5 May 2010 - Brady ELLISON (USA): “I want to help find a cure for breast cancer”

Brady ELLISON (USA): “I want to help find a cure for breast cancer”
Porec (CRO) – 5 May 2010   USA Olympian Brady ELLISON will try to shoot more 10s than ever this week in Porec: he started the campaign “Shoot for the Cure” to help fight breast cancer and will pledge money for every X or 10 he shoots during the qualification round and for an eventual podium finish. Read our interview and join Brady in his campaign!   Brady in Porec shooting with a pink bow    matching the pink wristbands he is selling for the cause.    Congratulations Brady on your campaign “Brady Shoot for the Cure”! How did you become involved in this project?
A couple years ago my coach died from cancer and I wanted to raise funds to try to find a cure for breast cancer. It’s something that I really wanted to do. I wasn’t able to do it the year he died, but this year I asked my Mom to help me out and get a foundation going. We ended up partnering with Susan G. Komen (website). So many people are affected by breast cancer. I figured that every little bit helps, and if we can find a cure for breast cancer it might help find a cure for other forms of cancer too.   I’ve started the campaign this season at the Arizona Cup and I’m going to do it individually until the Olympic for sure. I’ll try to get a foundation started in order to donate to several diseases like heart diseases or hospital for the kids. In the future I would also like to raise funds to help young athletes who can’t afford to travel to archery tournaments.   What message would you like to send to the archery fans?
Any donation would be greatly appreciated and I thank everyone who helped me raise money for this cause. I have lots of wristbands in case anyone is interested; they are 5 USD and you can order them on our website www.bradysshootforthecure.com. There are also signed posters on sale at the World Archery Shop in Porec for a minimum of 10 Euros, but people are welcome to donate more.   Have you been joined by other archers?
A little bit here and there. Other archers have been supporting me in buying the wristbands. Some people have pledged their performance like I do and have donated money based on how they shoot at tournaments.   How is the campaign going so far?
It’s going really well; we’ve raised over 4000 USD so far. It seems more and more people are hearing about it. The archery world is really supportive and so have been FITA and my sponsors.   How did you train this winter? Did you make any specific plan with your coach?
Not really. This winter we shot a lot. I’m training full time at the Olympic Training Centre in Chula Vista (USA) under coach LEE along with a dozen other resident athletes. This year I took a little more time to train and I went to Nimes, France for the European Indoor Tournament. In January my coaches and I started to make changes in my technique that I felt I needed to make. In indoor I kind of struggled a little bit shooting in the new format. But I think technically I’m better than I’ve ever been and getting better each day. Right now I’m just trying to shoot a lot of arrows and do well in the World Cup. It didn’t really work well today, hopefully it will get better tomorrow.   What are your expectations for this season?
I was planning on making the World Cup, but now that they moved the Final from the top 4 to the top 7 archers I know I will make it. At the end of the year I hope to be in the top 3-4 in the World Ranking. Archery is a completely different game now that we have the set system – the overall score doesn’t matter at all anymore – so I absolutely don’t know how it’s going to go.   Thank you and we wish you all the best – for yourself and for the campaign!   Vanahé ANTILLE
World Archery Communication