Archery Ontario is pleased to announce the renewal of the Ontario Athlete Assistance Program funding for 2023-2024. March 1st, 2023

The Ontario Athlete Assistance Program (OAAP-Q4G) provides support to Ontario’s amateur high-performance athletes. There are two distinct streams of funding: direct funding for athletes (i.e., ‘Carding’ an Ontario Athlete) and funding programs (i.e., training camps, recruitment activities and/or events) that develop athletes. For the April 1st, 2023, to March 31st, 2024, funding cycle, Archery Ontario will be delivering on both streams of funding.

Specific objectives of the program:

  • To help athletes continue their pursuit of athletic excellence at the highest levels of national and international competition;
  • To encourage athletes to stay in Ontario to live and train;
  • To compensate athletes for earnings lost while training;
  • To enable athletes to successfully pursue excellence in sport while fulfilling their educational goals;
  • To increase athlete access to improved high-performance coaching; and
  • To enhance training and competitive opportunities available to athletes.

Intent

The intent of the OAAP is to provide funding to individual athletes in the sport’s Train to Train through Train to Win categories based on their demonstrated commitment to high performance sport, allowing them to continue to pursue athletic excellence at the highest levels of national and international competition. Only those athletes that meet the required minimum performance standard detailed in this Selection Criteria (more information below) will be considered for this program.

Ideally an athlete will first receive a Quest for Gold “Ontario Card” for 1 to 3 years, which will allow them to train towards the goal of a national team position in subsequent years.

Once an Ontario athlete reaches the national level and becomes a recipient of Sport Canada’s carding program, they become eligible for the Quest for Gold “Canada Card”. Athletes who are not planning to train towards this level of competition should not participate in this program.

Selection Criteria for 2023-2024

Emerging from COVID, Archery Ontario is looking to recruit archers in various age groups and offer opportunities to develop and train the next generation of athletes. Therefore, AO wishes to shine the light on 3 important areas for consideration with respect to the OAAP-Q4G.

The first is related to age groups. Archery Ontario, is looking to card athletes in age ranges from 14 to 21 thereby following same/similar practises as other PSOs, like Ontario Athletics, Badminton, Cycling, Soccer, etc. For example…
Group 1 (14-18/U18)
Group 2 (19+/U21)
Group 3 (21+/Senior)

The second is related to distribution. For example, last year was impacted by special Covid-related circumstances which offered a limited no. of qualifying events and restrictions for travel, which resulted in an extraordinary situation whereas 4 athletes over 22 were carded, way beyond the recommended ideal of 1-3 years. The good news is that these senior athletes have all been recruited by Archery Canada to be members of the Archery Canada National Compound Squad. We are proud of these athletes and their accomplishments, and we wish them well. However, this leaves Archery Ontario in a deficit position and needing to rebuild by recruiting next generation athletes. Therefore, the carding process is being re-adjusted by seeking the following…

  • Balance of Male and Female
  • Balance of Recurve and Compound
  • Mix of ABA and AWAD/PARA Athletes
  • Revised Distribution of cards, with a focus on Next Generation Archers

The third is related to qualifying events. All archers/athletes considered for carding competed in 2 major events: the Canadian National Target Championships in PEI (July 2022), as well as the Ontario Target Championships (June 2022). In some instances, recurve archers attended the Canada Cup East, held in Quebec (June 2022) following the advice of their coaches and so, their scores from the CCE were considered for carding, in lieu of the Ontario Target Championships. Archers/Athletes needed to be within 100 points of top score in their age group.

This year, a total of 8 cards are available, ideally with a more balanced distribution. Whereas Para Athletes are unavailable, or if an athlete declines, the card is reassigned to the next available candidate and/or re-distributed among the group of recipients and/or reinvested in the program portion of the funding for the training camp. The decisions made are the sole discretion of The Selection Committee. Members, included:

  • Kylah Cawley & Shawn Riggs (Archery Canada)
  • Renee Brouillette, Tim Watts, Kevin Stroud (Archery Ontario)
  • Oversight by Rob Piette, President of Archery Ontario

Athlete Selection – Documents 

Archery Ontario would like to thank ALL the athletes who have participated in the OAAP – Q4G Program. Many athletes have benefitted from the program over time and there is great pride for athletes, coaches, judges, families, communities, and organizations to represent Ontario and/or Canada and/or both in competition whether at home or abroad. Good wishes are extended to the athletes in the upcoming Outdoor Season! Best regards,
The Selection Committee, The Board of Directors for Archery Ontario

*Carding and Programs for Athletes were made possible by funding from Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Ontario
Questions should be directed to AO Administration via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. who will share with The Selection Committee.