`White sights on gold`

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HERMITAGE ATHLETE HEADS ARCHERY TEAM

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Rodney is only 3rd local ever to qualify for games

By Ed Farrell
Herald Sports Writer

OK, so you're Rodney White, 1996 United States Olympic Archery Team member, one of the country's three best male archers, and one of only three Mercer County area athletes ever to compete in the Olympiad. Life must be pretty glamorous, right?

``Not really ... it's more of a relief now that the Trials are over,'' White recently related.

Rodney White takes aim during a recent shoot at the Gold 'N Grain range in Jefferson Township. (David E. Dale/Herald)

With the pressure-packed Trials in Stone Mountain, Ga., San Diego and Texas behind him, White, in the weeks leading up to the Atlanta Games, had more mundane concerns. On a recent visit to the Gold 'n Grain Archery Club, a casual observer would not realize that White soon would be representing his country in the world's archery competition July 28-Aug. 4.

Like most 19-year olds, the Hermitage native was functioning on a slightly relaxed schedule. Prior to arriving at Gold 'n Grain for the recent Eastern Archery Association championships, White paused for a mid-morning stop for his personal breakfast of champions: Burger King. Upon arriving at the range there was little, if any, fanfare, and in between bites, White apologized to a visitor for his tardiness.

``He still forgets things and runs late and all that stuff ... typical,'' chuckled Gold 'n Grain's Dave McCullough. ``But he can shoot arrows in the middle.''

Then while trying to conduct his pre-competition stretching exercises, a conversation was interrupted by a mild dilemma: White had to ante up for his girlfriend's E.A.A. tourney entry fee.

Qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team, in any discipline, would be almost suffocatingly stressful, but White, bound for the University of Arizona this January, seemingly has reconciled that.

``I've just gone through other tournaments (three years of world-class competition in venues such as France, Turkey, Italy, Indonesia) and learned to shoot with that pressure; that's pretty much it ... you can't really fight it.

``Actually, I'm more or less relaxed since I made the team; there's a lot of work in making the team,'' he related, adding,

``It'll probably just hit me when I walk up to the line out there (in Atlanta), I guess, because, usually, I don't get nervous until I get right into a tournament and it actually starts.''

The relatively relaxed change of pace his life took since he landed his Olympic team berth this past spring stood in stark contrast to the pressure of qualifying for the team.

``I was staying in San Diego for a few months at one of my best friends (Olympics teammate Butch Johnson). I'd be sleeping in the top bunk and he'd be in the bottom bunk, and it'd be like, you'd wake up in the middle of the night and I'd say, `Butch, wake up!' and we'd start talking about it, like, `What if we don't make it,' and `How many things can go wrong' and everything else.''

But White grew accustomed to facing _ and overcoming _ pressure, gradually gleaning enough poise during qualifying events to win the Championship of The Americas in Mexico. During his three years of world-class competition he established three world records: scoring 175 of a possible 180 in an 18-arrow Olympic round; scoring 113 of a possible 120 in the 12-arrow Olympic mark for juniors, and as part of the record-setting '95 men's Olympics bow team.

It's somewhat ironic that he would be representing his country in the Olympics at such a tender age when he started shooting simply because `` ... I guess I just wanted to get ready for bowhunting. My dad (Dick) started me out, and the more I shot and the more competition I started facing, I just wanted to keep shooting better. It (his source of motivation) was, more or less, about just shooting better, not as much about making the (Olympic) team. But I guess I always thought about the Games in the back of my mind.''

Rodney White was nailing bull's eyes at an early age (Herald file photo)

``We started teaching him over at the Western Reserve when he was about 10, and he used to come to this place and he just about lived here,'' recalled Dave McCullough, whose parents, Charlene and Speed, own Gold 'n Grain. ``He had the desire, which very few people have _ the desire,'' McCullough said in praise of White.

Following the E.A.A. event, White headed for Aurora, Ind. to conduct intensive workouts with his coach, Tim Strickland, `` ... shooting five to eight hours every day and running every other day, and all that stuff.''

White met Strickland ``two or three years ago, when I made my first Junior World (Olympics Festival) team. He was the coach and he worked with me. I was shooting, like, 1230's, and by the time he got done working with me ... I'm shooting 1330, 1340.'' He also shot a 1,344 FITA 144-arrow round, unofficially, the country's best.

But the degree to which he's improved and whether or not it will be good enough on the world stage caused White to wax philosophic.

``I think I'm shooting a little better than I was a year ago,'' he mused, before his thoughts turned to the Games.

``I think my best shot's with the team round, so I'm a little more excited about that than anything individually.

``Just shoot my arrows ... walk out onto the floor and shoot my arrows,'' he replied when asked about harnessing his emotions at the moment of truth. ``You only shoot 12 rounds. You train, shooting thousands and thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of arrows, and it all comes down to 12 arrows, so ... you never know.

``There's a lot of luck involved. ... I'm not really worried about it, I'm just gonna try to shoot my best and if I do good, I do good; if I don't, I don't.''

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Updated July 18, 1996