Top coach PRIESTMAN now working with Colombia

“I have a good, enthusiastic group – a good ladies team and men with lots of potential. They have an exciting future,” says new Colombia head coach Richard PRIESTMAN of the athletes he has been coaching for just 3 days.

“I’m very excited about this new experience,” adds the 1988 and 1992 Olympic team bronze medallist. “I nearly went to work in Bogota about three or four years ago, but I’d already agreed to go somewhere else. I’ve always had good relationships with Colombia, and I was really happy to be invited back.”

PRIESTMAN’s priority is recurve. “But I’m sure I will help with the compound as well,” he says. He’ll work with an experienced women’s team, and a relatively young men’s team.

At Shanghai, Ana Maria RENDON, Natalia SANCHEZ and Maira Alejandra SEPULVEDA could do well in the team event, PRIESTMAN thinks.

Colombia’s best individual chance is Ana RENDON, who had top scores at the Arizona Cup and won gold at the South American Games last month, while 2009 world bronze medallist Natalia SANCHEZ is on the rise: “I think she will improve over the next few months,” warns the British coach.

The men’s team is at Shanghai for the first time. “It’s a learning experience for the men. It’s the first time they’ve been to Asia, they are getting used to the food and the different time zone.” PRIESTMAN points out Andres PILA as special talent. The 22-year-old won bronze at the South American Games.

For now, the coach is watching the athletes, looking for strengths and weaknesses before forming a strategy to improve the Colombian squad. With the Olympics over two years away, there’s still plenty of time to develop.

“I just have to make the athletes more professional and more competitive. I don’t put any big goals or big pressure on them. I’d like to fix things first and make them more confident.”

PRIESTMAN will coach athletes who are full-time archers or students for the most part. “They have a lot of time to train, so I’ll give them plenty of exercise,” he says as he smiles! “They already shoot a lot of arrows. They will be a good team.”

The coach is learning too: “The athletes’ characters are new, and how they react in competition. It’s exciting. Every person in every country is different… and now I have to practice my Spanish!”