Kevin WILKEY (USA): “To shoot better than ever before!”

Kevin WILKEY (USA): “To shoot better than ever before!” Kaohsiung (TPE) – 23 July 2009   The Hoyt pro-staff manager Kevin WILKEY (USA) will be in the heart of the action this time. He competes at the 2009 Kaohsiung World Games and hopes to win a medal. We met him on site in Chinese Taipei.   Kevin, what brought you to field archery? I have seen some photos of archers shooting down on really steep targets and that attracted me. Field is very technical, probably more than the traditional outdoor or indoor target competitions. I like especially the unmarked course (unknown distances). To calculate the angles, to adapt to each target—overall it fits with my engineering background.   It’s unusual to see you as a competitor at the world level. How did you get to the World Games? I must thank Dave COUSINS. He earned one of the two places for the USA last year at the world championships. However, he could not come to the World Games. There were some discussions with our national association. At the end, Rod MENZER (the current world champion) and I came.   How did you prepare for the World Games? I have a full-time job and a family so it’s not easy to find time to practice but I do it whenever I can—at lunch break, in the evening, etc. I live not far from Ogden, where the Youth World Championships took place last week, and we have some beautiful mountains there. There are places to practice. I also shoot a lot of arrows in mind.   Moreover, I remained competitive and I do competitions whenever I can, either outdoor, indoor or field. I have experience and I could brush up my skills with some specific preparations for the World Games. For instance, I participated at the FITA national field championships a few weeks ago. I did pretty well finishing in 2nd place. Rod was 3rd. I believe we are both in good shape.   So what do you expect here? To shoot better as I ever shot before! I want to have my field skills and my mental games where they need to be and hope for a podium finish.   Coming back on your full-time job, what have you been doing for Hoyt? I started as an engineering technician to test products. Since I was travelling to many competitions in the USA, I moved to the marketing department after some times to oversee the pro team in compound.   How do you explain the compound scores have really improved in the last few years? I think the prize money help a lot. More athletes are competing and trying to win. Competition drives the scores higher. There are also improvements in the material. At Hoyt for instance, we used the feedback of the archers to make a better bow for them. All of engineers are actually archers themselves. The geometry of the bow, the string material and also some other components like the arrows, the tuning have become better.   OK Kevin and good luck in Kaohsiung!   Didier MIEVILLE FITA Communication