Youth Archer Athletes prepare for their spring championship by competing in a Bullseye Challenge Championship and Pushup-Archery Challenge Championship. These competitions test them individually and among their peers. All athletes performed beyond expectations and are now geared up for their spring championship where 12 teams will compete.
Thirty-three competitors competed in these challenges. The challenge championship videos are below. They highlight and introduce the male and female champions of the age groups and overall winners. Most of these competitors will be returning to compete in the upcoming spring championship.
Meet Spring 2016 Bullseye Challenge Champions and Hear What They Say About Archery
Spring 2016 Push-Up Archery Champions of Central Florida
Two male and female champion performers were selected for Honorable Mention based on their outstanding winning performances, improvements, and versatility or dominance in an event(s).
Honorable Mention goes to the following Champions:
(Left) DJ of the X Shots was a Rising Star archer in fall 2015 and now, five months later, she is a Champion!Sebastian, Team “The Rubies” 1. Only archer athlete to win both challenges for his age division. 2. Highest scorer out of all competitors in the Push-Up Archery Challenge (with score of 47pts).
Hunter 1. Archer won overall title for One Hour Bullseye Challenge with 15 Bullseyes. 2. He also tied and won the Pushup-Archery Challenge for his age group 13 1/2 and older (with 30 pts).
Aisha, Team “Fierce Fighters” 1. Overall Winning Female archer in One Hour Bullseye Challenge with 14 Bullseyes (and 2nd overall with Hunter only beating her by one bullseye).
DJ, Team “The X Shots” 1. Winning female 10 and under for Pushup-Archery Challenge with 34pts (17 slow consecutive pushups and 17 archery pts at 15 meters) 2. Only two boys scored higher than her in her age group as Nico won with 42 pts. 3. Highest scoring female among all age groups in the Pushup-Archery Competition.
Congratulations to all competitors and Champions and keep going STRONG!!
For more info on archery programs, Contact Alicia @ Awinningway@gmail.com
Coach Weber with her athletes Ahmad and Dannuta.Dannuta Hyacinth and Ahmad Alenezi are two outstanding, well-rounded track athletes who were the lone representatives for their middle school track team. They took on the challenge to learn how to be focused and prepare for jumping, running, and middle distance events through effective, fun training techniques. They gained personal bests in all their events, a top 10 finish in their best events at the 2016 middle school Central Florida Championship, and a boost in self-confidence with a new found thrill in running.
With short notice, a track team was formed where I was the coach. The program was only 5 weeks in length. They only had one week of practice before the first meet. They competed in a total (3) meets ending in a very competitive championship on March 17, 2016. There were an average 20 competitors in each race.
Ahmad and Dannuta became well rounded track athletes excelling in long jump and running events in 5 weeks.On March 17, the 6th grader, Dannuta, took 10th in the long jump with a new personal best of 11 feet and 10.5 inches. Additionally, Dannuta took 16th with a new PR in 100m (15.47), and 11th in the 200m with a new PR (33.30). The 8th grader, Ahmad, took 10th in the 800m in a new personal best time of 2:58.23. He earned personal bests in all his other events at the second meet with 14.92 in the 100m, 31.33 in the 200m, and 13ft and 4 inches in the long jump.
They both learned how they can have a remarkable rate of improvement through high quality, low quantity workouts. Dannuta trained under my tutelage for only 9 hours over the course of 5 weeks. She improved her long jump by 6.7 percent, she improved her 200m time by 3.5 percent, and she improved her 100m time by 1.22 percent.
Ahmad trained under my tutelage for only 5 hours over the course of 5 weeks. He improved his best event, the 800m, by 2.1 percent.
In track action from Central Florida Metro League Championships 2016!Greatness is measured in quality. These athletes are looking forward to more great things with their new sport of track and field.
Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.” – Steve Jobs
Contact Alicia for Coaching and Personal Training at Awinningway@gmail.com
HEADLINE NEWS: CLERMONT, FL—-First Ever Indoor Rowing World Sprint Championships has TEAM AWINNINGWAY from Clermont, FLorida, largest US Team represented in the these first-ever world championships!!!
By: Alicia Weber
The first ever World Indoor Rowing Sprint Championship was held March 11-13 where 3,226 adults and 726 kids competed worldwide. The goal of the championship was to attract new athletes into the sport and compete on a Concept 2 machine from anywhere. As a Clermont event director, I made the goal of recruiting the most youth (age 12 and under) into this competition where I provided free training and a free race. I’m happy to say that I had the largest US team of indoor rowers (age 12 and under) representing the USA in this world championship.
Team Awinningway
I also competed and placed 26th in the world among lightweight women with my new best time of 3:50.3 for the 1,000 meter. My youth team came into this event with zero experience and my mission was to follow their success and see how they felt to do so something out of the ordinary. They learned how to row on a Concept 2 Machine and then competed in the 1,000 meter event all in the same day.
Hannah Bibby, 8, never competed in a sport before and she was our 2nd fastest girl on our Awinningway Team, our youngest competitor, and she placed 59th in the world for girls (12 and under) with her time of 6:42.3.
“This is phenomenal for me. When Alicia asked me if I wanted to learn to row and compete, I said yes because I want to take advantage of every opportunity. It feels good to exercise on an indoor rower,†mentioned Bibby who can now call a world championship her first-ever sport competition.
All the kids learned proper breathing and proper form for indoor rowing and they all exceeded their expectations and mine in their performances.
“This is awesome. I have more confidence and I like testing myself physically and this is a good physical test,†said the excited Nico Kurihara-Taylor after completing his row. He placed 82nd in the world for boys (12 and under) in a time of 6:27.4.
The kids watched each other race and cheered for one another. They are looking forward to their next event now.
“I feel like I am on top of the world,†said the uber-competitive DJ Belanoff who expected to do 10 minutes, but finished in 7:30.7 for girls (12 and under).
Aisha Hak, 11, was the fastest youth girl on our team with her time of 6:16.7, which placed her 53rd in world for youth girls (12 and under).
“It takes a lot of energy and strength. I am surprised I did as well as I did. It’s my first day to do it and I know I will only be getting better,†commented Hak after her race.
Andrew Powell, 13, was the only athlete on our youth team who had experience in an aerobic sport. He is also a cross country runner. He was able to get faster and finish his first-ever 1,000 meter in 4:45.7. He competed against nearly 400 boys upto age 18.
“I felt fatigue in the last 300 meters, but I pushed myself to finish strong because I am really motivated to do this event and try something new,†said Powell who was thankful for the opportunity to compete in this world championship.
“This event has been a great opportunity to keep kids active and off electronics. We appreciate having this opportunity for our kids,†added two parents of the athletes.
The first competition (ages 7-9) took place at 8:30am and it was a scaled down version of the competition for ages 10-14, which took place immediately after the first one. In both competitions, competitors began with a complicated bean bag toss cross country relay. Then, they followed with a barebow category archery competition where competitors used the same bows without sighting devices. The winning teams were decided upon the highest combined score achieved in archery + fitness (the highest possible score in the first team competition was 400pts and in the second competition (ages 10-14) the highest possible team score was 800pts).
Review from Championship Team (for ages 7-9):
The first championship competition (ages 7-9) was won by a group of boys from Winter Garden on the team called “Shadow Arrows.” They won with a 12 point lead with a total of 178 points out of 400 possible points. Colin, the oldest and team captain, was their leading archer.
“I love both the fitness and archery components of the championship. I expected our team to do well. It was not too much to expect us to achieve so much in just 8 hours of training,” said Colin who plans to continue in the semester-based archery fitness developmental program, which provides the free competition.
“I took this developmental program just to learn archery and it was a nice surprise to be good enough to make the varsity team and compete in this championship. Only three students in each class will be invited to make the varsity team. Those that do not make it, get to compete in a junior varsity competition,” said the enthused Hudson, Colin’s teammate.
All three on the Shadow Arrows exclaimed,”This is fun and I love archery.”
Review from Championship Team (for ages 10-14):
The Rubies traveled more than one hour away to compete in the (age 10-14) Championship where they won by achieving two “Xs” in archery. The over-achiever, Matteo, (only 8 years old) wanted to compete in the older competition to be more challenged and he was given permission. He earned a “Rising Star Archer” award for his commitment to excellence and challenging himself to harder activities against older kids. His teammates, Sebastian and Morgan, never competed in archery before and they have only begun training once a week this semester. The Rubies beat a team with much more experience than them. The Rubies won the team Championship with 504xx, while the Secret Service took second with 504 points.
The Rubies Show Triumph in Their Big Win in the Ready Aim Go Championship. They broke the tie with the Secret Service by having two “Xs” in archery. Sebastian and Matteo each hit a 10x – the highest score in archery enroute to break the tie and win the championship.
“It’s fun and good to know that I am doing better than people who have been doing archery a lot longer than me,” said Morgan.
“Archery makes kids challenge themselves. It brings out the best in them and the results will surprise parents,” said Ana, Matteo’s mom.
“The archery fitness developmental program is a lot of fun. It does not require too much physical activity and running. I would encourage others to give it a try to experience a lot of excitement and fun challenges. It’s fun to do, but it can be quite challenging to do archery in the wind,” added Morgan who was the second overall female in the windy archery competition on the 15th.
Sebastian and Matteo Draw a “V” for VICTORY after winning the Inaugural Championship for the Development Program.
Parents enjoy coming to watch their kids train in the developmental program and compete in the free competition.
“The kids can increase focus and awareness, which carries over into everything they do. They are taught safety first and foremost and they have to follow strict rules. The kids rise to the occasion and follow the rules. They are very good at taking responsibility and they enjoy the leadership roles the sport of archery gives them,” added the very observant Ana.
The developmental program provides all students an equal opportunity to build skills and then depending on how quickly they develop, they will get to compete for free in either the varsity or junior varsity competition (or they do not have to compete at all).
Review from Junior Varsity Champions (for ages 5-9):
Ten students throughout Central Florida competed in the 10 Arrow 10yd Junior Varsity contest. The top male and overall winner was Manny from Winter Garden with 54 points out of a possible 100 points. The top female and second overall was Sofia from Clermont with 46 points.
“I am happy that everyone gets an opportunity to compete in this developmental program. It is a good motivator. It makes me feel proud to win this junior varsity competition,” said Manny, the Junior Varsity Fall 2015 Champion.
“I was nervous to train under Alicia at first and do archery. I did not think I would be able to hit the target. To my surprise, Alicia was very nice and fun and I hit the target right away on my first day of practice,” said Sofia, a well-rounded athlete who now calls archery her number one favorite sport.
“I look forward to archery each week. Everything is exciting about Alicia’s developmental program. We do a lot of physical challenges mixed in with archery and each day is different,” said Sofia, the Fall 2015 Female Junior Varsity Champion.
After Manny and Sofia won their competition, their self-esteem sky rocketed. They became more eager to to do archery, they became more responsible, they became more motivated, and they became even better in practice.
“Self esteem comes from doing something and accomplishing something.” – Shari Lewis
Sofia wanted to work on the longer distances. She began hitting the target at 20 meters a week after she won at 10 yards.
Manny and Sofia take Victory in Fall 2015 Junior Varsity Competition
Sofia trains in Clermont at the largest archery range available to the Central Florida students in the developmental program. “I really like working at this very large archery range with my instructor, Alicia, as I know many students in other areas don’t get this opportunity,” reflected Sofia.
Keep your eye on Manny and Sofia as they are on pace to make a future varsity team!
Contact Awinningway@gmail.com to join a Youth or Adult Archery Developmental Program.
In just one year, an archer in Alicia Weber’s Coed Archery Fitness League won her first archery competition, qualified for two varsity archery teams, set a world record in a 3-D archery relay, became the only archer out of 25 to hit a bullseye the size of a nickel from 15 yds away, and she competed against competitors twice her age as she made major news as a 10 year old phenom in barebow category archery.
The 10 year old, dynamic archer has taken flight to barebow category archery (the hardest type of archery) where sighting devices and other devices to assist are not allowed to be used. She is a varsity team member in an archery fitness league, which focuses on excelling in barebow category archery and fitness.
Age is just a number here and boys and girls compete together and push each other to become better archers and better people. This is a serious program that is packed with fun, challenges, and the opportunity to build lasting friendships.
The 10 year old phenom archer’s qualities of maturity, determination, and drive send her places where few have gone. She is highly motivated, enthusiastic, and ready to inspire others to succeed too, which makes her a great team player on her varsity team.
She wants to dare you to think bigger and challenge yourself to shoot for the moon. Maybe you can become a star in the archery fitness league too!
You can watch this Phenomenal 10 Year Old Archer shoot without sighting devices at a standard target for score in 15 mph winds with 21 mph Wind Gusts in a Fastest 300 point Challenge!
Join Alicia Weber’s Coed Archery Fitness League at Awinningway@gmail.com
Byer sets the record with 214x as she finishes strong with 4 bullseyes in Round 3 at 10 meters.
Determined Indaya Byer may not have set the record in her first attempts in an archery challenge, but after a victory and 2nd place finish in summer competitions, she was ready.
Indaya Byer’s time came to set the sought after record on the morning of September 26, 2015. On a cooler, sunny day without wind, Byer broke the youth girls record by 2 points.
The challenge is a common one among youth archers, especially those in Alicia Weber’s Archery Fitness League. The archers shoot 15 arrows at 15 meters and 15 arrows at 10 meters for a total of 300 possible points.
Byer knows of Danielle and how talented she is in archery. Byer is inspired and wants to be great too. Byer has now moved up the ranks and taken the top score with 214x points.
No sighting devices are allowed on bows and all competitors use the same brand of bows – Genesis compound bows.
Byer began with 5 arrows at 15 meters followed by 5 arrows at 10 meters and repeated for 3 rounds total.Byer in Round 3 at 15 meters. She regains her focus to pull off the record with the last 5 arrows.
She was smooth sailing in round one as she finished with 70 points. Beginning in round 2, she was even more focused and she felt the “sweet spot” for aiming. She was aware of her body alignment and mastered good muscle control of holding the bow stable and pulling the string with higher resistance. She ended round 2 with 79x (149x so far).
In her final round she became shaky as finger fatigued set in at the 15 meter target. Her scores dropped off. She lowered her resistance and still felt she could muster enough points with her remaining 5 arrows at 10 meters to take this record.
She did her best ever with the remaining 5 arrows at 10 meters, scoring four bullseyes in the process. Her last round came to 65 points. The scores were tallied and they came to 214x – A NEW RECORD!!
Byer was thrilled to get this record. It made her day as she continues to focus on goals and attack many new, exciting challenges in the future.
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving you goals.” -Zig Ziglar
Contact Awinningway@gmail.com to join an archery program.
By Alicia Weber Kincaid and Indaya are the male and female winners in the Inaugural Bullseye Scavenger Hunt Competition held on July 26, 2015.Dedicated archers and well-rounded athletes, Indaya Byer and Kincaid Kobel, were longing for the Inaugural Bullseye Scavenger Hunt competition. They both won with overall most points in Clermont’s first event of its kind on July 26, 2015. It began with a 10 yard archery contest at the Sundance Archery Range. Then, participants and their families drove to Historic Downtown Clermont to meet and conclude the competition with a scavenger hunt during Downtown Clermont Farmer’s Market.
The archers were not allowed to use bows with sighting devices and the highest possible score was 100 points. Byer, 12, was the winning female with her score of 86 points. Kobel, 6, was the winning male with his score of 63 points. They have been training for several months and this was their first archery competition.
“It’s exciting,” said the uber competitive Kobel who has competed in soccer, football, and karate.
“Archery helps Kincaid focus. It is a good sport for him,” said Beth, Kobel’s mom.
“It feels amazing to compete in archery for the first time,” said Byer who has competed in swimming.
“Alicia has been a great teacher. Indaya keeps improving. She has become more focused in school due to the archery and I enjoy that,” said Ingrid, Byer’s mom.
The photographic scavenger hunt was a great opportunity to bring new people to the farmer’s market since all participants have never been there before. The eager participants searched for 11 items along Montrose Street and took pictures of their finds. Byer and Kobel finished at the same time to win.
“The scavenger hunt was athletic because you are in a rush to take pictures and look for the items,” said Byer who averaged finding an item every minute and 47 seconds.
The winners received prizes from Sweets for You and Let’s Tie 1 On. The items in the scavenger hunt peaked interest in the participants to continue shopping at the farmer’s market after the competition ended.
Sweets For You is an outdoor vendor located on the intersection of Montrose and 8th Street. They have lemonade, iced tea, cinnamon roasted nuts, boiled peanuts, and other goodies. Let’s Tie 1 On has a variety of bracelets, necklaces, pendants, straps, and wraps.
“It’s a lot of different choices especially the fresh fruit and vegetables. All the vendors are so nice and some have free tastings. It’s a wonderful summer morning outing to get to know Clermont,” said Ingrid Byer who experienced the farmer’s market for the first time and looks forward to returning.
I was very happy to introduce new people to farmer’s market and see them enjoy the vendors. I want to thank Ron Smart the Executive Director of Downtown Clermont Partnerships, members of CDP, Let’s Tie 1 On, Sweets For You, and all the other vendors for their participation in this creative event.
My next Bullseye Scavenger Hunt will take place Sunday, August 23. Space is limited, but some space is still available. Children and adults are scheduled to compete. I will be offering a special prize to all participants. In addition, vendors will be giving prizes to the top male and female winners. Contact Alicia for info or to sign up for the August 23 Bullseye Scavenger Hunt at Awinningway@gmail.com.
Back on May 20, 2015, my team of archers trained five months to set the world’s first ever 7-archer Ultimate 3-D Relay for fastest time. The 7 athletes completed 6 stations of strict form exercises followed by barebow 3-D archery shooting at a 3-D deer target 10-30 yds away. Their combined archery score took time off their relay race to give a final score of completion in 4:38 for a new Recordsetter World Record.
Watch 7-Archer Ultimate 3-D Relay World Record
Join Alicia Weber’s Archery-Fitness Program or sign up for an upcoming event by contacting Awinningway@gmail.com
Three young ladies took on the challenge of training in a varsity dual archery-fitness advanced program and landed a world’s first ever obstacle archery relay record on November 11.
Danielle Siracusano, 13, Alexis Taylor, 16, and Morgan Hassell, 16, opted for archery and archercise (archery and exercise) for their fall archery program.
Alicia Weber created “archercise” and holds 17 official Record Setter World Records in various archercise events. Alicia Weber is the World’s Most Prolific Record Setter in Physical Fitness with over 500 records set since 2008.
The girls trained in a progressive six week program, which focused on cooperative learning, mental and physical conditioning, and advanced archery skills. All the archers had the opportunity to see how far they could grow in the program. They could strive for a level five varsity archery status. Siracusano, Taylor, Hassell, and Nick Linkiewicz were the only four archers to achieve level 5 status.
Determined Hassell picked up a bow and arrow for the first time and jumped from level one to the highest scorer in level 5 in a competition on November 8. She anchored the first ever obstacle archery relay and finished in 10 minutes flat. Their official record is published at Record Setter World Records.
The dynamic Taylor took her gun-shooting background and fast footwork from track and became an instant success in archery and archercise. She had the fastest leg in the relay with her time of 3:16.
Focused Siracusano has shown great leadership qualities ever since she blossomed as the number one female archer in a five day advancement camp this past summer. She led the relay and established the top archery score with her 36 points. The girls garnered a total of 84 points in archery, which are converted to 84 seconds taken off the final time bringing the final time to 8:36.
All the girls began the relay with a 200 yard dash. Then, without wasting anytime they whipped out 15 consecutive pushups. Immediately after that they each performed a different 10 yard multi-dimensional aerobic exercise. Finally, they grabbed a bow without any sighting devices. They had to shoot a quick descending ladder of distances from 50 yards to 10 yards (2 arrows per target).
“I want to do this again and work on improving my time,” said the motivated Hassell.
Emily Woodhouse, a spectator watching in amazement, commented, “It was fun to watch. As a runner, this sounds like so much fun. I hope to join the program this spring.”
“It was very interesting. A lot of young people will want to do this event,” said Meredith Johnson.
For more information in joining the varsity archery program and Central Florida archery contact Awinningway@gmail.com.
Picking up a bow and arrow for the first time and accurately shooting time and time again at long distance targets (without any sighting devices) is a reality for archers training under Alicia Weber.
From age 5-16, archers are excelling in their own ability levels. The past three weeks, varsity archers have been developing at an advanced pace to prepare for a challenging barebow archery competition. The archers need to be able to be focused and follow-through with proper form and bow-handling habits to have successful shots.
The young, determined archers keep rising to the challenges with fervor and zest.
A look at the recent Archery Champions from November 5 and October 29.
On November 5, the Purple Cookie Monsters (seen on the left of the picture) won a team contest against the Fiery Beasts. They shot various distances for speed and accuracy. The final score was 78-71.
On October 29, Nick Linkewicz, (seen on the right of the picture) captured the individual title in the “20yd-25yd Recurve-Compound Shoot” Contest. He won for most bullseyes.
The archers enthusiasm in training carries over into excelling in advanced archery skills.
“There is real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.” – Norman Vincent Peale
The Ab Curl Up is a famous test among trainees of Alicia Weber. The exercise tests abdominal strength and endurance and unlike the sit-up and other ab exercises, it is safe on the back. Even those with different conditions can normally perform the exercise well. Weber has set up many physical fitness challenges throughout the years and this has always ranked as the # 1 favorite.
Weber exclaimed, “Once my trainees hear about this ‘client record’ they all want it! The first woman who set it in 2007 had many challengers, but no one broke it until Dennis K. came along and then trainees started re-setting it left and right.”
There has been a story with each person who set this record. Each person had different motivations in wanting to break this record.
Here is the ‘client record’ for the Ab Curl Up Progression in the 1 – minute test for most correct reps:
2014 Bonnie Jean 106 reps
(This was her retirement record after working 32 years!)
2013 Lisa 105 reps
(She set this after only 6-weeks of fitness training!)
The ab curl up keeps the lower back on the ground at all times with the arms and hands held straight out. 2 pieces of tape are set on the ground. One where arms and hands are stretched out. Then, a second piece of tape is placed where the maximum reach is achieved, while keeping arms straight and low back on the ground.
Form for Ab Curl Test Start and Finish Position for Ab Curl Up Test
Must reach 2nd piece of tape and return to start position for a rep.
