Canadian archers complete successful training camp in Medellin
OTTAWA, ON – From March 23 to April 4, the Canadian national squad and development squad were in Medellin, Colombia, attending a training camp. The team shot multiple competition drills including team eliminations and a registered 720 round. Taking advantage of the warm weather in South America, the athletes were training alongside the Colombian team – a great opportunity. The Colombian squad were excellent hosts for Canada in their Medellin training centre.
Shawn Riggs, National Recurve Coach, is pleased with the camp. “This is the first time we have run a camp of this duration with athletes from both the Development and National Squads. We successfully integrated the groups to share knowledge and experience. With the focus on the latter half of the competition year, this camp worked well to enhance technique and fitness, strengthened by the presence of Kiri Langford, our strength and conditioning coach who traveled with the team for the first time. This was also the first camp with our new Junior National Coach, Soha Mahmoud, which went extremely well. Soha’s technical ability and leadership will certainly be an asset to the team for the long-term,” concludes Riggs.“All the mental sessions where Joe Leszner, our mental performance coach, worked with many athletes during the past 2 months were implemented during the camp and it showed good improvement in the athletes’ scores,” adds Mahmoud. “There were also many stimulation drills to prepare them for the outdoor season. As a coach, I am satisfied with what the athletes achieved in this camp and I am looking forward to more improvements this season.”
The full list of attendees are listed below.
National Squad:
- Andrew Azores
- Stephanie Barrett
- Jules Chouinard
- Devaang Gupta
- Ben Lee
- Emilio Verdugo Parades
- Eric Peters
- Reece Wilson-Poyton
- Brandon Xuereb
Development Squad:
- Natalee Chan
- Brianna DeZeeuw
- Jana Hawash
- Audrey Khan
- Dawson Odenkirk
- Andrew Smollett
- Matthew Thomas
- Lily Tiffin
- Dylan Villanueva
“The mental and physical progress I was able to make at the camp really drove home what being able to immerse yourself in being an athlete can do,” says Dawson Odenkirk, one of the athletes attending the camp.
This training camp is the team’s way of ramping up as the outdoor season rapidly approaches with both national and international competitions on the horizon.