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DUENAS, who started archery in 2000 at the age of 14, is among the most experienced archers on the world circuit. His best individual results were a second place at the Santo Domingo World Cup in 2009, and a second place at the Pan American Games in 2011, when he lost the final to then world N°1 Brady ELLISON (USA). Competing in his first World Cup event of the year in Medellin, DUENAS told us about his sport career, his studies, and his dreams.
What are your personal expectations for this World Cup stage in Medellin?
I’ve been working very hard over the winter to improve my form and my mental game. This is my first real test and my first World Cup this year so I’m going to be happy with whatever I do but I know that I can got as high as a gold medal match because I’ve done it before. I just need to run my programme and perform well during the match play.
How are you doing with your studies?I just graduated from a teachers’ college and I’m hired by different school boards as a teacher but I don’t have a premier job yet. Because of other archery events that might happen I decided to be a supply teacher in September but I’m qualified to teach physics and maths at a high school level. Whatever opportunity arises that can be flexible with my schedule I’d be happy to take.
Were your results in London a reason for you to refocus on your studies?I knew that after London I really had to make a choice about what I wanted to do with my life. While I was walking in at the Opening Ceremony in London was when I was accepted to a teachers college beginning in September after the Olympics so I decided that this year was going to be dedicated to my school work. If there is an archery tournament and school at the same time I’d have to pick school because this is what is going to happen with me after my archery career. I’m still having a lot of fun and still trying to perform at the highest level possible but it will eventually come to an end so I’m just paving for a good future for myself after I’m done competing on the world stage with archery. I know I’ll never stop archery, ever, but I have to look at my future.
How long do you expect your professional archery career to last?My professional archery career will be dictated by my teaching career. If the schools where I teach are willing to let me take the time off to compete, then I think I’ll go for a longer career. My ultimate goal is to have two more Olympics with two more chances to win an Olympic medal. If I can do that my goal will be accomplished; but if it falls shorts before because of my situation with work I’ll to deal with that but I’m a pretty resilient person and I know that I can miss a few trainings and a few tournaments and still be able to come back strong.
With this break, what is your approach to social media?
I love informing people who are following me of what I’m doing because they took the time to follow me so I’m just going to give them something to read whenever something important or interesting happens in my life. A couple of weeks ago I shut a new Canadian record and I posted it on Twitter and Facebook. All the support that I got from Facebook with these posts is overwhelming because so many people sent me congratulations and liked the post: Easton, Hoyt and World Archery retweeted it also, so it’s really cool to see how much connectivity archers have all over the world. I’m only using myself as an example but I’ve seen so many other archers doing the same thing I do and how much recognition they get. At the end all archers can keep contact with each other and they know how everybody else is doing; it’s really spectacular to see.
Medellin is staging the World Cup for the first time ever in South America. What does this mean for you?I think it’s going to be a good learning experience for the Organising Committee. I don’t think that it’s possible to go into a new World Cup event and get everything perfect; I’m not going to say what is wrong but I know there’s always room for improvement when you do something for the first time. So far I like the venue and I like how close everything is. I loved the view when I was coming down from the airport, all the valleys and mountains were spectacular. The weather and the conditions are very good so I won’t be surprised if some archers are posting very good scores just because of the wonderful weather we’re having.
What about in your country; is Canada on the right track in terms of archery development and the future of the sport?I think we are! We have some new archers coming up and they are getting really good and accurate. Fans should expect to see them on the international scene, at the World Youth Championships or at World Cup stages. It’s really nice to see that we’re not stuck with what we have; there’s going to be development in the sport and new athletes moving up. In terms of archery in Canada, scores have just continued to rise over the past few years so I think we’re going to be one of these countries everybody looks for. Whenever recurve competition happens, everybody looks for team Korea; we’re going to be one of these countries.
World Archery Communication
What are your personal expectations for this World Cup stage in Medellin?
I’ve been working very hard over the winter to improve my form and my mental game. This is my first real test and my first World Cup this year so I’m going to be happy with whatever I do but I know that I can got as high as a gold medal match because I’ve done it before. I just need to run my programme and perform well during the match play.How are you doing with your studies?I just graduated from a teachers’ college and I’m hired by different school boards as a teacher but I don’t have a premier job yet. Because of other archery events that might happen I decided to be a supply teacher in September but I’m qualified to teach physics and maths at a high school level. Whatever opportunity arises that can be flexible with my schedule I’d be happy to take.
Were your results in London a reason for you to refocus on your studies?I knew that after London I really had to make a choice about what I wanted to do with my life. While I was walking in at the Opening Ceremony in London was when I was accepted to a teachers college beginning in September after the Olympics so I decided that this year was going to be dedicated to my school work. If there is an archery tournament and school at the same time I’d have to pick school because this is what is going to happen with me after my archery career. I’m still having a lot of fun and still trying to perform at the highest level possible but it will eventually come to an end so I’m just paving for a good future for myself after I’m done competing on the world stage with archery. I know I’ll never stop archery, ever, but I have to look at my future.
How long do you expect your professional archery career to last?My professional archery career will be dictated by my teaching career. If the schools where I teach are willing to let me take the time off to compete, then I think I’ll go for a longer career. My ultimate goal is to have two more Olympics with two more chances to win an Olympic medal. If I can do that my goal will be accomplished; but if it falls shorts before because of my situation with work I’ll to deal with that but I’m a pretty resilient person and I know that I can miss a few trainings and a few tournaments and still be able to come back strong.
With this break, what is your approach to social media?
I love informing people who are following me of what I’m doing because they took the time to follow me so I’m just going to give them something to read whenever something important or interesting happens in my life. A couple of weeks ago I shut a new Canadian record and I posted it on Twitter and Facebook. All the support that I got from Facebook with these posts is overwhelming because so many people sent me congratulations and liked the post: Easton, Hoyt and World Archery retweeted it also, so it’s really cool to see how much connectivity archers have all over the world. I’m only using myself as an example but I’ve seen so many other archers doing the same thing I do and how much recognition they get. At the end all archers can keep contact with each other and they know how everybody else is doing; it’s really spectacular to see.Medellin is staging the World Cup for the first time ever in South America. What does this mean for you?I think it’s going to be a good learning experience for the Organising Committee. I don’t think that it’s possible to go into a new World Cup event and get everything perfect; I’m not going to say what is wrong but I know there’s always room for improvement when you do something for the first time. So far I like the venue and I like how close everything is. I loved the view when I was coming down from the airport, all the valleys and mountains were spectacular. The weather and the conditions are very good so I won’t be surprised if some archers are posting very good scores just because of the wonderful weather we’re having.
What about in your country; is Canada on the right track in terms of archery development and the future of the sport?I think we are! We have some new archers coming up and they are getting really good and accurate. Fans should expect to see them on the international scene, at the World Youth Championships or at World Cup stages. It’s really nice to see that we’re not stuck with what we have; there’s going to be development in the sport and new athletes moving up. In terms of archery in Canada, scores have just continued to rise over the past few years so I think we’re going to be one of these countries everybody looks for. Whenever recurve competition happens, everybody looks for team Korea; we’re going to be one of these countries.
World Archery Communication
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