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Shooting Team Criteria

The five Olympic rings represent the five cont...

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Gaining membership on the Junior Olympics shooting team is an involved process. In addition to being excellent shooters, youth must also exhibit academic excellence through good grades and school attendance. the USA Shooting National Shotgun Coach is responsible for selecting the best and brightest youth to represent the country in Olympic games.

A candidate should not expect to be considered for team membership if he is not skilled. Shooters are trained by an Olympic coach who looks for style and technique in students. Individuals unable to control shots are not considered for the Junior Olympics. In addition, skilled candidates failing to attend several practice sessions should expect to be overlooked by a coach. The Unites States Junior Olympic shooting team is meant to be comprised of highly skilled and dedicated youth. As such, individuals who fail to attend and exhibit quality performances at practice will be denied entry to the team.

Quality and dedication should extend beyond practice into the classroom. Individuals who perform well in practice but fail to achieve academic excellence may be disqualified as a candidate. When evaluating school performance, coaches search for consistency and balance. While it is exceptional to have a person obtain a 4.0 Grade Point Average (GPA) in one semester, it is more notable to see a student maintain a 3.7 GPA over five semesters. Students capable of maintaining an excellent GPA while participating in various clubs and sporting activities are given preference over persons who merely attend school.

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Michael Phelps an Inside Look

Michael Phelps is a well-known Olympic swimmer at the young age of 25 years old. He attended the University of Michigan, where he studies sports marketing and management. In 2007 alone Michael won 38 national titles in swimming. Over the course of his career he has set 35 world records, 5 of which he set in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His strongest stroke is breast stroke. He wears two swim caps, using the second one to smooth out the wrinkles from the first one. He is being celebrated as the “Greatest Olympian ever.” During the medal ceremony he said, “I am at a lost for words. To be the most decorated Olympian of all time, it just sounds weird. I am speechless.”

Michael devotes most of his time and energy to swimming. He practices about two to three hours, two to three times a day and about six times a week. He eats more calories than an average person could consume in a day. He has to eat so much because if he doesn’t he would never have the energy to swim as well or as fast as he does.In his spare time he enjoys spending time with his family, friends, and his dog Herman. He also likes to play video games.

Through the Make A Wish program he has met some children and on Facebook he shares with us, “These kids tell me that I’m their inspiration, but these brave kids are much more inspiring to me.” Throughout Michael Phelps’s career he has inspired many people just like the kids that met him through Make A Wish. Many swimmers have begun to pursue a career in swimming because of him and others like him. Some people don’t realize it, but our action effect the actions of others. Maybe Michael Phelps did recognize that and maybe that’s why he is such a great person. He has set the ultimate example and people strive to follow it.

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Butterfly, Going Through the Motions

Butterfly_stroke

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Competitive swimming consists of four different strokes, the hardest of which is the Butterfly. Butterfly is also very commonly used; it is the first stroke in an IM, which is an event that consists of all four of the strokes. The event lengths for butterfly can range from fifty yards to one thousand five hundred yards.

The Butterfly, or also called Fly, is one of the most dominant strokes. When doing the fly stoke the legs are moving together in a motion people call the dolphin kick. The dolphin kick helps the body have as much undulation as possible without slowing the body down. It is important to have undulation to keep the body moving through the water at a consistent rate. If the body were to have too much undulation the body would be slowly dragging in the water. If the body were to have to little undulation the swimmer would still move through the water but not as swiftly or as quickly as they would if they had the right amount of undulation.

While the legs are kicking the arms are moving in a windmill motion. While moving the arms as smoothly as possible the hands are to be flat palmed and the fingers held tight together. This will result in the arms moving more water and the body will move faster through the water. Also the swimmer never wants to smack the water with the hand, this also could result in the slowing of the body. Instead of this the swimmer wants to smoothly insert the hand into the water at an angle to create one swift movement.

During all this the head is down until the swimmer needs to take a breath. At this point the swimmer brings the head up briefly with the arms, takes a breath, the puts the head back down. When doing this the swimmer does not want to put the head too far down, this would result in the head casing the rest of the body to drag through the water.

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