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On his outlook for the team and bouncing back after a weird 2020-21 season
"I think it is definitely going to be nice shooting and competing in both semesters and getting back to some type of normal season schedule. I suppose half of our team has not experienced that with being sophomores and freshmen, but I think for myself and (assistant coach) Soren (Butler), getting that normality back and being able to do the things we want to do as coaches. Being able to get them that match experience that they really need to have to compete for a national championship at the end of the year. We are excited to get things moving. It feels like the weeks are going pretty fast, and before long, we are going to have our first match of the season, (our) first road trip. I am just excited to see how the team starts competing not only in matches but also with themselves and each other."
On what the break between fall and spring does for the team
"I think it's a good mental break. It is almost a little bit longer sometimes, because we don't have a college match after Thanksgiving break, and it's such a short amount of time to come back as students to finish class. Those couple weeks are important for us to still do some good training and work on some things, but I think three weeks over Christmas is often, at the end of a long fall semester, 100% needed. They need it for the mental break more than anything. They need a break from school and even a little bit of the physical break. It's normally a positive thing, and if they have done the right training and enough of it, the muscle memory comes back pretty quick once we start the spring. I think the timings are important, such as when we have a match afterwards, and when we come back, how much training we do. Ultimately, a few days here or there aren't going to make a huge difference eight weeks later when you get to the NCAA Championships. I think, for us, we're not swimming where you need to maintain that physical repetition, and we can take that mental break and it be a good thing."
On the 2021-22 roster
"I think it looks good. I think, like last year, it's one of our strongest rosters, 1-10, that we have had in a long time. Of the nine returners, eight of them were All-Americans last year, which is pretty impressive. I think that we had conference honors for the other. Now, (freshman) Natalie (Perrin) comes in as one of the top juniors in the country right now and is a U.S. futures team member. In a couple weeks, she is going to Peru to compete at the World Junior's Championships. She is going to add some more strengths and depth to the squad as well. I think we are excited for that and excited to see who out of the 10 raises their game and is able to take more strides forward in their performances from this year to last year."
On the 2021-22 schedule
"I think it's good. We've got some exciting road trips, and that's one thing we missed last year. I think when you don't get to travel with the team, not just competing, but especially the road trips, they build those extra bonds and have those experiences. We are excited for that first trip right out of the gate competing against Ole Miss who, obviously, beat us last year at NCAA's and has a very competitive team, so that's going to be fun. A doubleheader on the road, initially. We are going down to NC State, which we have not been to for a long time. Another new venue over in Indiana to meet TCU at a neutral venue. (We have) some good home matches in there as well. I wouldn't say it's overly busy. It's a typical fall schedule for us. A couple doubleheader weekend which presents an extra challenge to the team members just in the endurance of shooting the matches back-to-back. We want to challenge them, ultimately. So, for myself and Soren, I think it's a good-looking schedule where we have a couple doubleheaders that are going to challenge them. Our first match right out of the gate is against a top-10 (opponent), and near the end of the fall semester, again one of the other top teams in the country in TCU and meeting them at a neutral venue, but also a new venue to all of our team members. Giving them new places to compete is important and competing against top teams is important. I think it's going to challenge them, and that is going to put us in a good position for the spring."
On his outlook for the 2021-22 postseason, including the GARC and NCAA Championships
"We have a couple more home matches in the spring, which will be nice, including the NCAA qualifiers with, still, road trips in there. Having a conference championship in-person will be great again. Again, half of our team has not experienced that, so I think that will be valuable experience for them leading into the NCAA Championships. (We have) a good handle of conference matches in the spring as well. Then, we will finish it up with NCAA Championships in a new venue right now."
On what he is looking for from this team this year
"We want to see them work hard. We want to just see growth, growth as individuals, as students, and obviously, as athletes as well. Like you said, our want is always to win National Championships, like everyone wants to do that. We are not in control of that. What we really want to see, and just our goals for them, are to improve throughout the year, to work hard individually and to work hard as a group. We want to create and maintain a very positive and hard-working culture that we feel is what West Virginia rifle represents. Every year is a new group. This year, we've only lost one, and we've only added one, so the majority of personnel is the same, but the dynamic always changes a little bit. I think those pillars of hard work and support and them just striving to be the best versions of themselves is what we want to see."
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September 27, 2021 at 09:18PM
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Hammond Looking for Consistency and Growth in 2021-22 - West Virginia University Athletics - WVU Athletics
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