Time was not wasted before the newly formed Easton Van Nuys Archery Center made a mark on the archery tournament scene. The center, which opened in April 2011 by the Easton Foundations, sent a team of archers to the State Indoor Championship in Tulare, Calif., in January and brought home five medals. The team’s coach, Rene Paguia, was thrilled with the results.

“I think the team’s performance was good considering it was the first tournament for most of them,” Paguia said. “I worked with each individual to set a goal for this tournament and all of them accomplished that said goal.”

Members of the Easton Van Nuys Archery Center team swept the medal categories in the Women’s Cadet Recurve division. Amanda Tomayo’s score of 1046 earned her the gold medal, while Katie Hershey-Van Horn took silver and Lindsey Leino won bronze.

In the Men’s Bowman Division, Easton Van Nuys Archery Center member Kyle Acal tallied a score of 932 to take home the silver medal and his teammate, Ara Hekiman Brogan, won the bronze medal.

Acal’s interest in archery began two years ago when he was 9. After seeing the “Chronicles of Narnia” movie series, he asked his dad, Derrick, if he could become involved in the sport. Acal begin training at Woodley Park and was approached by Paguia while he was practicing there.

“The guidance of Rene [Paguia] has made Kyle better,” Derrick Acal said. “The center teaches proper form and fundamentals, and that has been a big reason for Kyle’s success.”

The State Indoor Championship was the fourth tournament the 11-year-old has competed in and has placed well in all of them. “Kyle’s primary focus is devoted to school and archery,” Derrick Acal said. “He is always striving to become better with each competition.”

Bronze medal winner Lindsey Leino caught the attention of Paguia the same way Acal had. Although this event was her first, Leino hopes to build off of the momentum gained there and continue to rise as a competitive archer.

Leino’s father, Mark, introduced 14-year-old Lindsey to the sport one year ago, shortly after getting involved in the sport himself. “One day we were training at Woodley Park and Rene [Paguia] spotted her shooting, commented on her form and asked if she would be interested in training at the Easton Van Nuys Archery Center,” Mark Leino said.

Lindsey, who was already well versed in the concentration and focus that archery demands thanks to her time spent earning a black belt in karate, began training at the Van Nuys Center. She has her sights set on more competitions and hopes to continue shooting through college.

“We met some of the collegiate archers at the State Indoor Championship and learned about the collegiate programs,” Leino said. “We were told about the difference in the sport at the club and varsity level of college athletics from a competitor on the Columbia University team.”

Columbia University is one of the few schools in the country that fields a varsity athletic team, but Lindsey’s father said they would be looking into schools at the club level, too. But Lindsey doesn’t want to stop with collegiate dreams; she already has her eyes set on the Olympics.

Lindsey looks up to Academy Award winning actress and women’s Olympics archery team semi-finalist Geena Davis. Davis was introduced to the sport only two years before her Olympic tryouts. Lindsey’s performance at the State Indoor Championship may just be the beginning of a road that leads to the Olympics.

Only time will tell, but Lindsey and her dad feel the discipline, focus and mental toughness the sport teaches will help meeting her other career goal of one day working for the CIA, an ambition that stems from her enjoyment of law enforcement.

“We are very appreciative of the support from Don Rabska [vice president of Easton Foundations], the Easton Foundations and their coaches,” Leino said.

Coach Paguia gives credit to the hard work that each individual archer has shown, parental support, the tools and facilities offered by the Easton Foundations and the guidance of Don Rabska. “Next for the team is to improve on their NTS (National Training System) form and prepare for the coming Indoor National Tournament slated for February 24,” Paguia said.

For more information on the Easton Foundations, a full listing of our programs, grant recipients, and/or information on the grant selection process please go to our website at EastonFoundations.org or contact Ms. Idida Briones at (818) 901-0127 ext. 202 or via email at ibriones@esdf.org .

About the Easton Foundations:

The Easton Foundations’ aim is to keep archery a viable part of the sporting culture in communities across the United States. The Foundation was created in 1982 by Jim Easton, the founder and former CEO of Easton Sports, Inc, in preparation for the 1984 Olympics. The Foundation actively works to introduce the Olympic sport of archery to communities across the country. It supports the training of aspiring archers, trainers, coaches, and administrators and building of indoor and outdoor archery facilities at city parks, schools, universities and sports complexes.

The Easton Foundations encourages and engages youth to participate and develop skills in the sports of archery, baseball, softball, ice hockey, and cycling. It contributes to selected 501(c)(3) charitable groups and universities that share its vision of excellence and innovation in sports programs, business and engineering education, and medical research.

Written by Steve Miller for the Easton Foundations

Photo Credit:  Joad Parent

Apply for the Discovery Archery Grant – TODAY!

Application deadline is noon, 12:00 pm EST February 13th, 2012

The grant provides scholarships for selected park and recreation professionals to receive specialized training (includes training, travel, accommodations and meals) for five days at either of the two nation’s premier archery training centers located in South Dakota or Florida. In addition, the “Discover Archery” professional development grant includes $5,000 worth of specialized equipment.

NRPA_Discover Archery Grant Announcement_2012_1_25

From all the campers who were able to experience a quality archery experience using equipment funded by the ESDF – Thank You! 

  YMCA of Greater Nashua archery camp testimonials.

To help us evaluate this last semester, each school must complete the following Mid-year OAS Survey.  Again your feedback is really important to us so we appreciate your time filling this out.

A look at Leek’s development into a standout archer is one reason why hope is so robust on the road to the 2012 Olympics.

Leek was immersed in the sport at the age of 5 when her dad, Scott Leek, took her along to the archery shop, placed a recurve in her hand, gave the basic instructions and let her shoot – planting the seeds that would eventually blossom into her current standing as the second ranked woman archer in the country.

It wasn’t long before the father- daughter target shoots turned into a competitive hobby. “My dad decided to get me a compound bow, and just for something fun to do he started to take me to local competitions, which we both really enjoyed,” Leek says. “I discovered my competitive side, had lots of fun meeting others with similar interests and making friends. Things just took off from there, one step at a time.”

Leek’s transition from a compound bow to an Olympic-style recurve came at age 12. “I decided to switch for two reasons,” she says. “There would be a lot more competition in the Olympic-style recurve class than in my class of compound fingers, and the recurve was something else entirely. It looked majestic, and I was fascinated by the equipment and how people shot them.”

 Although enthralled with the charm of the recurve, change did not come without challenges. “Both my dad and I didn’t really know how to shoot a recurve. We were both compound archers and we didn’t have a solid understanding of what recurve form would look like. We only had ideas.”

Fortunately, professional archery coach Terry Wunderle and his son Vic, an Olympic archer himself, took Leek under their wings and were her first coaches. They provided the direction she needed to get started and involved in the Olympic-recurve scene.

Their efforts paid off. Leek shined in national youth competitions and was selected to the USA Archery’s Junior Dream Team in 2007, at the age of 14. Here, she was coached by Kisik Lee, who is still her coach today as the National Head Coach of the U.S. Olympic Archery Training Program.

“Coach Lee is really good at catching the little things,” Leek says. “It’s because of my relationship with him that I’ve been able to travel on junior teams and be introduced to what it’s like to compete internationally. He has been a big part of taking me to the big leagues.”

This stable of coaches has been anchored by Leek’s Father’s support and training. Scott Leek has been his daughter’s primary supporter and personal coach, from the day he first put a bow in her hand and every step of the way to where she is now. Scott, a shooter since childhood, has a firm understanding of the sport and passed that along to his daughter. “I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for his understanding of Coach Lee’s technique and his ability to teach me.” Leek says.

 But no amount of coaching can replace an individual’s drive and motivation to become an Olympic athlete. Hard work is the basis for keeping Leek’s physical and mental skills up to par.

To train, she shoots six days a week, firing over a hundred arrows each day. In addition, she hits the gym to work on cardio and core training. If this wasn’t rigorous enough, she says she looks forward to stepping up the workload in the next year.

With a strong body comes a strong mind and Leek has also focused on this aspect of the sport. “I think every archer will agree that archery is definitely more mental than it is physical,” she says. “It’s very important to remain objective and positive while shooting, and always think of what you want to happen. It’s never over until it’s absolutely done; keep fighting.”

After the Olympics Leek looks forward to beginning the college selection process and finding a school that will embrace her talents of archery and a desire to major in biology.

When the London games are in the rearview mirror, Leek hopes to brush off the dust on her compound bow and shoot some field archery and enjoy her other hobbies of playing the piano and spending time with her family, friends and dogs.

But before she starts a normal college life, Leek is focused on winning the gold medal at the London games. Her performance at the Pan Am Games takes her one step closer to that goal.

Leek broke the Pan Am Games and Star FITA record with a score of 338 in the thirty-six arrow from 70 meters event. It is another promising result for Leek and her team.

In the last year, Leek and Team U.S. garnered a team silver at the second stage of the Archery World Cup, a mixed team gold at the third stage of the Archery World Cup, a gold at the 2011 SoCal Showdown (a US Archery Team Qualifier Series Event), and a second place finish in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – First Nomination Shoot.

There is a sense of excitement in the American camp of women archers. It is one different from the hope of past years, where teams with undeniable talent fell short in performance. A large part of this excitement comes from Leek’s arrival on the Olympic scene.

Three coaches from around the globe have been through intense training under Head Archery Coach Robert Turner in the ICECP program (International Coaching Enrichment program). Coach Jener Sato of Brazil, Coach Marja Woortman of Namibia and Coach Meshal Alotaibi of Saudi Arabia all shadowed Coach Robert in his daily duties. The ICECP program includes time spent in Delaware University, the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, and a 10-day internship at a facility focusing on their specific sport – In this case, the Easton Newberry Sports Complex in Newberry, Florida.

The guest coaches enjoyed lending their hands to a variety of different events that the Complex hosted. These included JOAD (Junior Olympic Archery Development) classes – Beginner to advanced levels and Adult beginner and intermediate classes; a ‘Try Archery’ booth at a local community festival; visiting the local university club; and meeting with varied Easton Newberry staff who help the coaches put together project ideas to advance archery back in their home countries. The coaches, not surprisingly, also successfully passed the basic and intermediate instructor coaching courses.

During this same time, there were also two archers from Austria training in Newberry; the excellent weather, training facilities and available coaching make it a popular site.

Including Head Coach Robert Turner (originally from Australia), for this moment in time, all five World Archery Federation regions were represented at the Easton Newberry Sports Complex – Africa (Namibia), Asia (Saudi Arabia), the Americas (Brazil), Oceania (Australia ) and Europe (Austria).

The Easton Newberry Sports Complex would like to wish all the visiting archers and coaches the best in their future and looks forward to seeing the individuals and Countries grow from the experience.

The Easton Foundations has opened its latest archery center, located in Van Nuys, CA on 15026 Oxnard Street, just minutes from its corporate office. The Easton Van Nuys Archery Center is the second of the Easton Foundation run centers, which also includes the Easton Newberry Sports Complex in Newberry, FL. It is part of a system of archery centers that the Foundation is funding, which also includes the Easton Foundation Archery Center in Yankton, SD, a joint program with the NFAA (National Field Archery Association) and the John and Marnie Demmer Shooting Sports Education and Training Center at Michigan State University (MSU).

 “The new Easton Van Nuys Archery Center is a fabulous facility and well adapted as an archery complex. Our vision for the center is to develop programs and opportunities for a variety of coaching courses, from beginning to elite, as well as coach and archer training opportunities. As we continue to grow the sport, especially among youth, we will need many more qualified coaches and archery facilities to handle the influx of new archers. The centers The Easton Foundations are developing are a strong and positive step in that direction. ” said Don Rabska, VP of Programs and a member of the Board of Directors.

The Van Nuys center is already home to a local JOAD (Junior Olympic Archery Development) Club and is well utilized by archers from UCLA and California State University, Northridge for practice and training. The facility is also the center for the Foundations’ OAS (Olympic Archery in Schools) Program and a league night on Thursdays. The center will be adding new programs in the near future as well. The facility also hosts coaching courses and currently has coaches and students of various levels training to improve their archery skills.

“The Easton Van Nuys Archery Center is a great resource for OAS. From its start we have been using it for coach and archer training as well as for OAS competitions,” said Keaton Chia, OAS Program Supervisor, “The center has everything we need including a classroom, areas for parents to watch, and a beautiful indoor archery range. The range is fully equipped to host competitions and is also perfect for training archers and coaches. We have targets setup at 18 meters as well as at a shorter distance which is great for archers working on their form and technique. The center is also outfitted with large mirrors and other training aids. I am excited that this resource is available to our schools and youth. I look forward to the many events we will be holding at the center and for the impact it will make on the community.”

This new facility includes a 12 lane, back to back 18 meter and 7 meter indoor range, eating and viewing area for guests and conference/training room as well as offices and a warehouse.

The training center will be open to archers and coaches involved in JOAD, OAS and other programs. Interested parties should contact Idida Briones at (818) 901-0127 ext. 202 or ibriones@esdf.org.

For more information on the Easton Foundations, a full listing of our programs, grant recipients, and / or information on the grant selection process please go to our website at www.ESDF.org or contact Ms. Idida Briones at (818) 787-2800 ext. 202 or via email at ibriones@esdf.org

Media Contact: Caren Sawyer at (818) 901-0127

Picture Credits:  Fran Bliley at (818) 901-0127

If you are interested in hosting a workshop, please email Keaton Chia (kchia@esdf.org).

Fall Semester Workshops:

California

Workshop at Simi-Valley Adventist School

Date & Time:   Sunday, October 30th, 1-4pm

Address:  1636 Sinaloa Rd, Simi Valley, CA

School Contact:  Timothy Kripps ()

Sign-up:  Email Keaton Chia (kchia@esdf.org), phone (510) 303-6402

Workshop at Sequoia Middle School

Date & Time:   Friday, November 4th.  4-7pm

Address:  9452 Hemlock Ave, Fontana, 92335

School Contact:  Brad Freeman ()

Sign-up:  Email Keaton Chia (kchia@esdf.org), phone (510) 303-6402

Workshop at North Hollywood High

Date & Time:   Friday, December 2nd.  4-7pm

Address:  5231 Colfax Avenue, North Hollywood, CA 91601

School Contact:  Ester Delafuente ()

Sign-up:  Email Keaton Chia (kchia@esdf.org), phone (510) 303-6402

Easton Foundations is teaming up with Ronald McDonald House Charities of North Central Florida in an effort to ease the burden on critically ill children and their families.  Easton Foundations has arranged to purchase and prepare a home cooked meal quarterly, a portion of proceeds from the recent Hunting Expo and to set up a temporary archery range including coaching staff and equipment at the Ronald McDonald House of Gainesville.  

                A personal struggle 15 years ago helped these two organizations cross paths today.  Brandie Lovelace, Director of Operations at the Easton Newberry Sports Complex, spent a month at the Ronald McDonald House of Gainesville while her son was being treated at Shands Hospital.  Last week, she and other Easton staff met with David Lucas, Financial Development Director for the Ronald McDonald House.

                “It’s a great organization and I thought it would only be right to give back to them,” Brandie noted.  “ They really appreciate volunteer groups to provide meals to the families and I thought they might also like to try archery.”

Fortunately, families and children of the Ronald McDonald House of Gainesville will get to enjoy both.  Easton Foundations will be on site as volunteers cooking meals for those staying at the facility, while the “Try Archery” program will be on hand with bows, targets, and coaches to help foster an atmosphere of new challenges and fun in general.

       “It makes a huge difference having local businesses helping us,” said Hanan Bilal, Director of Volunteers for the Ronald McDonald House of Gainesville.  “Right now, we have 30 families, about 72 people, staying at the house. They don’t know each other, but they’re all here for the same reason, and having help from local business helps to alleviate the burden.”

                On top of food and fun, Easton Foundations has also promised to donate a portion of proceeds from this year’s Hunting Expo.  The expo took place in August and hosted about 2,500 guests and vendors from all realms of hunting and shooting.  This was the first Hunting Expo hosted by the facility, with more to come in the future.   

                  Ronald McDonald House Charities of North Central Florida provides support to families with critically ill children who are being treated at local medical facilities.  This support includes housing, basic amenities and moral support so that families and children can focus entirely on recovery.  The average stay is about 50 days per family, with the organization helping over 28,000 families from Florida and across the globe.

                The Easton Newberry Sports Complex was developed by Easton Foundations and the City of Newberry. The Complex opened in 2009 and is dedicated to furthering sport and introducing archery to a broader audience. The complex has a wide variety of target and 3D archery ranges. The portion of the site dedicated to archery caters to all skill levels and features state-of-the-art indoor & outdoor styles of archery.

If you’d like more information about this event or Easton Newberry Sports Complex/The Easton Foundation, please call  352-472-2388, or visit our website at EastonNewberrySportsComplex.com.

By: The Easton Newberry Sports Complex.  Tel: 352-472-2388.