with the math, English, writing, reading, public speaking, health, art, and performing arts experiences all tossed into archery in this one week camp. This camp is a great refresher for students about to head back to school after their long summer break or holiday break.
Highlights from the 2016 Creative Archery Summer Camp are below. Contact Alicia for upcoming sport and academic camps at Awinningway@gmail.com
The exciting championship finally arrived and competitors were excited to step up to the cone and give their best efforts. All walked away with age group records and new personal bests in a combo archery target event.
Archery Photo Contest Highlights and Champions
Families enjoy the event for the fun, friendly atmosphere, which encourages good sportsmanship and team play. Determined and dedicated archer, Aisha of the Purple Pandas, won this championship with her score of 96. This is a huge victory for her and she exclaimed, “It feels great to win.”
Matteo won this event before and won again today. “I feel amazing,” he said winning first for boys and third overall with his score of 84x.
It was an exciting match up between Aisha and Nicole of NS Archers as only two points separated them for the Series Championship. Nicole won the Series Championship by one point and finishes second overall today with 94x. Both competitors have developed a lot of confidence and skill over the past year. Their coach was very happy that they both got a big win today!
Henry of The Rubies won the Championship for the boys. He has been showing great progress along with teammate Marcello who attended the one week training camp. Izzy won the first Bullseye Scavenger Hunt and she improved her score on this one.
The archery was very challenging and the scavenger Hunt was the most challenging as well, but there were the most prizes in this championship!
Here are some of the top photos.
Congratulations to all competitors!!
Contact Alicia at Awinningway@gmail.com for upcoming events.
CLERMONT, FL—-This week was highly exciting for me both personally and professionally. First, I pulled off an enormous endurance feat I have been eyeing since first grade…(and seriously training 8 1/2 years to finally be able to do…). I became the first person to complete 1,070 strict pull-ups in one hour, which brings my physical fitness world record count to 835 this week (btw 2 WR books). Four days after this feat, I was holding my own unique event for others in my Bullseye Scavenger Hunt Series # 2 held in conjunction with Farmer’s Market.
There is always some nervousness with the anticipation of these events. I was blown away by the confidence and power exuded in my newest archer, Addie (who is 6 with only one lesson under her belt), when she powerfully shot out a few high scoring arrows in just the “warm up”. I knew a record was on the way…
Watch Addie Shatter Record
The youths understand that they may get nervous the first time they compete and their score may be lower than in practice. However, they know that practice ultimately leads to performance. In the 10 arrow 10 yard shoot for 4 minutes, I saw my seasoned archers do what they have done in practice and my newest archer did set a new record!
Addie, 6, set the record for the “Highest scorer in a 10 yard 10 arrow competition for 4 minutes from a youth age 6 or under with just one archery lesson” with her score of 9 points.
Ramsey of the Rising Underdogs won the boys archery competition with his score of 55 points (10 points away from the boys youth record). This was his first archery victory.
Nicole of the NS Archers won her first archery competition as well with her score of 74 points (12 points away from the girls youth record). Aisha of the Purple Pandas was following close behind with 72 points and she is currently the female leader in the Series Championship.
Onward, the archers went to Clermont Farmer’s Market for photographic scavenger hunt. It’s a great, fun opportunity to get locals acquainted with farmer’s market and all the vendors. The families work together to hunt down items. However, they not only look for interesting things or people, but they have to try to take the best pictures and complete the scavenger hunt in 20 minutes or less. The Photo Contest Winners are below. I look for close up, sharp, well-taken shots with good lighting and interesting angles.
Contact me to join the next monthly Bullseye Scavenger Hunt held thru and including the month of August at Awinningway@gmail.com
CLERMONT, FL—-Youth athletes celebrated Father’s Day in an outstanding way. Five athletes (ages 6-14) became pioneers and champions in the second-ever Tag Team Archery Championship. Families watched their kids take on the challenge of trying a new sport all while rooting and roaring from the sidelines!
Coach Alicia Weber is calling the shots and teaching first-time players the new game!Fifty-two kids were invited to compete based on their ability and background in playing hockey, soccer, and/or competitive running. Five of these 52 were the brave ones who accepted the challenge.
The coed competition brought kids together who never met before. The kids were placed on teams and encouraged to make new friends as they worked on team spirit and good sportsmanship. The kids were challenged in learning a new sport very quickly, staying positive, becoming aware of their surroundings, learning to react fast, and developing new skills in archery.
Action-Packed Tag Team Archery Championship
The sport involves sprinting and fast footwork over 100 yds. Runners are trying to escape from getting tagged as they travel from a Point A to Point B. The successful runners score goals and earn extra points by then shooting barebow category archery (the hardest type of archery) all while still huffing and puffing from all the running. This is a highly aerobic and action-packed team game. Team N & I won with 52 points. Team C & A took second with 27 points.
Both teams received journals to encourage summer creative writing.They were given 4 minutes of playing in each period with two periods. Their advice was to run, run, run and be fearless to rack up the most possible points. Both teams demonstrated their best efforts and courageous plays and the high scores show it.
“Doing your best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.” – Oprah Winfrey
Today was a wonderful day where families came together and new friendships were made as all players won journals. They were able to capture these moments in their journals as they all became pioneers and champions in this new sport.
The American Eagles won the the first-ever Championship with 26 points. Memorial Day 2016 will be a weekend youth athletes will remember as their day to soar in the red, white, and blue and be the first to compete in a championship in a new sport! Six athletes came dressed in their red, white, and blue and gave it all they had in a highly aerobic game, which also required skill.
Two teams took to the fields in a chase game of 3 vs 3 in a large zoned rectangular field upto 100 yards in length. They had to go through the rounds as either the runners or taggers (defenders). Runners tried to successfully get from Point A to B without getting tagged. Each successful runner earned a point. Then, the runner could huff, puff, and triumph more by taking one lucky shot of an arrow at a 20 yard target. They could try to earn more team points with an accurate shot. It is non-stop action and each team is given the same amount of playing time to achieve maximum points. The USA X-Shots took 2nd place team with 11 points.
Besides stamina, fast reaction time, fitness, and skill, the other keys to success in this game are courage, bravery, and teamwork.
The final score was American Eagles 26 – USA X-Shots 11.
The Official, Inaugural Stars & Stripes “Tag Team” Archery Championship under the tutelage of Coach Alicia Weber with athletes from American Eagles and USA X-Shots.
See how the teams reacted to being in the first-ever Championship!
Contact Alicia at Awinningway@gmail.com to get on a team for an upcoming game.
CLERMONT, FL—-Many youths traveled one hour or more to take part in the first Bullseye Scavenger Hunt of 2016. In fact, it was the request of Izzy, a competitor of the Diamond Gorilla Archers, who asked for the return of this competition as she enthusiastically woke up early and made the long trek to Clermont to compete. She competed in this event in 2015 and calls it her favorite.
This will be the only one she is able to make this summer and she made the most of it. She is all about having fun. She hoped that she could win all while having fun and she did just that! Izzy always shows tremendous sportsmanship as she stood by her teammates as they took a win and she took a second or third place. She has been training for 2 years and this was her day to finally win BIG. Her day started at the Sundance Archery Range where she took a first overall victory out of boys and girls with her archery score of 55 points.
The first place boy was Zeke with 35 points. He is on the team “The Rising Underdogs” where he and his three teammates plan to change their name once they begin winning. Zeke is on his way to getting a team name changed. Zeke just made the first big win for his team! His brother, Nate, tied for 4th place boy overall. Zeke inspired his brother and other young boys into archery with his determined “never give up” attitude. The Rising Underdogs went into the second part of the competition involving a fun photographic scavenger hunt/photo contest and took top honors for their photos (see below). First Place Male and Female with their awards!
The archer-scavenger hunters can compete in this series throughout the summer and earn points for a chance to become the overall male and female series champion and receive special awards! The top male and female archers receive awards in each competition and then there are specials prizes for all. Everyone thanks the vendors and Downtown Clermont Farmer’s Market.
See what goodies are at the Downtown Clermont Farmer’s Market below in the winning photos.
Henry placed 3rd for boys and took a top photo honor. Frank a new archer snatched a surprising second place for the boys. Cody, a top competitor in archery fitness was on the winning team for Stars & Stripes Championship and he tied for 4th place in this competition. Aisha was the 2nd place female archer and she took two top photo honors.
Contact Alicia at Awinningway@gmail.com to register for an upcoming competition.
The April Ready Aim Grow Championship planted a seed of positivity in the hearts and minds of youth. The results were stupendous strength gains, high archery scores, a bundle of flowers, and succulents for the male and female champions. The archer athletes were given the command, “Focus, Form, and Follow Through” and that is exactly what they did from demonstrating proper form in strict slow pushups to hitting bullseyes at targets 15 – 20 meters away. All these athletes had to qualify for this competition and their opportunity to compete is a testament to their dedication and development in archery fitness.
We had a wonderful, warm, sunny day for our event (with three age group competitions) as many youngsters made warm memories that will last a long time.
10 and Under
DJ of X shots winning her first championship! She had the highest score for girls and boys with 71 pts out of 107.“The competition was fun and beyond exciting! I felt accomplished and proud of my results. I remained positive throughout. What a great time!” – DJ of the X Shots, First Place Girl, First Overall, and First Place Team Member
“My experience was fun and I met new friends. It is educational and I don’t want to ever leave.”
– Lilly of the X Shots, Second Place Girl, Second Overall, and First Place Team Member
“The competition was amazing. It was a challenge. It was fun and I tried my best on my first archery competition.” – Nico of the X Shots, Fourth Place Boy, First Place Team Member
Izzy of the Diamond Gorrilas at her 2nd championship and third place girl and only archer to get an “X” with her score of 52x.“Archery is awesome. It helps your muscles and it is really fun because you get to team up with your friends. Archery is when you get to do things that you normally don’t do.” – Izzy of the Diamond Gorrilas, Third Place Girl, Fourth Overall, and Third Place Team Member
“I like archery because you can be creative. You can shoot at targets and earn points. The best part is you can team up with a friend.” – Henry of the Diamond Gorrilas, Third Place Team Member
“It was fun for me. I learn that it is not all about winning. It’s about having fun. Thank you for letting me compete in this this event and see you next time.” – Anecya of the Shadow Arrows, Fourth Place Team Member
Ready Aim Grow Spring 2016 Championship Competitors
11 Thru 13
Sona of the NS Archers was the female champion and. NS Archers with Sona and Nicole won team championship.“My experience was amazing. It mentally helped me and made me feel like I could do anything. We also did pushups and exercises that helped me physically. I loved the teacher, Ms. Alicia. She helped us “rock and roll” and made us absolutely prepared as she had faith in all of us. I loved this experience.” – Sona of the NS Archers, First Place Girl, First Place Team Member
“My experience was good. I was nervous, but I got a good score. It was good to be a championship for the first time.” – Nicole of the NS Archers, Third Place Girl, First Place Team Member
“Today at the spring competition, everyone had fun. During the exercise round, I didn’t think I would get all 6 points, but I did and I was so proud of myself. I have to thank Ms. Alicia for the opportunity to compete in our city.” – Aisha of the Purple Pandas, Second Place Girl, Official Event Scorer
“My experience at this archery competition was that I was nervous at first, but once I started shooting, it all went away. I did better than I ever done before.” – Jenna of the Purple Pandas, Third Place Team Member
“I felt nervous at first, but not now. PS I like doing the pushups. Oh, and I like archery.” – Jessica, Third Place Team Member, Rising Star Archer
“I have really enjoyed archery and learning it with Ms. Alicia.” – Donovan of the Hawkeyes, First Place Boy
The age 11 thru 13 Teams at Awards Ceremony.
13 and 1/2 Thru Age 16
Indaya, 2 time champ, (66x) and Matteo, youngest competitor, (70x) are Champions in the most advanced competition where they compete at 20 meters.“My experience today was breathtaking. I never realized how much better I got since I practiced. I had a terrific time today and I will remember this forever. Since I have a Bible verse to go with it Collosians 3:23-24 and Jeremich 29:11 without forgetting John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoesover believed in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16,” – Indaya of the Camo Hunters, First Place Female and Second Overall
“This was one of the best experiences of my life. I got to spend time with a friend. I can meet new people and improve in a sport. I think archery is something I will always want to do.” – Logan of Blue Thunder, Second Place Male, Third Place Team Member, Rising Star Archer
Congratulations to ALL competitors!!
Cheers to the 2016 Spring Championship!
The field of elite male archery fitness competitors.
