(above) Valerie Wang, a junior at Watchung Hills Regional High School, has advanced to the third stage of the Olympic Trials.
WHRHS Junior Ranks 9th in Tokyo Olympics 2020
In September, Watchung Hills Regional High School junior Valerie Wang shot at a tournament in College Station, Texas and took one large step towards her goal: to represent the United States of America in Tokyo as a Recurve Archer.
Her journey started four years ago at a local archery range, where she trained casually year-round and enjoyed modest success. She struggled heavily in 2018, though, and found herself losing confidence in her abilities. The Wang family looked for a solution. Similar to the way golfers and tennis players have a coach to help develop their swing or stroke, archers have a coach to develop their shot and to overcome the intense mental battles inherent in the sport. Wang transitioned coaches and began training under Zach Garrett, a silver medalist at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Though the range she trains at is an hour away, she still finds the time to commute and practice there nearly every day.
This change and the hard work that ensued helped her trajectory take off. In May 2019, Wang won the Gator Cup in Newberry, FL, her first major victory at an outdoor tournament, where cadets, who are archers between the ages of 14 to 17, shoot at a 122cm target from 60 meters away. That weekend, 78 out of her 138 arrows were good enough to find the center of the target – the equivalent of hitting a volleyball positioned three-quarters of a football field away. In the one-on-one tournament-style elimination matches, she defeated five opponents, winning 32 set points and losing only 13, on her way to the top of the podium. She had her goal of making the United States Female Cadet Archery Team, a recognition given to the top five female cadet archers, solidly in her sights.
Later, in August 2019, she shot her first tournament in Ohio as a Senior, the archery term for archers over 21 years old. Now shooting at a target 70 meters away and facing both strong winds and higher level competitors, Wang finished in 13th place nationally. This put her in the running to make the Olympic Shadow Squad, which takes the top 16 athletes at the conclusion of the Olympic Trial Stage 2. At this point she had a difficult decision to make: maintain her Top 16 ranking for the Senior Olympic Trials or to defend her spot on the Cadet USAT.
When asked about her decision process, Wang said: “This choice was very difficult for me and took nearly a full month of intense deliberation before I could finally decide.” If she chose to continue to compete in the Trials, she was likely to lose her position on the Cadet USAT to one of the many girls vying for the spot she held. On the other hand, if she chose to forgo the trials, she would be giving up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Recognizing that dreams don’t become reality without sacrifices, Wang decided to compete in the Olympic Trials in the adult division.
Her decision was very much worth the risk; she was officially knocked out of contention to make the Cadet USAT but qualified for the Top 16 Women in the Trials. Currently, she is ranked 9th out of all competitors, which include a five-time Olympian (Bronze in 1992), athletes training full time at the Olympic Training Center (“OTC”), collegiate athletes, as well as four other high school student-athletes just like herself. Her goal is to qualify for one of the top three spots in order to make the Olympic Team. “I know that it will be extremely difficult for me, but I still want to put as much effort as I can into making the team,” Wang remarked.
The third stage of the Olympic Trials will be held in Chula Vista, California on April 8-11, 2020. She will need to advance at least one rank in order to join the top 8 athletes who will advance to the fourth and final stage in May 2020, where the Olympic team will be selected. She recognizes that many of her competitors are training full time at the OTC and will thus pursue more intensive training throughout 2020 in order to challenge them. “I want to serve as a role model for other young athletes across the country, even WHRHS, who wish to pursue their Olympic dreams.”
Photos by WHRHS
