5 April 2012 - Youth Development Project in Latin America

Youth Development Project in Latin America Lausanne – 5 April 2012  Richard PRIESTMAN is working as a Consultant Coach in Latin America as part of a development project run by World Archery and COPARCO called "Fortalecimiento Deportivo Para Cadetes y Juveniles de America 2011-2016".   The programme consists in visiting five different countries in Latin America and working with their coaches and junior archers to help them develop for future Youth International Tournaments and ultimately the Olympic Games. PRIESTMAN visited Argentina, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Puerto Rico and stayed one month in each country.   As part of the project, the five countries were to send archers to the tournament in Mexican Grand Prix and Continental Championships held on 5-11 March 2012 in Mexico. During this event, it was exciting to see the performance and skills of these five teams alongside six other countries, including Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico and one competitor from USA.   The Grand Prix was open to all archers and the Continental Championships was limited to four archers per country. It was a big stress and endurance test for the archers and also for the coaches. The coaches often needed to be on three different fields at the same time. The weather conditions were not great, with variable winds, strong at times, highs of more than 30 C° one day and lows of 3 C° the next. The Organising Committee along with Sergio FONT (CUB) did a fantastic job in running the tournament which was a huge success.   Most of the countries did not have a full team of archers for each category. Therefore, the organisers allowed combined international teams to participate so that the archers could gain more experience. Mexico had approximately 300 juniors competing with excellent equipment and a good national development project. Because there were so many competitions and medals, the award ceremony was a marathon but a great occasion for all concerned.    The archers of the junior project were all at different stages of their long term development but are all progressing tremendously. Notable successes were Ambar REYES (PUR), aged 15, who won seven medals and Julio BARILLOS (GUA), aged 16, who won five medals. These two archers are very talented and to be looked out for in future years.   The second phase of the junior project consists in revisiting the five countries, one month in each, to continue with the development project. This will allow to plan ahead and build on the really encouraging start made by the archers and coaches. The Consultant Coach PRIESTMAN was very happy with the overall performance of the five teams he worked with. They won a lot of medals between them and many of the archers achieved personal best scores.   More photos here...   Richard Priestman Consultant Coach World Archery Junior Project Americas Edited by World Archery Communication & Developpement Departments