Info.E-mail LES NOUVELLES/NEWS le 29 octobre/October 29, 1999

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Greetings/Bonjour:
My brain is pretty fried after spending 5 hours in COA meetings today, but not fried enough to tell you that FCA is happy to announce archers will be in Sydney!  Two paralympians and at least one able-bodied archer will represent Canada at the Olympics next year.  You will find stories below.

Aujourd'hui j'ai presque survecu deux reunions, de cinq heures, de l'AOC!  Je suis heureuse de vous informer que il y aura trois archers canadiens sur le ligne de tir a Sydney:  2 archers de fauteuil roulant et un archer "en etat" (j'ai cherche mon dictionaire pour le mot plus correct.  Mais il n'y en a rien.)  Il y a des histoires suivants.

Contents: (note where French is available, just click on the French part of contents below to go directly to the French text:)
           (à noter : pour ouvrir un dossier français, pointer sur le titre français:)

1. Relay 2000 Relais
2. Le Journal d'Entraineur des Fauteuils Roulants/Wheelchair coach's     diary
3. Coach's Diary/le Journal d'entraineur en Mexique (English only)
4. Cec Meehan Memorial Scholarship Fund/bourse de Columbie Britannique
5. Meetings  /  les reunions
In closing  /  Enfin
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1. Relay 2000 Relais
Discover how you can become an official carrier in the world's longest Relay.  Apply before December 3, 1999.  It only costs $12.00.  For an application form contact:  www.tctrail.ca or info@tctrail.ca.

Relais 2000! lancez-vous dans la course! inscrivez-vous aujourd‚hui! entrez dans l‚histoire!  Il vous coutera seulement 12$.  Inscrivez avant que le 3 decembre 1999.  On se trouve les informations completes a:www.tctrail.ca ou info@tctrail.ca.

2. Le Journal d'Entraineur des Fauteuils Roulants/Wheelchair coach's diary
Arthur Nault sent us this update on our brave wheelchair guys.  Apparently, they shot facing into SLEET!  Spring time Down Under, eh?
Bonjour Kathy
Pour mon idée sur le voyage et la compétition :
Le tous c'est très bien déroulé même avec une température terrible et un décalage horaire très dur.  Je crois que les gars on fait une bonne performance dans le conteste.  Alec et Norbert se sont quand même qualifier pour les olympique de Sydney en prenant la 23e place pour Alec et 27e place pour Norbert.

Norbert  un record personnel avec un 1165 et record Canadiens a 50 mètre avec 307 je crois que cela mérite des félicitations car se n'était facile.

Je suis certain que les deux seront très représenté le Canada à Sydney.

Norbert reported that everything went well despite the terrible weather conditions and a very strenuous schedule.  He felt that the guys did very well in the competition.  Alec, who finished 23rd, and Norbert, who finished 27th, are now qualified for Sydney.

Norbert shot a personal best with 1165 and set a new Canadian Open record at 50 metres, 307.  He feels that both Alec and Norbert will represent Canada well at Sydney.

Merci Norbert, Alec et Arthur!!!!
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3. Coach's Diary/le Journal d'entraineur en Mexique (English only)
See last weeks info email for pictures of Mexico (or click

De/from Joan McDonald  Day 7 jour
The morning was bright and sunny - a little bit cool - but not like the  previous two days.  Traffic was very bad this morning and the ride to the  range was longer than usual.  However, the air was much cleaner than normal and we were able to see the mountains that surround Mexico City -  one of them even has snow on the top.  It was great.

Warm up for the match play went well.  All the ladies and men olympic shot their 8th finals first.  Everyone was very nervious - hearts rates were high.

The match between Angela and Rachael was tough for both ladies, but Rachael took the lead early and held it to the end to win the match.  In  the second round, she went up against Marisol Breton, the first place finisher in the FITA.  In the second match (4 ends of 3 arrows), she tied Marisol on the first end, but then Marisol took over and Rachael lost the
match.
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Sorry, but I don't have the scores from the first series of men's 18 arrow matches, but Rob won his match with a substantial lead.  Dave also took a lead early and was able to hold it during the match.  Hugh was on a tear and shot a great match finishing with a 164 giving him his first Olympic Association Qualifier.  Shawn was shooting against Anchondo of Mexico - a difficult match.  Shawn took a one point lead on the first end.  On the second end, Anchondo shot a 58 - even though Shawn shot well, he was behind by 4 points and wasn't able to make it up on the last end, so he was eliminated from the competition.

In the quarter finals, 12 arrows are shot in ends of 3.  Rob was shooting against David Weber from Paraguay. Rob opened with a 28 and David shot 24.  On the second end Rob shot a 27 while David shot a 22 giving Rob a commanding lead.  Rob finished the match well shooting 109, giving him his 4th and final Olympic Association qualifying score.  Dave Dalziel now
had the task of shooting against Anchondo of Mexico.  Anchonda has become Canaddian men's nemsis - our archers have met him in match play many, many times, and he has always come out the winner.  In the first end Dave shot a 24 and Anchondo shot a 27, giving the Mexican a 3 point lead.  In the second end, they both shot 26's.  On the third end, Dave shot a 27 and Anchondo a 23, turning the match in Dave's favour by 1 point.  On the last end, they both shot 25's giving David the win by 1 point.  Hugh also had a tough match.  He opened with a 26 and his opponent shot a 29 taking a 3 point lead.  Hugh's second end was 23 while his competitor shot a 26, taking a 6 point lead - pretty difficult to come back from in the 6 remaining arrows.  In the third end, Hugh shot a 27 to his opponent's 23, cutting his lead to 3 points.  In the last end, Hugh shot a 28, his opponent a 26, so Hugh lost by 1 point.  We were really proud of his comeback in the match.

So that means that Canada has 2 men in the semi-finals, which guarantees us one place at the 2000 Olympics, with a chance to earn two places if Rob and Dave can each win at least one match tomorrow.

So tomorrow Rob and Dave will have tough matches.  Rob will shoot against the person who was first in the FITA round and Dave will shoot against Juan Carlos Stevens of Cuba who was second in the FITA.  So another big day!!
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Day 8 jour
It was very cold this morning - but bright an sunny - actually, the coldest morning yet.  At the archery range, the tables were covered frost, so the team showed the south americans how to make a snowball (frost ball???) and throw it.  They thought that was quite funny.  However, it warmed up fast and by the time the matches started we were in
shirt sleeves.

Rob was quite calm this morning - quite a change from the rest of the week.  Dave was quiet (very usual for Dave) and obviously anxious.  Dave's match was first.  He was clearly up tight and just not shooting  with the usual flow we are used to seeing.  He didn't shoot badly - he finished with a score of 108, just one point below the Canadian Olympic Association's qualifying standard, but Juan Carlos Stevens of Cuba shot a 111, so Dave was relegated to the Bronze medal match.  Rob did not shoot a good match but the Mexican was on fire shooting a 115!!! so even if he had shot a good match he would probably have been beaten.  So that meant that there were two Canadians in the bronze medal match which means that
since only 3 places are given out for the Olympics, Canada can only have 1 place.  Too bad.

The good news is that Hugh's score in his final match  yesterday was good enough to place him 5th, so Canadian men placed 3rd, 4th and 5th which is more people placed higher than we have had at this level of competition before.  There is a chance, although small, that the Mexican Olympic Association will not send the Mexican to the Olympics - if that were the case, then Dave would get the spot.  Shawn's score in the match play yesterday moved him up from 14th place in the FITA to 10th overall.

The ladies competition was won by Denise van Lamoen of Chile, Marisol Breton of Mexico second and a Cuban lady was 3rd.  Juan Carlos Stevens of Cuba won the men and the Mexican was 2nd.
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We leave tomorrow night at 1:15 am and arrive in Toronto at 6:35am, so you won't get the results of the team round until Monday night.

Day 9 jour
This morning was very cold (the term is relative.......cold for Mexico) again with front on the grass, tables and chairs.  Lots of frostballs were flying around.  Our first team match was against Argentina and was the first match of the day.  During warm up as everyone was scraping the gunk off their arrows, Shawn noticed that the edges of his T-square were now rounded from all the scaping.  We wondered how much carbon we had worn off the arrows!!

The match against Argentina we well.  In the first end Canada shot 77 -  Argentina shot 66, so we took an 11 point lead right out of the starting block.  In the second end Canada shot an excellent 82.  Unfortunately, I  don't have the scores for Argentina for the next two ends.  The scoring  system on the field was working, but the people who were working it,
weren't.  It took several matches for them to get the hang of it.  In the  third end, the wind shifted around 180 degrees and the first arrows were  to the right.  We shouted advice to move sights, but it was slow to get
the arrows back in the middle, so Canada shot a score of just 72.   However, it was a decisive win or Argentina, 231 to 206.

The Mexicans who defeated the Cubans in the second match, so that put  Canada into the Gold medal match against the Mexicans.  We had to wait a  couple of hours for the match, but it was a nice day and very pleasant watching the other matches.
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On the first end of the match against the Mexicans, Canada shot a 75-the  Mexicans shot a 76.  The second end was difficult and Canada shot a 73  while the Mexicans shot a 78.  Not good.  In the last end the Canadians  rebounded with an 80, but the Mexicans shot an 81 winning the gold medals  235 to 228.  So Canada came away with a silver medal which seems to be  our place in the Americas - silver at Pan Ams and now silver at the  Continental Qualifier.

While everyone was waiting for the medals to be given out, girls from other teams kept coming up to have their picture taken with Hugh.  It got quite comical - the red on Hugh's face certainly wasn't from the sun.  The best was when the Cuban girls asked him to take off his sun glasses for the picture and they disolved into fits of giggles when he did it!!
Meanwhile, Dave and Shawn are trying their best to figure out what Hugh  has that they don't!!  They are signing up for lessons!!!!

I re-read the message I sent last night and I noticed that I didn't tell  you who won the bronze metal match between Rob and Dave.  It wasn't a particularly good match for either of them, since they were both bummed  out because Canada didn't get two placed for the Olympics.  The short  story is that Rob won the match, so he is the person who won the place  for Canada.

Impressions of Mexico and the Continental Qaulifier We had a wonderful time, the tournament was well run - matches even ran  ahead of schedule. Met a lot of people that are very nice. Bright blue eyes are definately and asset. Smoggy!!!!!!
Many beggers on the street including lots of little children. Beetlemania - gazillions of them. Loved the competitors - had so much fun with the people we shoot with.  We are looking forward to the Championships of the Americas in Medellin
in 2000.
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4. Cec Meehan Memorial Scholarship Fund/bourse de Columbie Britannique
Effective immediately:
The Cec Meehan Memorial Scholarship Fund is an $500.00 annual bursary intended for junior archers who are members of the BC Junior Olympic Program to further their studies and archery careers. The endowment will be awarded in November of each year to the best candidate judged by a committee struck by the FCA President and forwarded for approval to Lillian Meehan.

Guidelines:

1. Qualification period is from Labour Day to Labour day yearly.

2. Applicants must be members of the BC Junior Olympic Program (JOP) and be 16 years of age or younger at the time of application.

3. Applicants shall apply by letter to the President of FCA c/o the National Office. Applicants must provide their scores from both the JOP Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Results from other tournaments competed and a record of scholastic achievement during the past school year must also be provided. Letters of reference from the club and school are encouraged.

4. The winner will be announced yearly at the Spruce Capital 300 in November.
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5. The FCA office will accept applications anytime during the year, applications received after September 15 will accepted as in the next year. Immediately after the 15th of September, the FCA President will form a committee of him/herself and 2 others to scrutinize the applicants. The committee will make a merit listing of all of the applicants based on:
* Participation in JOP program events;
* Dedication to personal archery excellence;
* other volunteer activities;
* promise and improvement in archery performance;
* sportsmanship; and
* academic excellence.

The complete list will be forwarded to Lillian Meehan who will make the final decision as to who shall receive the award.

Letter of application:
The letter of application should include a synopsis of the archery career of the applicant including:
- archery goals (short and long term);
- career and educational goals;
- academic information including grades and plans;
- description of other archery involvement and volunteer activities;
- description of non-archery volunteer activities; and
- any other information that may be of interest to the selection panel.

5. Meetings/les reunions
High Performance Committee possible dates Nov 27-28
3D teleconferencing possible date Nov 21
Executive meeting cancelled for January 7-8, 2000
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In closing
I really got bogged down with finances this week.  Hopefully, I'll get caught up with the workload in November.  The President comes for a visit to the office.  He's going to be here on military business and put in a real day's work at the FCA office.   :)
Remember, our office hours are:
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 8h30 - 16h00 Eastern Std Time

Enfin
Ugh, des affaires fiscals! J'en ai trop!  Peut-etre en novembre je completerai mes taches administratives.  Notre President me visitera ici en Ottawa.  Il y voyagera a cause des affaires militaires et va travailler plus que normal dans le bureau de la FCA.   :)
N'oubliez pas notre horaire de bureau:
Lundi, mecredi, jeudi et vendredi  8h30 - 16hoo Heure de l'Est

See you next week/A la prochaine

Kathy Millar, FCA General Manager/gerante generale de la FCA
(613) 260-2113  fax:  260-2114