Most new archers look forward to their first bullseye as their mark of success and excitement in archery, but Alicia Weber’s Creative Archery Summer Camp goes above and beyond shooting for Bullseyes. Young campers did not know what to expect other than they would be doing archery. Some waited months for this camp to take place. One thing was certain, Alicia Weber’s Creative Archery was out-of-this-world with jammed-packed activities geared to getting young students to master skills quickly and successfully.
Student-Athletes in Alicia’s archery programs become great athletes and excellent students. They develop mental and physical skills and focus needed to achieve any goal they set their minds on achieving. In spring 2016, all the archer-athletes who won the spring championship were also on the Honor Roll. Excelling in athletics and academics are equally important and the Creative Archery Summer Camp allows students to gear up academically with the math, English, writing, reading, public speaking, health, art, and performing arts experiences all tossed into archery in this one week camp. This camp is a great refresher for students about to head back to school after their long summer break or holiday break.
Highlights from the 2016 Creative Archery Summer Camp are below. Contact Alicia for upcoming sport and academic camps at Awinningway@gmail.com
The exciting championship finally arrived and competitors were excited to step up to the cone and give their best efforts. All walked away with age group records and new personal bests in a combo archery target event.
Archery Photo Contest Highlights and Champions
Families enjoy the event for the fun, friendly atmosphere, which encourages good sportsmanship and team play. Determined and dedicated archer, Aisha of the Purple Pandas, won this championship with her score of 96. This is a huge victory for her and she exclaimed, “It feels great to win.”
Matteo won this event before and won again today. “I feel amazing,” he said winning first for boys and third overall with his score of 84x.
It was an exciting match up between Aisha and Nicole of NS Archers as only two points separated them for the Series Championship. Nicole won the Series Championship by one point and finishes second overall today with 94x. Both competitors have developed a lot of confidence and skill over the past year. Their coach was very happy that they both got a big win today!
Henry of The Rubies won the Championship for the boys. He has been showing great progress along with teammate Marcello who attended the one week training camp. Izzy won the first Bullseye Scavenger Hunt and she improved her score on this one.
The archery was very challenging and the scavenger Hunt was the most challenging as well, but there were the most prizes in this championship!
Here are some of the top photos.
Congratulations to all competitors!!
Contact Alicia at Awinningway@gmail.com for upcoming events.
CLERMONT, FL—-This week was highly exciting for me both personally and professionally. First, I pulled off an enormous endurance feat I have been eyeing since first grade…(and seriously training 8 1/2 years to finally be able to do…). I became the first person to complete 1,070 strict pull-ups in one hour, which brings my physical fitness world record count to 835 this week (btw 2 WR books). Four days after this feat, I was holding my own unique event for others in my Bullseye Scavenger Hunt Series # 2 held in conjunction with Farmer’s Market.
There is always some nervousness with the anticipation of these events. I was blown away by the confidence and power exuded in my newest archer, Addie (who is 6 with only one lesson under her belt), when she powerfully shot out a few high scoring arrows in just the “warm up”. I knew a record was on the way…
Watch Addie Shatter Record
The youths understand that they may get nervous the first time they compete and their score may be lower than in practice. However, they know that practice ultimately leads to performance. In the 10 arrow 10 yard shoot for 4 minutes, I saw my seasoned archers do what they have done in practice and my newest archer did set a new record!
Addie, 6, set the record for the “Highest scorer in a 10 yard 10 arrow competition for 4 minutes from a youth age 6 or under with just one archery lesson” with her score of 9 points.
Ramsey of the Rising Underdogs won the boys archery competition with his score of 55 points (10 points away from the boys youth record). This was his first archery victory.
Nicole of the NS Archers won her first archery competition as well with her score of 74 points (12 points away from the girls youth record). Aisha of the Purple Pandas was following close behind with 72 points and she is currently the female leader in the Series Championship.
Onward, the archers went to Clermont Farmer’s Market for photographic scavenger hunt. It’s a great, fun opportunity to get locals acquainted with farmer’s market and all the vendors. The families work together to hunt down items. However, they not only look for interesting things or people, but they have to try to take the best pictures and complete the scavenger hunt in 20 minutes or less. The Photo Contest Winners are below. I look for close up, sharp, well-taken shots with good lighting and interesting angles.
Contact me to join the next monthly Bullseye Scavenger Hunt held thru and including the month of August at Awinningway@gmail.com
The American Eagles won the the first-ever Championship with 26 points. Memorial Day 2016 will be a weekend youth athletes will remember as their day to soar in the red, white, and blue and be the first to compete in a championship in a new sport! Six athletes came dressed in their red, white, and blue and gave it all they had in a highly aerobic game, which also required skill.
Two teams took to the fields in a chase game of 3 vs 3 in a large zoned rectangular field upto 100 yards in length. They had to go through the rounds as either the runners or taggers (defenders). Runners tried to successfully get from Point A to B without getting tagged. Each successful runner earned a point. Then, the runner could huff, puff, and triumph more by taking one lucky shot of an arrow at a 20 yard target. They could try to earn more team points with an accurate shot. It is non-stop action and each team is given the same amount of playing time to achieve maximum points. The USA X-Shots took 2nd place team with 11 points.
Besides stamina, fast reaction time, fitness, and skill, the other keys to success in this game are courage, bravery, and teamwork.
The final score was American Eagles 26 – USA X-Shots 11.
The Official, Inaugural Stars & Stripes “Tag Team” Archery Championship under the tutelage of Coach Alicia Weber with athletes from American Eagles and USA X-Shots.
See how the teams reacted to being in the first-ever Championship!
Contact Alicia at Awinningway@gmail.com to get on a team for an upcoming game.
CLERMONT, FL—-Many youths traveled one hour or more to take part in the first Bullseye Scavenger Hunt of 2016. In fact, it was the request of Izzy, a competitor of the Diamond Gorilla Archers, who asked for the return of this competition as she enthusiastically woke up early and made the long trek to Clermont to compete. She competed in this event in 2015 and calls it her favorite.
This will be the only one she is able to make this summer and she made the most of it. She is all about having fun. She hoped that she could win all while having fun and she did just that! Izzy always shows tremendous sportsmanship as she stood by her teammates as they took a win and she took a second or third place. She has been training for 2 years and this was her day to finally win BIG. Her day started at the Sundance Archery Range where she took a first overall victory out of boys and girls with her archery score of 55 points.
The first place boy was Zeke with 35 points. He is on the team “The Rising Underdogs” where he and his three teammates plan to change their name once they begin winning. Zeke is on his way to getting a team name changed. Zeke just made the first big win for his team! His brother, Nate, tied for 4th place boy overall. Zeke inspired his brother and other young boys into archery with his determined “never give up” attitude. The Rising Underdogs went into the second part of the competition involving a fun photographic scavenger hunt/photo contest and took top honors for their photos (see below). First Place Male and Female with their awards!
The archer-scavenger hunters can compete in this series throughout the summer and earn points for a chance to become the overall male and female series champion and receive special awards! The top male and female archers receive awards in each competition and then there are specials prizes for all. Everyone thanks the vendors and Downtown Clermont Farmer’s Market.
See what goodies are at the Downtown Clermont Farmer’s Market below in the winning photos.
Henry placed 3rd for boys and took a top photo honor. Frank a new archer snatched a surprising second place for the boys. Cody, a top competitor in archery fitness was on the winning team for Stars & Stripes Championship and he tied for 4th place in this competition. Aisha was the 2nd place female archer and she took two top photo honors.
Contact Alicia at Awinningway@gmail.com to register for an upcoming competition.
Archer Athletes at the start of the Bow-A-Thon.WINTER GARDEN, FL— On the sunny, cool morning of Saturday, January 30th the determined and dedicated youth archer athletes gathered at the starting line for Florida’s Inaugural Bow-A-Thon in a large park. Five pioneers in this challenging event gave their best efforts in a tough 1 mile cross country run. After minimal recovery, they then shot 10 arrows in less than 4 minutes. They all used the same bows without any sighting devices. The Bow-A-Thon was a skills test as well as a physical test and they all performed well above the expectations the event director and coach, Alicia Weber, had in mind.
“I’m very excited and happy about all their performances and I feel this competition will boost their confidence for future championships,” exclaimed Weber.
The boys and girls cross country had back and forth action with surprise sprint finishes by Indaya and Yeriel who won the running part. They each earned 10 points.
“I felt I could relax on my archery, if needed to because of my run victory. However, I tried my hardest in archery anyways,” commented Yeriel.
“The competition was fun, challenging, and different and something we would try again,” agreed Yeriel and second place runner, Drew. Both boys called this their first ever archery competition.
With minimal rest, the top three finishers in the run (Yeriel, Drew, and Bryce) went to compete in the archery.
Bryce won the archery and the competition with his score of 87 points. This was his second archery fitness victory.
“It was difficult to adjust to archery after the run, but I enjoyed the challenge,” said Bryce with a big smile as he was handed the winner’s mug.
Recovery time was increased before the girls did their archery. Indaya enjoyed her surroundings at this new location with the many big trees and open fields. All competitors were given awards and the top male and female won a champion’s mug.
Indaya won the competition with a total of 92 points out of a possible 110 points. This was her third archery fitness victory. She has been training and competing the longest out of all these competitors. She holds the Girls Youth Record for the Archery Fitness League. Aisha was the second woman and the youngest competitor with her 61 points.
“The competition was pretty fun. The mile was challenging because of the change in terrain and the zig zagging course,” agreed Indaya and Aisha.
New archer athletes, Yeriel and Drew, took 2nd and 3rd place males with 70 and 63 points respectively.
This taxing competition was by Invitation Only as certain skill levels need to be met. The competitors proved to be great champions. Bring Out The Champion In You and enroll in innovative athletic programming with Alicia @ Awinningway@gmail.com
Six varsity archery fitness teams throughout Central Florida in Alicia Weber’s Archery Fitness League converged for a one of kind competition testing physical and mental skills as well as self-motivation, team cohesion, creativity, and originality. The competitors had to qualify to compete in this advanced competition known as the “Ready Aim Go Championship.†Sixty three percent of the competitors called this their first-ever athletic competition and it was also the first time most made a varsity team.
“I have never been to anything like this before and it’s very exciting,†said Janet Kelley one of the nearly one hundred spectators that watched the championship.
The first competition was the Ready Aim Go Championship for ages 7-9 and it was a scaled down version of a longer competition for older students (10-14), which took place immediately after the youth event. In all cases, all the competitors received the same training, trained and competed on the same equipment, and all put in only 7-8 hours of training this fall before competing in this highly advanced event (cross country running bean bag toss relay event followed by a timed barebow category archery event with shooting at various distances for score).
“I am very proud of all my students. They exceeded all the goals I have set for them. Learning to become focused and do these types of multi-tasking events at this age is challenging, but they succeeded with flying colors, literally,†said Event Director and Coach, Alicia Weber who trains all these students in various developmental programs. Some students traveled more than an hour away to compete on November 15th at Sundance Archery Range where archery is sponsored.
All six teams had to create their own identity and team name. Many designed their own shirts as Coach Alicia Weber encourages creativity and originality. Some students wore multicolored shirts with designs.
“We like the creativity of this competition where we design our own shirts and come up with our team name,†agreed the three young ladies on the Diamond Rainbow Husky Archery Team who wore colorfully designed shirts.
Izzy, the team captain, added, “I don’t care about winning. I just care about having fun.â€
Ready Aim Go Championship (ages 7-9) Highlights
The fitness relay event tested running ability, reaction time, throwing skills, and accuracy to toss a bean bag in a bucket under pressure. Most importantly, the fitness event was selected to build team cohesion, while the archery tested individual focus and self-motivation. The older group was also challenged with a steady NE wind, which appeared at 10:30am with 15-20mph wind gusts.
“I feel excited and really glad that we won. It took a lot of work because of the wind, but it was a very good experience for our team. The format of the competition and the training leading up to it made our team become closer friends,†said Sebastian representing “The Rubies†on the winning team in the (age 10-14) championship competition.
In the first championship (ages 7-9), the Shadow Arrows won with a 12 point lead. The male archery winner was Colin from the Shadow Arrows, while the female archery winner was Ryele from the Diamond Rainbow Husky Archers. The girls had a 21 percent lead in the fitness event, but the boys from the Shadow Arrows gained ground in the archery to win the competition where the fitness and archery carried equal weight in the scoring.
In the second championship event (ages 10-14), the coed team of The Rubies tied with the girls team known as The Secret Service. It came down to the “x†in archery to determine the winner and The Rubies got two “X†dead center points in the archery competition to take the win with a final score of 504xx.
The top male archer was Bryce from the X Shots and the top female archer was Indaya from the Secret Service.
The X-Shots had the leading fitness score with the fastest relay time of the day of 46 seconds for the 3x100yd bean bag toss cross country relay.
Ready Aim Go Championship (ages 10-14) Highlights
“I liked everything about this competition. The archery was tough, but the running was not difficult. I felt very good for our team to win the run and go into the archery with more confidence. It was my first competition and I can’t wait to compete in the next one,†exclaimed the highly-motivated Lilly of the X Shots who opted to compete in the harder competition when she is under 10 years old.
“I was so surprised to come here and see Lilly do this very advanced competition. I think it is excellent,†remarked her great grandmother.
The Fierce Fighters worked double duty in the championship (ages 10-14) as they had a two person team. Aisha ran two legs of the relay with Kevin. They both are new archers and have shown great improvements after their 8 hours of training to compete for the first time in top form. They finished in a very close 4th place team (just 8 ½ points from 3rd place team).
Some competitors liked the fitness and archery events the same, others liked archery the best, while still others like the fitness event the best. However, one thing is certain that they all are looking forward to the next competition.
“It was a fantastic event. All the kids had fun, the event was well-organized, and it was a very positive event. I am looking forward to more events,†said Kyle Caracciolo-Clayton.
In Spring 2016, there will be youth and adult developmental programs, which provide a free competition. “We thank our sponsor, Clermont’s Papa John’s Pizza, for providing the pizza for the championship,” said Weber.
For more info on the Developmental programs contact Awinningway@gmail.com
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.
Most new archers look forward to their first bullseye as their mark of success and excitement in archery, but Alicia Weber’s Creative Archery Summer Camp goes above and beyond shooting for Bullseyes. Young campers did not know what to expect other than they would be doing archery. Some waited months for this camp to take place. One thing was certain, Alicia Weber’s Creative Archery was out-of-this-world with jammed-packed activities geared to getting young students to master skills quickly and successfully.
