The U.S. Olympic Shooting Team is headed to Beijing with high hopes of another successful Olympiad. Leading the squad this year is former WVU All-American shooter Dave Johnson who’ll serve as the coach of this year’s team.
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Former Mountaineer Rifle Team shooter Dave Johnson coaches the US Shooting Team in Beijing |
Johnson says the first task is getting there, getting settled, and getting his team to focus.
"The more experience they have on the international circuit, the more they’re able to deal with the hype and ignore the stuff that’s not constructive to what they’re doing,” said Johnson during an appearance on West Virginia Outdoors. "The younger ones tend to have a tougher challenge with that, because hey–it’s a huge show and the Olympics are an amazing event."
Johnson will take his team of marksmen to Korea for a few days ahead of arrival at the Olympic village. The plan is to use the Korean practice sessions to settle into a pattern of nothing but shooting and to acclimate to the time difference ahead of the games.
Among those on the team this year is another former WVU All-American, Mike Anti. Anti earned the Silver Medal at the Athens games. Johnson says there’s no reason why he cannot strike gold in China.
"He’s pretty comfortable with himself and he’s been in this game a long time. He’s a competitive guy for sure, but I think he’s looking at this with
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Former WVU shooter Mike Anti scored a silver medal in Athens and hopes to shoot for the gold in Beijing. |
some perspective,” said Johnson of his former teammate and long time friend. "He performs his best when he doesn’t put specific pressure on himself. He just wants to go and execute."
Along with Anti will be teammate Matt Emmons, who won the Gold Medal in the Athens games. Johnson says while Emmons and Anti certainly stand strong chances of repeating their performance in Beijing, there’s no reason why any of the team members can’t do incredibly well.
"It’s an individual sport and all of the folks have a chance on that day to do well,” said Johnson.
The U.S. Shooting team trains at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, but comes into the international games at a competitive disadvantage. Most of the veteran shooters for the United States have to sustain themselves with an outside job. Other countries have actually created state funded positions to concentrate purely on athletic training and competition.
The U.S. Army has offers programs that many of the U.S. shooters, including Anti, take advantage of for preparing for Olympic competition. However, the Army regimen is more than just constant training. Those in the Army marksmanship program not only hone their own shooting skills, but also are charged with a mission of developing training programs and techniques that transition to better marksmen on the battlefield.
As for his alma mater, Johnson admits WVU’s Rifle Program has been enduring a rough patch. The low point came a few years ago when the program was cut. However, Johnson says the trend is moving back toward the days when WVU was a perennial powerhouse.
"One reason I went there was because of the commitment of the school, commitment of the athletic department, and academic opportunities,” said Johnson. "Now that’s back in place and I think you’re going to see the top athletes starting to go there (again)."