SGA: Sun God Archery at UCSD

Hey everyone! Our first GBM for this school year will be the upcoming thursday, 10/8, at 7PM on zoom. If you're interested in learning more about our club and how we will be operating this year, feel free to stop on by! Link to our Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/438059557172944/

Following discussions with other SoCal collegiate archery teams, we've extended our #BLM fundraiser deadline to tomorrow night to allow more people to donate! Venmo us @SunGodArchery to help us reach our goal!

An update on our #BlackLivesMatter matching fundraiser! To donate, Venmo @SunGodArchery. Last day to donate will be July 3rd! To see full details on who we're donating to and how we're matching, check out our earlier post here: https://www.facebook.com/sungodarchery/posts/1913785098758477

Senior Spotlight: Ryan Tran Biochem/Chem Sixth College USA Archery NTS Level 2 Instructor... 2018-2020 UCSD Archery Competitive Team Member 2019 WROCC Men’s Recurve Team Bronze Ryan went searching for Sun God Archery after having already shot for a summer. As luck would have it, on the first day of classes he found one of the club’s posters on Argo Hall that advertised workshop times. He attended one of the workshops, and soon after joined the club and team. During his time on the team, Ryan’s favorite competition was 2020 SIACC, for mixed reasons. For one, during the tournament his extension bar broke, making his stabilizers fly 3 feet in front of the shooting line during practice ends. On a brighter note though, he was able to shoot an OR he was proud of, with two ends of 30 in four ends. As an avid archer, Ryan has the following piece of advice for those seeking to perform competitively: the easiest way to get better scores is to have the strength to draw and hold your bow easily. So shoot a lot and/or do a lot of SPT's. When he graduates, Ryan will be job-hunting while deciding if he wants to pursue a Master’s degree or a Ph.D. We wish Ryan the best of luck in his future endeavors, and congratulate him on graduating!

Senior Spotlight: Michael Phillips Linguistics Sixth College USA Archery NTS Level 2 Instructor... 2017-2019 UCSD Archery Competitive Team Member 2018 SoCal Indoor Archery Collegiate Championship Male Recurve Bronze Michael found his way to the Sun God Archery through UCSD Recreation’s archery classes. He and his roommate were looking for something new to try, and had signed up for a beginner class in fall of their second year. From there, they continued fostering their interest in archery by joining the club, and eventually the competitive team. Michael’s favorite competition was the 2019 NOCC in Ohio. This was due in part to a pre-existing desire to visit the state, but also because the tournament was his first time attending an outdoor competition. Being able to shoot with his friends and meet people from around the country made the event an altogether interesting, fun, and enjoyable experience for him. However, Michael was also highly involved in the club outside the team itself--namely, teaching the JOAD classes. For him, teaching archery to kids of different ages and skill levels proved challenging, yet exciting due to the dynamic it created among the students. Acting as the personal coach for some of his more ambitious students, Michael recalls attending the 2019 JOAD Indoor Nationals as his fondest memory from his time in the club. It was the first time he’d attended a competition to support a student, and during the midday break between lines he and his student were able to eat and play board games together for a while. Michael’s time as the JOAD instructor, both during the classes and while supporting students at competition, allowed him to better appreciate the work it takes to coach both new and continuing archers. At competitions, it allowed him to see tournaments from a different perspective and emphasized the importance of mindset and mental game in that setting. His biggest takeaway from working with young archers is that ultimately, archery is meant to be enjoyable for the process itself. It can be easy to get caught up in winning and focusing on success in score, but seeing the JOAD archers focus on having a good time reminded him why he enjoyed archery in the first place. When he graduates, Michael will be going through a teacher credential program, then pursuing a Master’s in education. He hopes to eventually teach elementary school students. Congratulations Michael, and we wish you luck in your teaching career!

Senior Spotlight: Eric Tian Public Health Revelle College USA Archery NTS Level 2 Instructor... 2018-2020 UCSD Archery Competitive Team Member 2019-2020 Team Captain Eric’s inspiration to do archery had always been with him when he saw the portrayals of archery within movies such as Lord of The Rings. With this inspiration, he had actually bought a cheap bow at first to just try out the sport but was really engaged with the sport when he discovered SGA at UCSD and all the opportunities that came with it. Like many, he had discovered SGA through their tabling on library walk during welcome week and from there on out it was history. Eric’s favorite competition memory was Indoor Nationals 2018/2019. At the time, he did not have his own equipment and therefore was using a club bow at the competition. However, upon arriving at the competition, the string on his bow was damaged beyond use and his only option was to use a bow from the Easton Center. However, despite the setback, he ended up competing extremely well with his circumstances and he is proud of what he was able to accomplish given his situation. Eric’s main piece of advice that he would like to give to incoming archers is to always ask questions and put in the hours. While he says that it may be hard at times to ask for help or questions, it is critical to your success in archery combined with the dedication of hours. Overall, there is a sense of discipline with the practice of archery. Eric’s experience with this need for self-discipline from the use of SPT’s has been his way of strengthening his own self discipline with an understanding of what he needs to improve. Due to this quality that he learned from archery, he now applies his everyday life to this; whether it is academics or his own religion. Lastly, Eric would like to thank the board for all that they have done and enjoyed working with each and every one of them. They all offered an amazing experience and he would like to thank Nathan Chiu, his fellow captain, for his dedication and everything they have accomplished. He wishes the best of luck to the oncoming board as they navigate through the next season and will definitely visit in the future.

Senior Spotlight: Dan Nguyen Biochem/Bio Eleanor Roosevelt College 2019 All-American Male Barebow... 2019 NOCC Individual Barebow Bronze 2019 SIACC Mixed Team Barebow Silver 2018 SIACC Mixed Team Barebow Bronze Fate has brought the bow into Dan’s hands, both before college and into Sun God Archery. His archery journey began when his sister’s co-worker invited them to go out to Miles Square Park to shoot at the public archery range back when he was in 8th grade. After this, he kept coming back, until his parents finally decided he should get his own bow. Later on in college, it was instead a friend from his 1st year dorm who invited Dan to join her at one of SGA’s beginning of the year GBMs. There, he saw the presentation that he would then see again for the next three years. After going to his first workshop, he was hooked, and came back to be a star archer in SGA’s competitive team. Dan’s competitive career in archery has been fraught with many highs and lows, clearly reflected in his most memorable, then separately his most favorite memories at the competitive scene. Dan remembers fondly NOCC of 2016, being able to relax and have fun, a stark difference to when he’s on the line shooting. He also loves to think back on eating Lolita’s with the team and cheering on for his teammates (after getting quickly eliminated himself). This is a stark contrast to his most memorable memory, in which at NOCC 2019, Dan was about to win his semifinals match. All he had to do was score at least a white ring on the target. So, he promptly shot a 9 on the next bail over. Effectively throwing his silver away, but instead walking away with a fantastic story. In SGA, however, it wasn’t the stress of the competition that was his mortal enemy, or even his inner conflict with being a weeb, but rather performing consistently at the line, the foundational, yet most difficult task of archery. While he believes there’s always room for improvement, he recognizes he has come a long way since he walked on that field during the workshop so many years ago. After Dan graduates, he’s looking to get into the highest paying job to get out of debt as soon as possible, and maybe even one day coming back to it to go to graduate school. We will miss Dan greatly, and truly hope him the best in his next chapter of life!

Senior Spotlight: Eric John Carbonell Education Sciences B.S (General Physics and Secondary Education) Sixth College 2017-2019 Team Captain... 2016-2019 UCSD Archery Competitive Team Member 2018 National Outdoor Collegiate Champtionship Male Recurve Team Silver Eric is an education science major from Sixth College with the goal to eventually empower people through the education of physics. His long term goals are to help reshape educational policy and with goals farther than just within the classroom, he had changed from his previous major of physics to what is now general physics with secondary education. Eric seeks to gain experience in the political realm through volunteering or gaining a job after college and applying to grad school to achieve a Masters in Education focused on physics. His journey in archery started all the way back in high school when he shot a bow for the first time at a JROTC Cadet Leadership Camp. He felt he had some pretty decent skills at first and the following year he began to shoot better than most of the cadets there. He was even able to snag a gold and silver medal. From that moment of victory, he knew that he had to continue archery in college and the rest is history. He had found SGA simply on Library Walk during Welcome Week and signed up immediately. His favorite memory with SGA competition memory is when he attended Florida and it was the most vivid memory he had of competing as a team. The experience had made him feel that he wasn’t simply an individual completing but a part of something much bigger. From the memories with SGA’s own team to memories with the other teams, earning second-place on team rounds, and simply running around the University of Florida campus during the banquet, it was one of his defining moments in his college experience. Eric wants to let new archers know that the first few shots when going into archery are not going to be pretty and during his freshman year, most of his shots on the 18m target went into the ground. The sooner a new archer can make peace with the fact that some shots just won’t go well, the sooner they can build up from that foundation. It’s important to give each shot their moment to shine, from walking to the shooting line, going through the shot process, and following through. Always remembering that a bad shot does not define you as an archer, however, how you work through improving yourself will ultimately improve your ability through the creation of good habits. Do not forget that SGA is a club for a reason, never forget there will always be people there to support you and will be there in your corner as long as you fight to improve.

Senior Spotlight: Abby Hora Literature/Writing, Music Sixth College USA Archery NTS Level 2 Instructor... 2016-2019 UCSD Archery Competitive Team Member 2017-2019 Treasurer 2018 National Outdoor Collegiate Championship Barebow Mixed Team Bronze 2018 Western Regionals Barebow Mixed Team Gold 2018 Western Regionals Female Recurve Team Silver 2017 National Outdoor Collegiate Championship Barebow Mixed Team Bronze As a commuter student during her time at UCSD, Abby started her freshman year off with a search for new friends and new activities. Upon discovering Sun God Archery, she knew the club would be the perfect place for both, and quickly became an integral part of the club’s social life and team. From her time on the team, Abby’s fondest memory was at Westies 2018. Since she decided to shoot in both the barebow and recurve divisions at that competition, she was able to compete with more of her friends on the team. Though keeping up with both divisions was stressful at the time, she enjoyed the team rounds the most and will miss the energy and hype that always came with them. She’s grateful to the friends who supported me with each shot and for making that tournament one of the best memories she has from her time with SGA. Like many of our competitive archers though, Abby struggled with performance anxiety. There were times when she had trouble feeling confident in her shot process, especially during competitions. However, through personal determination and the support of her teammates and coaches, she gradually learned to focus on enjoying archery for the experience of shooting with her friends rather than the location of her arrows on the target. Learning to let go of the need to succeed took a lot of pressure off her, and helped her grow both in and out of archery. Given that, it’s no surprise that Abby’s most important piece of advice for new shooters is to have compassion for themselves. She understands that it can be easy to fall into a rut when you don’t progress at the rate you’d like, but emphasizes that there is nothing wrong with struggle--especially in a sport like archery that requires such mental strength. To Abby, it’s most important for new archers to enjoy archery for the sport and the people they meet in it, rather than winning medals and being the best. Overcoming the challenges of competition can be rewarding, but always take the time to work on your own shot process and grow at your own pace. And lastly, she reminds new archers to always have fun. After she graduates, Abby will be attending SDSU for a Master’s in Creative Writing. We hope that as long as she’s in San Diego, she’ll continue to visit and never fail to make us laugh with her Spongebob jokes and references. We wish her all the best, and congratulations on graduating!