This content is archived and as has not been processed. It may contain unformatted text or images, broken links or out-of-date information.
Archive
Brady ELLISON: “try to get archery into a professional type of sport”
Cali
Real name:
Vice-Olympic champion with the American team Brady ELLISON is shooting in his first World Games in the recurve field archery event. His victory over world field silver medallist Jake KAMINSKI at the United States trials for this event makes him a contender for a medal in Cali.
How is your shooting going in this post-Olympic year?This year has been a rather rough and disappointing year. I broke my right hand at the beginning of the season; I wasn’t able to train for six weeks, then I shot two tournaments with a broken hand, and about a week before the Shanghai World Cup I had the cast removed and was able to train full time again. It’s just been one of those years… It was good that it happened at the beginning of the year: I can still get ready for the World Championships, and I’m still in the hunt for the World Cup Finals, but I’ll have to shoot well in Poland in order to qualify. Now my hand is stronger and I can do more things (laughs).
Going from the Medellin World Cup to the World Games, how do you handle the transition from target archery to field archery?It’s good, I really enjoy field. This is my first international tournament, and I really love it. I wish there was a field tour like a World Cup, I would shoot a lot more field tournaments. To me it’s like back when I was shooting my compound bow and shot 3Ds. It’s unknown strategies, you have to guess everything and make good shots. I’m really excited to be here right now.
How long have you been shooting field archery?This will be the fifth field tournament that I’ve ever shot. I shoot our field nationals in the United States and generally two days before the tournaments get sight marks for every distance and then go shoot (laughs).
How hard was it to win the trials over your Olympic teammate Jake KAMINSKI, who is the world field silver medallist?
Jake’s a good shooter and he outshot me by a bunch on the unmarked day. I’m good on the unmarked side, but I misjudged a couple of 80cm faces, that’s what gave Jake his lead. He shot really well, and even on the marked day he shot well. But on that day I didn’t miss. Everything was in the yellow, and I just outshot him a little bit and was able to come here.
What do you like better, marked or unmarked distances?That’s a tough question. The unmarked is a little easier because it’s shorter. I do like the marked side of things just because the target sizes are so small and they are stretched out so much further, which makes it a lot more difficult to score high.
How long have you been training for the World Games?Today! (laughs)… That’s the truth! Yesterday I built a sight tape for my bow so I spent about an hour getting my distances, and today is the first day that I’ve shot at field faces since our Nationals.
What does the World Games mean to you?I’m really excited about it actually. It’s one of the multisports events, along with the Olympics and the Pan American Games. It will be cool to come down here and try to win the World Games. I wish we were staying in a village like at other games, and be able to meet athletes from other sports and see them competing. But here the fact that everyone is spread out in different hotels will make it more difficult. Regardless, I love the multisports events!
What is your goal here?I have high expectations for this one.
High expectations? Does it mean the gold?Yeah, it does… (laughs). I just want to shoot a good score. I’ve heard the scores might be a little tougher, but I would still like to shoot a 375-380 for the two days.
And your goals for the rest of the season?Everybody wants to win the World Championships, that’s the big one that I’m also chasing after. I was hoping to qualify to the World Cup Finals easily, but now just making it would be a good thing. It’s my new goal. I’m kind of in defence now, I’m sitting in fourth but there are a lot of archers tied for that spot. I really will have to shoot well in Poland to make sure that I qualify for Paris.
And besides the sport?It’s all about archery this year. Rodger WILLETT Jr. took me spearfishing when we were in Turkey, and I’m starting to get into it. Hopefully by the end of the year I can go into the water and spear some stuff. Being in California at the Olympic Training Centre right now, we have the ocean nearby, I’ll go play with some sharks!
How does it feel to be a role model for many children?
It feels good. I try to live my life and set an example that the kids would want to follow, and hope that they end up like me: that in whatever they do, they follow their dreams and have confidence in themselves, and are a good representation of their sport and their country. When you go to the Olympics, that’s everybody’s goal: you want to be someone that people are going to respect for how you act on the field and off the field.
What are the differences between before and after the Olympic medal?I don’t know if it has changed my life. It’s definitely given me more opportunities, but I don’t feel like it has changed me as a person or in what I expect out of archery or what I expect people to give me. My job is still to go up there and shoot the best I can. I don’t think that just because I won a silver medal I deserve more than anyone else who’s shooting and winning. The Olympics are huge, and I couldn’t be happier to be an Olympic medallist, but at the same time we have so many more tournaments to perform well at. It’s given me opportunities especially outside of archery, with non-endemic sponsors. Hopefully I’ll be able to pick up a big outside sponsor, like Coca Cola, going into the next Games.
What can you still bring to archery and what can archery still bring you?Archery is my life! It can only bring me happiness and joy (smile). I think there is a lot of work to be done in archery. One of my goals is to try to get archery into a professional type of sport, especially in the United States. Our sport is on TV and we have people competing. Korea has a professional tour. I want to contribute to grow a similar circuit in the United States, where more than one or two athletes, but rather 10, 15 or 20, could make a living and support a family. In that way, our country as a whole would get better in the sport. And if we can build a system like that, then other country might be able to follow, or other countries might start coming to our series. We need more money, sponsors and TV. Archery in the US right now is more popular than it ever has been, so if we are going to pull something off like this, it is going to have to be now, in the next couple of years, while we have this interest.
Personally, do you plan to make a living out of archery in years to come?Yes! If I stay number one in the country and keep winning the majority of the tournaments than I go to, then yes, I will make a living out of it. It’s my goal to stay as long as possible. I would like to try to make nine Olympic teams in total, because it’s the number of spots available for my tattoo. It’s all about the tattoo! If I make nine Olympic teams I can finish my tattoo (laughs). I love shooting and I don’t see that changing anytime soon, as long as it allows me to support my wife, and if we have one, my family, I will keep doing it.
Go to Brady ELLISON’s biography and follow the Cali World Games field archery competitions as from tomorrow in our webpage.
World Archery Communication
How is your shooting going in this post-Olympic year?This year has been a rather rough and disappointing year. I broke my right hand at the beginning of the season; I wasn’t able to train for six weeks, then I shot two tournaments with a broken hand, and about a week before the Shanghai World Cup I had the cast removed and was able to train full time again. It’s just been one of those years… It was good that it happened at the beginning of the year: I can still get ready for the World Championships, and I’m still in the hunt for the World Cup Finals, but I’ll have to shoot well in Poland in order to qualify. Now my hand is stronger and I can do more things (laughs).
Going from the Medellin World Cup to the World Games, how do you handle the transition from target archery to field archery?It’s good, I really enjoy field. This is my first international tournament, and I really love it. I wish there was a field tour like a World Cup, I would shoot a lot more field tournaments. To me it’s like back when I was shooting my compound bow and shot 3Ds. It’s unknown strategies, you have to guess everything and make good shots. I’m really excited to be here right now.
How long have you been shooting field archery?This will be the fifth field tournament that I’ve ever shot. I shoot our field nationals in the United States and generally two days before the tournaments get sight marks for every distance and then go shoot (laughs).
How hard was it to win the trials over your Olympic teammate Jake KAMINSKI, who is the world field silver medallist?
Jake’s a good shooter and he outshot me by a bunch on the unmarked day. I’m good on the unmarked side, but I misjudged a couple of 80cm faces, that’s what gave Jake his lead. He shot really well, and even on the marked day he shot well. But on that day I didn’t miss. Everything was in the yellow, and I just outshot him a little bit and was able to come here.What do you like better, marked or unmarked distances?That’s a tough question. The unmarked is a little easier because it’s shorter. I do like the marked side of things just because the target sizes are so small and they are stretched out so much further, which makes it a lot more difficult to score high.
How long have you been training for the World Games?Today! (laughs)… That’s the truth! Yesterday I built a sight tape for my bow so I spent about an hour getting my distances, and today is the first day that I’ve shot at field faces since our Nationals.
What does the World Games mean to you?I’m really excited about it actually. It’s one of the multisports events, along with the Olympics and the Pan American Games. It will be cool to come down here and try to win the World Games. I wish we were staying in a village like at other games, and be able to meet athletes from other sports and see them competing. But here the fact that everyone is spread out in different hotels will make it more difficult. Regardless, I love the multisports events!
What is your goal here?I have high expectations for this one.
High expectations? Does it mean the gold?Yeah, it does… (laughs). I just want to shoot a good score. I’ve heard the scores might be a little tougher, but I would still like to shoot a 375-380 for the two days.
And your goals for the rest of the season?Everybody wants to win the World Championships, that’s the big one that I’m also chasing after. I was hoping to qualify to the World Cup Finals easily, but now just making it would be a good thing. It’s my new goal. I’m kind of in defence now, I’m sitting in fourth but there are a lot of archers tied for that spot. I really will have to shoot well in Poland to make sure that I qualify for Paris.
And besides the sport?It’s all about archery this year. Rodger WILLETT Jr. took me spearfishing when we were in Turkey, and I’m starting to get into it. Hopefully by the end of the year I can go into the water and spear some stuff. Being in California at the Olympic Training Centre right now, we have the ocean nearby, I’ll go play with some sharks!
How does it feel to be a role model for many children?
It feels good. I try to live my life and set an example that the kids would want to follow, and hope that they end up like me: that in whatever they do, they follow their dreams and have confidence in themselves, and are a good representation of their sport and their country. When you go to the Olympics, that’s everybody’s goal: you want to be someone that people are going to respect for how you act on the field and off the field.What are the differences between before and after the Olympic medal?I don’t know if it has changed my life. It’s definitely given me more opportunities, but I don’t feel like it has changed me as a person or in what I expect out of archery or what I expect people to give me. My job is still to go up there and shoot the best I can. I don’t think that just because I won a silver medal I deserve more than anyone else who’s shooting and winning. The Olympics are huge, and I couldn’t be happier to be an Olympic medallist, but at the same time we have so many more tournaments to perform well at. It’s given me opportunities especially outside of archery, with non-endemic sponsors. Hopefully I’ll be able to pick up a big outside sponsor, like Coca Cola, going into the next Games.
What can you still bring to archery and what can archery still bring you?Archery is my life! It can only bring me happiness and joy (smile). I think there is a lot of work to be done in archery. One of my goals is to try to get archery into a professional type of sport, especially in the United States. Our sport is on TV and we have people competing. Korea has a professional tour. I want to contribute to grow a similar circuit in the United States, where more than one or two athletes, but rather 10, 15 or 20, could make a living and support a family. In that way, our country as a whole would get better in the sport. And if we can build a system like that, then other country might be able to follow, or other countries might start coming to our series. We need more money, sponsors and TV. Archery in the US right now is more popular than it ever has been, so if we are going to pull something off like this, it is going to have to be now, in the next couple of years, while we have this interest.
Personally, do you plan to make a living out of archery in years to come?Yes! If I stay number one in the country and keep winning the majority of the tournaments than I go to, then yes, I will make a living out of it. It’s my goal to stay as long as possible. I would like to try to make nine Olympic teams in total, because it’s the number of spots available for my tattoo. It’s all about the tattoo! If I make nine Olympic teams I can finish my tattoo (laughs). I love shooting and I don’t see that changing anytime soon, as long as it allows me to support my wife, and if we have one, my family, I will keep doing it.
Go to Brady ELLISON’s biography and follow the Cali World Games field archery competitions as from tomorrow in our webpage.
World Archery Communication
People
Features
Bernal: Waiting for the moment
Features
