Animated arrow hitting target. The arrow comes from the right and flies into the center of the target.

Saturday/Sunday

August 22-23

of an open journal that has been written in.  A fountain pen is resting on the page.

 

I’m combining Saturday and Sunday’s journal entries because at this moment I am on a plane taking us from Frankfort to Denver.  It is 10:40 PM Denver time and we are about half way through the flight.  We had lunch after taking off and will have dinner before landing in Denver around 4:10 PM. 

 

Let me begin with the Saturday happenings.  Jeff, Russell and Jonathan shot their medal matches in the morning.  We all met for breakfast at 7:00 s usual and then went out to the field for practice before their first matches began at 9:00.  Jeff was up first with his men’s W1 gold medal match again Slovakia.  The match was very close, but he lost to the Slovakian and so won the silver medal.  Then, a little later on, Russell shot in the men’s recurve bronze medal match against Italy.  This was a very good competition and Russell finished strong, winning bronze. 

 

We then broke for lunch.  After lunch, Courtney brought my bow cases up to the room and began packing in preparation to go home while I typed up my journal entry to and posted our trip to Prague.  Then it was back to the field for our last medal match. 

 

Our last match was for the men’s open compound bronze medal against Jonathan and Great Britain.  This was a very fun match for several reasons.  First of all, both teams sat under the same canopy and we cheered very loudly for our teams.  It became a kind of friendly competition to see who cheered loudest and with more enthusiasm.  There was also much banter back and forth with each other.  This was Jonathan’s first head to head competition and he has only been shooting a distance of 70 meters since March.  After the first end of 3 arrows, he was behind by 3 points, but he caught up and by the fourth end, he was tied with Great Britain.  This resulted in a shoot-off to break the tie and determine a winner.  Each archer would get to shoot 1 arrow and the highest score would win the match.  They both shot a 9.  This caused a second shoot-off; very exciting and quite unusual.  In the second shoot-off, Great Britain shot a 9 and Jonathan shot an 8, but very close to the line.  We had to wait while the judges scrutinized over the score, but in the end Great Britain prevailed and won the match.  Everyone agreed it was the best match of the day and one that Jonathan should be very proud of.  It takes nerves of steel to hold up under that kind of pressure.  Jonathan was disappointed, of course, but knows he did very well.  He will only continue to go up from here and has a lot to look forward to.

 

After the competitions were finished we moved into the auditorium for the medal ceremony.  They were supposed to be held outdoors, but it rained off and on all day, so they had to make a change.  This was kind of a strange thing for the visually impaired archers.  Randi told Jeff and Russell to go up front to be in position to receive their medals when their names were called.  She didn’t tell me to go up.  Courtney asked her if I was going to receive a medal and she enquired and came back and said she was told we weren’t getting medals because there weren’t enough of us who competed; three athletes wasn’t a large enough number of participants.  That was a little disappointing, but I could understand it.  So, the ceremony proceeded and the medals were given out.  Then, at the end of the ceremony, Ann Web, FITA representative, said she wanted to acknowledge the visually impaired archers for their participation.  She explained why we wouldn’t be given medals and everybody clapped for us.  Then Massimiliano from Italy went up to the front, even though Ann didn’t call anybody up, and so she acknowledged the records he broke and the Italian team cheered and sang and it was quite a spectacle.  Sometime during all of this, the gold medal was apparently put around his neck.  Courtney didn’t see that part.  Randi kind of gestured to Courtney asking him if he thought I should go forward.  Courtney looked at Paul, Ruben’s coach and they both were puzzled.  Courtney told Randi that he didn’t think we should go up without being called and Paul nodded.  Randi agreed in acknowledgement.  So that was that. 

 

We then went upstairs and had a team meeting.  We were given certificates of participation and then were told the schedule for departure the next day.  We were to be downstairs in the lobby by 2:15 AM to load up and go to the airport.  We were free to do as we pleased.  There was going to be a party down in the auditorium with a band at 7:00 PM which was optional.  We could go to bed or not, but if we chose to go into town we were to be back by 10:00.  Courtney and I asked our equipment coach, Paul Miller, if he would like to go into Nymburk for dinner.  He hadn’t had a chance to get out and explore the wonderful walk into to town or to take any pictures of the area.  So that’s what we did.  We took him on the walk along the river and over the dam and the bridge that goes by the castle wall and the church.  We decided on pizza and had a very nice and relaxing dinner.  The people speak very little English, but one of the waitresses spoke some and helped us pick out one with salami, tomatoes and cheese and one with chicken, tomatoes and cheese.  The menu is in Czech and there are no pictures.  We had ice cream for dessert and enjoyed a pleasant walk back to the sports center. 

 

When we got back, we were greeted outside the lobby by Ann Web who said she had made a terrible mistake at the medal ceremony.  She said that we should have been given medals and she had been given the wrong information.  She said she was as surprised as we were when Massimiliano received the gold medal earlier.  I guess she had been waiting for us to return so we could hold another ceremony in the lobby for Ruben and me.  This was very unexpected and quite unusual.  I said that would be great and so Ann said to give her a minute to round up some people to show support and we would begin the ceremony.  Randi rounded up our team and they went to get Ruben.  Athletes, and coaches and I’m not sure who all gather in the bobby and Ann explained the blunder and then we began.  She called me first to come forward and receive the bronze medal and it was put around my neck.  Then Ruben was called up to receive the silver medal and they took pictures and the people cheered very enthusiastically and pictures were taken.  We shook hands with a representative of the Russian team and I think the Dutch team.  We were given flowers and it was really very exciting and quite special. 

 

We then said our good byes to Ruben and Paul and said we would keep in touch definitely.  We have a lot to discuss about visually impaired archery regarding trying to put more specific rules into place for the next World Championships.  We have spoken to the Italy coach as well and he will help us collaborate with France as well.  So this was an invaluable experience for all of us involved with visually impaired archery that came to participate.  It was very disappointing that more countries didn’t come to participate and show FITA how serious we are about the sport and how much we want to be taken seriously and to be included fully.  Hopefully next time we can convince more countries to bring their visually impaired archers. 

 

We got up at 1:00 AM this morning and arrived at the airport at 4:00 AM.  We were given sack lunches to take with us on the bus ride.  Can you imagine two sandwiches, a banana, a candy and a bottle of water at 2:30 in the morning?  Some of the team ate theirs and some decided to forgo the cheese and cucumber sandwich and the cold Canadian bacon sandwich on white bread for a Subway sandwich at the airport.  I ate the banana and had an espresso and left it at that.  Jeff and a couple of the team members went shopping for a gift for our coaches to show our appreciation and we gave it to them while we were sitting at the gate.  We boarded the plane around 9:30 and took an easy 40 minute plane ride to Frankfort.  Then we were escorted through the airport, getting our passports stamped and going through security and on to our gate where we had just enough time to go to the bathroom before boarding the plane to Denver where we will all go our separate ways.  I was able to log onto the internet in Prague and post a tweet on twitter, but the airport in Frankfort required me to by time on their wireless, so I couldn’t tweet from Frankfort. 

 

Courtney and I are seat partners with Paul Miller and they are on either side of me.  They are in their own little worlds enjoying the many movies available to them on the movie screen on the seatback in front of them.  I have finished the book I am reading and have been able to write out my journal entry which I will post when we get to the hotel tonight.  We should be arriving in Denver around 4:10 and our plane ride to San Francisco leaves at 6:10.  We have to go through customs, so I hope there aren’t any delays.  Kallie, the team leader, told us to bring a U.S.A. shirt to put on before we get off the plane because it might help us get through the process quicker if we look like a team.  They don’t like us to travel wearing our U.S.A shirts for security reasons which is interesting.  They don’t want us to be a target. 

 

The thing I am most excited about is picking my Liza girl up from San Rafael tomorrow.  I really miss my girl.  The white cane is definitely going away for a while. 

 

 

 

Photos from Prague

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