6 June 2008 - Development of Archery in South America

Development of Archery in South America Lausanne – 6 June 2008   Olympic Solidarity Level 2 Course in Ecuador Ecuador benefited from an Olympic Solidarity course for archery coaches. It was an intermediate level course held at an excellent centre of high performance in Duran in the suburbs of Guayaquil. The centre belongs to the Ecuador National Olympic Committee. This course gathered 26 participants including 3 from Paraguay, 2 from Cuba, 1 from El Salvador and 1 from Korea. Gender equity was respected and 10 participants have successfully completed the final evaluation.   The course took place on 13-19 may and alternated into technical and practical sessions. The participants played the role of coach and archer during the training sessions. A half-day rest was accorded for the foreign participants to discover the city. All the work was under the expertise of Mr Pascal Colmaire, FITA Development and Education Director.   This project of the Ecuador Archery Federation was a success thanks to the logistic support of Ecuador National Olympic Committee and to the financial assistance of Olympic Solidarity.   Archery School in Guatemala The first inter-school competition was held in April. It gathered 19 schools from the capital city and 2 from the provinces. The participation number was a record: 91 archers in girls/boys, cadet/junior and recurve/compound categories. The recurve division was using the equipment donated to the Guatemala Archery Association by FITA in 2007 following the participation of Julio Urias at the FITA MEAC training camp in Cairo, Egypt thanks to Olympic Solidarity. Mr Urias is collaborating with school teachers and the Guatemala Archery Federation for the inclusion of our sport in the school sports programmes.   Spain provides Assistance to Paraguay Following a cooperation agreement between the Superior Council of Sport of Spain and the National Sports Secretary of Paraguay, the international judge Juan Maria Charquero del Campo who is also the President of the Andalusia Archery Federation has been appointed to conduct a judges course in Asuncion, Paraguay with the participation of 12 candidates. The programme consisted in rules of basic shooting on outdoor and indoor targets, other FITA tests, individual and team, general knowledge in 3D shooting, philosophy and judges procedures.   The course was presented with a power point document validated by the FITA Coaches Committee and included practical and theoretical exams which was successfully completed by Susana Kovács (President of FEPAR), Gyöngyike Ádám, Delma Bernarl, Perla Alfonzo, Ma. Estela Gabilan, Diego Rodríguez, Héctor Mico, Horst Schröder, Daniel Iturry, Carlos Hlavacek, Héctor Torres, Antony García. The theoretical exam consisted in 50 questions and the practical one was conducted by the candidates during the 1st open championship with 34 archers held on 4 May in Rakiura. Future competitions will take place in July, September and November 2008.   FITA Development Department