Archival Archery Archery News
Archery Newsletter Issue 76
March 15, 2010

Hi !

In this newsletter:
The BEST or NTS... ?
From the President
JUDGES needed in TEXAS
Intermediate Instructor Course & the CCC
Mark Your Calendars For These Events!
Results Coming In For The National Indoor Championship
770 Texan Archers Compete In A Single Day!
Results and Photos From The Archival Archery Indoor Events
Great Whitetail Target Stand Design
New JOAD Rules
ARCHER OF THE YEAR AWARDS!
Paralympics Continue....
The BEST Archery Forum Announced

 
 
The BEST or NTS... ?
EDITORIAL: This is not in any way to infer the approval of anyone at the AA, I am not carrying the water for any other than the editor's own opinions here. As the Archival Archery newsletter editor for lo these 12 or so years, I sometimes feel the need "to communicate" by speaking directly.

I get a lot of questions in my role as webmaster for one of the most active archery informational websites in the world and it is rewarding enough to keep me going at this. One question that has come up a lot lately is about the National Training System, and how it relates to the BEST Method. What happened to "BEST"? Just to clear up any confusion I decided on my own to put together this editorial. Nobody asked me to write this, but I think the recent changes are a very cool thing of which Americans can be proud, and I wanted you to know about it. And I HATE confusion. Let's row together.

The USA Archery organization, which recently underwent its own name change from the National Archery Association, has very sensibly designated our national training system as our "National Training System," or NTS. How does this relate to the BEST Method? In the rest of the world, the concept of BEST is alive and well. But here in America we have moved forward. We have taken BEST and made it better. It's AMERICANIZED!

The NTS contains much of the BEST philosophy, but now it also draws from ideas close to the hearts of many Americans, fundamental precepts like hard work paying off, working smarter not harder, and of not doing the same thing over and over and expecting to get better results. American archery is changing, and NTS is going to help us evolve along with it.

Korean-American Kisik Lee, our US National Head Coach, has dedicated a large part of his life to scientifically analyzing the complex motions of archery using his own advanced degrees and significant competitive experiences. He has gone into more detail and a finer meticulous understanding of the body's mechanics in manipulating a bow and arrow than anyone I can find in the modern era. He has a documented performance in creating the symbols of excellence in our athletic world, Olympic medallists and world champions/record holders. He is a proven motivator, a coach of the highest levels.

When Kisik Lee took to risk all and chose America as his future, like so many immigrants of our glorious past he arrived on our shores with pros and cons: such pros as his background diversity, his tremendous work ethic, his proven desire to succeed, a strong belief system, and an above-average education and intelligence. A "con" would be our language barrier - for example, he does not speak fluent Texan and frankly, I find that to be some small problem at times! There are times when I learned that it was critical to listen to his words, try to get the gist of them, and then to speak them again to him in translation as a way to confirm his intent. All in all, I'd say that is a small, small thing in return for receiving his wisdom. Sometimes, I even got the words right the first time!

So in the beginning, when Kisik met with a number of our US Coaching elite organization that were seeking and recruiting for the future of our sport, and discussed his goals and needs in assuming the role of National Head Coach, one concern was how to move the mountain of 'US past inertia'. We Americans proudly have a history of being the best in archery! Many people even today want to say, "America is the best archery force in the world," yet our stands on the medal podiums had in large part fallen into the shades of history. Past glories guarantee nothing in the future. As a member of the peanut gallery during that introductory time for Coach Lee, I remember thinking that we needed a catchy term, an acronym, that the US folk could grab onto and identify with and I said as much to those at the time. (No proof that they listened to me, but still I said it...)

Several great archery individuals in our organization at the time suggested using the logical design of Coach Lee’s methods to come up with a code word or a label, and it ended up being the "B.E.S.T.", the Biomechanically Efficient Shooting Technique. An Acronym worthy? Was it corny? yes, this much is true, but consider this... The BEST method is based on making your bones, tendons, ligaments, posture, muscles, human intent, and most importantly, the subconscious mind work in unison the most efficient way possible to consistently release a string under pressure in just the right way to get the best results 70 meters away. Coach Lee’s philosophy is not limited to just the US, and he has always been clear and straightforward about moving the entire world of archery with his lever and fulcrum, not just the USA. To this end, he and Aussie coach Robert De Bondt created and continue to support their internationally-acclaimed reference website, KSLInternationalArchery.com

I write to say that the US archery movement is alive, and yes, it still moves and evolves. It moves and grows and evolves thanks to the legions of coaches and archers that have heard the logic of Coach Lee, seen the effect up close and personal and seen how even the smallest iota of his methods can cause a beneficial change in an archer's efforts. Call it the BEST, you are not wrong, but in the US of A, call it the NTS - the National Training System. It's more than just the BEST, it is the sum total of BEST and that of all of our American motivations. Together they will prove to be the world ideal in excellence once again. The NTS, the National Training System for the USA.

A. Ron Carmichael, editor


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From the President
Hello fellow archers!

Welcome to spring and the start of the outdoor season. Great things are happening at AA. Since the State Indoor, Archival Archery is ramping up for a great shooting year.

Archival Archery made a purchase of 15 new bales and 20 center pads in anticipation of a bid for the US Field Nationals and World Field Trials in 2011 and 2012. We are also in the process of writing a grant request from the Easton Foundation to cover that cost and purchase a new traveling trailer. It has been far too long that we have not had the real ability to pack a trailer and transport it for a tournament out of our normal venues. I am encouraging our members who would like to host a State event, to bid on them once we have a traveling trailer again for members use in running a tournament.

I am also putting this out to the membership. Would you attend a FITA qualifier once a month, if a venue was available and you wanted to shoot for a score? I have access to a field in Bastrop and we could start shooting monthly. We could do a one day FITA and everyone could be in and out in the same day. Or if you want to stay the evening, a FITA over the weekend. Please email me if you are interested and we can start setting this up once a month.

There are also some big events coming up that I encourage everyone to attend, UT’s Lone Star FITA on April 10-11, the Doinker A Shootout April 23-25, tentatively, the A State Field on Mother’s Day weekend, and a host of National events! Please check the Archival Archery website for calendar events and more information.

Keep those arrows flying!

Michael Hojnacki


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JUDGES needed in TEXAS
Does an X count as a 10?
If you can answer this correctly, and 9 other similarly easy questions, you can become a judge and help the sport!

A Needs Judges! Without judges, no tournament can be recognized as a Star FITA - no records can be set! Why, there would be CHAOS I tell you!!!
(Judge Jane Johnson, February 2010)
The Archival Archery Board voted to pay the $35 registration fee for you. You have to submit the test and some information, and you get a neat red shirt and red pen, and the opportunity to help some young archers to compete! Let us know when you've been approved and we reimburse you for the fee! The Archival Archery will also be providing $100 to any judge serving on our state tournaments (Field,Target,JOAD Target, Indoor, & JOAD Indoor), and we will work with the tournament DOS to provide room per diem.

If you've ever wanted to be able to give back to the archery community which supports so many people of all ages in this wonderful sport, now is your chance! It is EASY to be a judge!

Bill Coady of A&M brought up in our annual meeting that we are in a critical place where we've lost the majority of our judges for not only A but the entire southern region.
Soooo........
If you are a parent of a JOAD archer, or if you go to tournaments and pretty much just sit in the tent and read a book while your spouse/son/daughter/husband shoots, or if maybe, you are an archer and enjoy the feeling of a tournament but are on the injury list and don't shoot as much as you used to, please consider becoming a judge and opening up a whole new aspect of participating in archery.

This is from the NArchival Archery website, and written by Tom Green, a US international judge:

To apply to be accepted as a Judge Candidate:
1) You must be a member of USA Archery for at least one (1) year immediately preceding the application and be 18 years of age or older.
2) You must complete the application form and pass a short test (see below).

Fill out the application and send it and the completed test in to the American Archers with a check for $35.00, made out to USA Archery. If you pass, you will receive a voucher for the Judge Guidelines Manual and for one Judge’s shirt. A name badge will be mailed to you later. Your name will be added to our mailing list for Judge Bulletins and other correspondence. (Let us know at Archival Archery and we will reimburse you for the $35!)

Our program is one of learning and requires a desire to excel as a Judge. A Judge must agree to comply with established standards in place for re-certification. You will receive Judge Bulletins, case studies (which you are required to answer), correspondence regarding the O&RC activities and FITA rule changes and interpretations. We are responsible to the archers and the tournament organizers to be the best that we can be in our supportive role as Judges. The O&RC will always be at your disposal to offer assistance that you may require.

Your training will consist primarily at being involved at the State and Regional level working along side more experienced Judges. If you wish you can get involved at a National level working USA Archery’s championships and trials events. If you choose to progress as a Judge, you can move on to the Regional and National Judge levels.

The first step is to download the application form and test. You will require an up to date FITA Rule book or can download one from the FITA website to answer the test questions. Feel free to contact me should you have any questions or require any additional information on the Judge’s Program.

Tom Green, Chair Officials & Rules Committee
9830 Tavernor Rd.
Wilton, CA 95693
Phone/Fax 916-687-8541
Email tgarchery@frontiernet.net


The application and test can be found
at this link. The rule book can be downloaded from free here or directly from the FITA Website. (look for "rules" on the left side)
and YES, an X does count also as a "10".


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Intermediate Instructor Course & the CCC
INTERMEDIATE INSTRUCTOR CERTIFICATION COURSE IN AUSTIN AT UT

Ron Carmichael will conduct an Intermediate Instructors course for no more than 15 individuals. This course will be March 27 & 28, 2010 from 9:30am to 6:30pm (1 hr lunches) each day and will be held on campus in the Anna Hiss Gym at the University of A at the archery range.

This class is intended for people that have at least 6 months' archery experience, who will be working with established archery program such as JOAD, NASP, Parks and Recreation programs, College Archery, Scouts, 4-H, and similar Camps. The cost is $165.00. This price includes two 8 hour classes, materials, and equipment. Participants may bring their bows if the want to diagnose tuning issues, but will NOT use them for shooting.
To register, send an
email to Ron.

Expand your training! Become a Certified Intermediate Archery Instructor This is a 2-Day course, you'll learn how to teach the specific steps of shooting, to identify and correct form errors, to conduct training exercises using the official "Drills & Skills" student guidebook, and to teach a Basic Instructor course for your staff or as part of the NADA referral network.

"Intermediate Instructor" is a joint certification of USA Archery and National Field Archery Association. It's geared towards leaders of camps, schools, recreation and youth agencies, and archery clubs.

Course Requirements:
- Previous Basic Instructor training, or have at least 6-months experience in the sport of archery.
- Membership in either USA Archery or NFAA (must be a current member in standing PRIOR to this course)

Course Content:

  • Intermediate teaching techniques.
  • Steps of Shooting.
  • Class schedules and exercises
  • How to teach a Basic Instructor Course
  • Sample lesson plans.
  • How to teach more "Drills & Skills" to archers.

About Coach Ron:
I have been a student of the Kisik Lee Shot Cycle for many years (since about day 1) and I find I continue to learn more about it every time I coach. I was first taught to be a coach by Jane Johnson in 1997 and was certified as an NArchival Archery Level III some 5 or so years ago and have attended both advanced certification courses and Olympic Training Center seminars on an annual basis since then. I am dedicated to the promotion of excellence for everyone in the Olympic and Paralympic traditions through Coach Lee's methods regardless of the archer's actual achievements to date. I am convinced that for most everyone, there is a desire for being the best we can be inside each of us, and I wish to help each on this path who wish to progress.

I achieved USA Archery Regional High Performance Coach status under National Head Coach Kisik Lee in 2007. I have mentored numerous students at the University of A, Paralympic hopefuls, and became the second archery coach in history to be awarded the Order of Ikkos by the US Olympic Committee for assisting an athlete in winning a bronze medal in Beijing during the 2008 Paralympics.

In addition to what I have learned from Coach Lee, I have also learned a way of coaching from Don Rabska over the years starting just before the Athens 2004 games and continuing through the Beijing Games in 2008. Without Don's brilliance and patience with me (and our mutual athlete for which he deserves an IKKOS medal all by hisself as well) the bronze medal and subsequent Order of Ikkos would likely never have happened. Thank you , Don!

This course is a pre-requisite for the Community Coach Course I will conduct later in the spring. Stay tuned for more details...

Whoops, see what happens if you stay tuned? Info on the CCC:

USA ARCHERY COMMUNITY COACHING COURSE
Announcing an opportunity to attend
MAY 8-9, 2010 from 8:30am to 7pm each day
University of A – Anna Hiss Gym

The Community Coach Course is designed to teach basic archery COACHING skills (not instructor skills)
that are consistent with the United States National Training System of USA Archery.

Coaching differs from instructing, Coaches are responsible for much more than instructors – encompassing the overall development of an individual or group of archers into competitive athletes, through the development of a philosophy consistent with the US National Training System as defined by the National Head Coach, Kisik Lee.


The Community Coaching program is aimed at Certified Intermediate Instructors who are looking to advance their knowledge and techniques while working with individuals and teams of competitive archers. It is a logical progression in excellence for those wanting to improve archery.
Community Coaches will also be authorized to train Intermediate Instructors.

The prerequisites are that you have to be a Intermediate Instructor for one year (NASP BAIT’s also qualify) or a Basic Instructor for two years and be able to pass the “test-in” test (NAST BAI’s also qualify).

The topics covered in the community coach program are:
1. Introduction and Coaching Challenges
2. Mental Aspects of Archery
3. Archery Shot Execution
4. Coaching Philosophy
5. Athletic Training Cycles - Periodization
6. Goal Setting & Getting
7. Preparing for Competition
8. Equipment
9. Training and Certifying Intermediate Instructors
10. Bringing it all together
The course fee is $250.00 and includes extensive support and print materials. A check for $100.00, made out to Ron Carmichael and mailed to 2703 Cornell Cove, Lago Vista, TX 78645 by April 1 (no fooling!), 2010 will reserve your place in the class. No refunds will be offered after April 15, 2010. Course ratio of teacher/student is limited to 1/12 and room is expected to sell out quickly.

Please contact Ron Carmichael by email by phone to his cell: 512-797-4127 for more information. This is a very exciting program that will greatly improve your effectiveness as an archery coach, taught in a class setting with a highly qualified archery expert. This two day course will be very intensive and information rich! Come prepared to work hard, and to prepare properly, please familiarize yourself with “Inside the Archer”. See http://achivalarchery.org/eletters/20090610.htm#article2


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Mark Your Calendars For These Events!
Tentative assignment of the Archival Archery Field, JOAD Target and Target (senior) championships for 2010 have been made and a lot is on the calendar besides!

The State Field will be held in the same local as in the past 4 or 5 years, near Eagle Lake. It will be held on Mothers' Day (May 8-9) weekend, and run by Rick Stonebraker. Rick is preparing the information for the event and I will have it posted as soon as possible. This event is one of the best field events in the state, bar none!

The Outdoor JOAD Target event will be conducted by Tom Barker and the Straight Arrow Archery Center in Victoria, June 12-13.
The Senior State Target event will be in Bastrop at the same location as last year, but in September when weather will be more comfortable (hopefully)

As usual, the registrations for all of these events will be held online, and info will be posted in a timely manner. Info on the Lone Star FITA at UT is up, which is the next outdoor event to be held in our area. Good conditions are the norm thanks to the design of the field with large rows of trees to block most of the typical spring winds, but space is somewhat limited so if you think you might want to attend, get on board SOON!

A summary of some Archival Archery scheduled events:

  • Intermediate Instructor Course - March 28-29 - University of A - by Ron Carmichael
  • Lone Star FITA: April 10-11 University of A
  • Doinker A Shootout: Apr 23-25, 2010 A A&M - College Station
South Regional Intercollegiate Archery Championships (offered in conjunction with the A Shootout)
  • Archival Archery State Field Championship - May 8-9 - Eagle Lake
  • USA Archery - Community Coaching Certification Course - May 8-9 University of A, Austin - by Ron Carmichael
  • US Intercollegiate Archery Championship: May 13-16, 2010 - A A&M - College Station
  • June 12-13 for State JOAD in Victoria - Straight Arrow Archery
  • Sep 11-12 for State Outdoor in Bastrop

Check the gold box on the top of the main page of the
Archival Archery website for links to all of these events as they become available.

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Results Coming In For The National Indoor Championship
The USA Archery Indoor Championship is on-going, for 3 weeks or so, throughout the United States. As each location's results become available, Lorinda Cohen of Archery House (and TAMU Archery) is correlating them and posting the results on this website. So far, you can find links for:
College Station
Andover
Des Moines
Conyers
Tulare
Brockport - Creekwood
Wisconsin Rapids
Salt Lake City
Rio Rancho
Edmond
East Lansing
Harrisonburg...

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770 Texan Archers Compete In A Single Day!
The A chapter of the "National Archery In Schools Program" is called TASP. It started in 2006 with a 126 students competing in the state championship, and has grown.

[image]TASP held the most recent state championship tournament in Waco one blustery and cold Saturday in February, and they managed to cycle some 770 kids through the range in a single day! That is some kind of growth, to say the least, and the guys running this thing had it going like clockwork! [image]

I was especially impressed by their handling of the scoring and tallying of scores. They used a kind of scantron device, with score sheets that had arrow scores in little circles. You shoot a 7, you use a pencil to cover the little 7 circle with a pencil. No adding. Just like on tests in school you "fill the bubble" and get back to shooting. After the 20 or 30 arrows are shot (from 10 and 15 meters) the scorecards run through a scanner, the results automatically dumped into a computer spreadsheet! Wow, gotta love that, at least, the kids did since it meant no math was involved....they could focus like all kids, on the socializing in the waiting area with the occasional interruptions to shoot arrows.
[image]They were kind enough to allow the University of A Archery Club set up a table and "meet and greet" the kids and explain to them that they don't have to leave their bows at home when they go to college! UT students Peter Dasso and Lindsey Carmichael handed out hundreds of brochures on both the UT program as well as the US Collegiate Archery organization.
They displayed their Olympic recurve bows, which were HUGE hits with the elementary-to-high-school students who to date had only experienced the genesis bow that NASP relies on.
It's amazing how much interest a stabilizer can provoke, not to mention "AN ADJUSTABLE SIGHT OMG!"
They also provided a demo of their shooting prowess late in the afternoon, and more than 100 autographed photos from the Beijing Games competition were signed over by Lindsey during the day as well as dozens of autographed genesis bows.
After all is said and done, the TASP/A Parks and Wildlife organizers will go to each school throughout A (even to as far away as Fort Davis), hold an entire school assembly, and honor the sagittarial students with their just archery rewards.

Wow, what a positive archery experience! [image]
A summary of the tournament has been provided by Burnie Kessner of the A Parks and Wildlife:
Some quick stats on the tournament:

--800 kids registered (500 last year)
--770 kids shot in the tournament (476 last year)
--35 schools attended the tournament (19 last year)
--$9,000.00 in college scholarship money will be awarded---divided among the top three male and female High School Division champs
--Tournament sponsors: Toyota, TPWD, A Hunter Education Instructors Association, USFWS, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Morrell Targets, and NASP
--the Overall high score, 284 out of 300, was shot by a Middle School Division Female, Nicole Taylor, from Lamar Middle School. (Last year's high score was a 273 shot by a high school male.) (editor note: all without sights!)
Video on youtube.


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Results and Photos From The Archival Archery Indoor Events
Photos from the State JOAD Indoor have been received and posted to this location and results have been posted from the Archival Archery State JOAD Indoor tournament, along with a note from the tournament director, at this link.
The results from the State Indoor event at UT have been posted
at this link. and the photos are here.

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Great Whitetail Target Stand Design
Allen Floyd created an excellent whitetail target stand, and his design is now in the library of the Archival Archery Website's document library. It's a wheeled, easy-to-move, FITA compliant and nifty piece of engineering. [image] [image]

Folding Target Archery Stand by Allen Floyd:
"As the Director for Target Archery for the 2009 Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George, Utah, I took up the challenge to build target stands for the event. Having had experience the previous year with wobbly stands tied together with twine, I set out to design new stands that would be sturdy, light weight, easily moved for distance changes, easy to set up and take down, and would be compact for storage. After getting ideas from other stands I saw on the Internet, in magazines, in the FITA Target Manual, and from personal experience, I designed and built the stand presented here""..... Go to the
Document page for the full story, designs, and parts lists! And thank you to Allen for sharing his design with the world!


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New JOAD Rules
There is a new way to verify a JOAD archer's classification, distances, and target size! It is a nifty excel spreadsheet. Arn McIntyre at Rockford JOAD Archery has given me permission to post it on the Archival Archery website, and you will be able to find links to it on our JOAD page as well as the documents page/index. I've also updated the old JOAD calculator page, which has a printable section that can help even the most confused beginning joad kid to figure things out...Oh, and the rules - Juniors shoot through 20 years now, and Cadets get to shoot through 17. There is more information on the USA Archery website as well.

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ARCHER OF THE YEAR AWARDS!
In 2002 Tom Barker wanted to provide a special award to the JOAD archer champions, and worked with a casting company, finally was able to come up with a design, but the cost factor at that time proved to be too high. Today we find that the Archival Archery is in a better state of finances, and so at the urging of Board President Michael Hojnacki the board has decided to reward the "Archival Archery Archers of the Year" with a custom belt buckle! These archers demonstrate a high level of interest in archery, shooting in our many events and doing well.
MIchael finished the legwork and these buckles will be presented to the AOTY and YAOTY winners at the state field. The basic buckle will be a shiny and polished antique brass, but if the archer wants she or he can return it to the bucklesmith and have it colorized as shown here, for a reasonable fee.
If the feedback proves positive the Archival Archery will make available a similar buckle (NOT with a AOTY LOGO) that proudly proclaims the AA, for your quiver belt. Stay tuned!


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Paralympics Continue....
Each time and every four years, the Olympic games close. The venues are repaired, cleaned up, and prepared, and just a few short weeks later, the Paralympics are held at the same venues. In Vancouver right now, the Winter Paralympics are underway. If you missed the one hour opening ceremonies on NBC then you have missed it all as far as the US television market is concerned. You can look at some incredible photos of these world-class (and some one would say insanely motivated) athletes using this website to the still photography of Eleven Coudenys , who captures it all. There is also a great opportunity to watch video on the web, using ParalympicTV.org . For example, there will be some incredible downhill mono-skiing and sitzskiing where the slalom skiers are doing it on a single ski, hell bent for leather. You have to see it to believe it. Tune in! More photos can be seen at Prezioso Photography, as well, such as this great clip. There are also libraries from the last summer games, where you can see our US archers competing in Beijing.[image]

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The BEST Archery Forum Announced
Daren Nothstine has created an online forum for archery discussions. It is interesting to see how boards evolve and fit particular needs - I've long thought that to succeed with an online resource you have to have some unique aspect if you want it to succeed. You can check this board out, join for free, and there is a face-book tie-in as well. Good luck to Daren and may it not keep him from the bow!
While I am on the topic, and since there are so many USA Archery coaches subscribing to this newsletter, a reminder that there is also a dedicated message board (PRIVATE- by subscription only and no anonymous members allowed, including NO anonymous browsing) for you high-performance coaching types! if you are a certified coach or instructor with USA Archery via NADA or the certification courses by National Head Coach Kisik Lee, you are entitled to enroll using your real name, and I will certify you as a "real" coach on the board. You can then begin sharing ideas, getting answers, posting video clips and analyzing form, you get the idea. If you are not a certified coach, you will not be allowed, and there is no anonymous nitwittage allowed.
HERE IS THE LINK TO THE PRIVATE COACHING BOARD.
Just Register Online using your Real Name, fill in the location requirements, etc., and I'll get you certified and up and running as soon as I am able to verify your status as a member in good standing, coaching-wise. So use this private-only message board to NETWORK to help your archers and your fellow coaches.

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