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Class
of 2008
Coach, Educator
At the age of
10, Julia Heagey
Body shot her first arrow and that is when her love
affair with archery began. It has carried her through every phase of archery.
But her personal focus and affection has always been on
coaching, teaching, and instructing and that is how she earned
her induction into the Archery Hall of Fame.
Her early love of the sport carried her into competitive archery
where she also excelled
One of her first mentors was Hall of Fame inductee Clayton B. Shenk
(class of 1973) . He became her long term guiding light,
first instructing her and then asked for her instructing skills
for others. She readily complied.
Shenk
dedicated many years working to get archery back into
the Olympic Games. One of the requirements was NCAA recognition
of archery as a competitive sport. Recognition began with
training and certifying college level coaches and instructors
and that was what Shenk asked Julia to do, and do it she has for
more than half a century.
In 1968 she taught the first NAA Instructor’s School at Stone Valley, in the continuing Ed Department
of Penn State University. She had 40 students for the first
accredited course given, but there were hundreds to follow. She
not only taught the initial course, she constructed the
curriculum, exhibiting more of her many talents. That curriculum
was carried forward to other universities, used by her students
to further certify other coaches. The program mushroomed from
her beginnings.
NAA Instructor Schools: 1968-1974 Julia coordinated the start up
of annual National Archery Association certification schools at
Stone
Valley, an outlying campus of Penn State
University, State College, PA.
The accredited course led to hundreds of qualified instructors and
coaches at major colleges and universities across the country.
It also led to the creation of the National Archery
Association’s instructors manual in 1976 which has been
reprinted in 8 languages, and continues in use today. Julia was
co-author of the NAA instructor’s manual.
Her start up work and continuous involvement has led to 75
levels 1, 2, 3 and 4 instructor courses involving more than
1,000 coaches. She taught instructor courses at major
institutions including Penn
State
University,
University of
Texas,
Duke
University,
University of
Miami,
University of
Maine,
University of Hawaii, James Madison University,
Oklahoma University and numerous smaller schools.
Julia was invited to teach instructor courses in
South Africa in 1976 and Yugoslavia in 1992. From 1999-2006
she taught level 3 and 4 instructor courses at the Olympic
training center in Lake Placid.
She also taught courses at the Olympic Training Centers in
Squaw Valley,
Colorado Springs and Chula Vista, California.
In 2005 she participated in the FITA world Coaching seminar in Busan,
Korea.
Julia is currently a NAA Level 5 coach and instructor, the
highest attainable level. In 1988 she was awarded college coach
of the year honors while coaching archery at
Millersville
University.
Notes of
Interest:
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Coached the
U.S.
Wheelchair Team at the Pan Am Wheelchair Games, Puerto Rico;
Coached the 1987
U.S. Wheelchair Team in
Paris,
France
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Coached Over 5,500 Archers. Many Became National and
International Champions
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11-Time State Champion, 8 Eastern Archery Association
Championship Titles; 6-Time National Champion, Plus Hundreds
of Lower Level Victories
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1974-1976 Member NAA
U.S.
Olympic Archery Sport Committee Which Planned the Team
Trials and Chose the Olympic Coach; 1984 Volunteer Scorer,
Olympic Games,
Los Angeles; 1996 Volunteer
Media Coordinator at the Olympic Games in
Atlanta; Marshal at the 2000 Olympic Games in
Sydney,
Australia
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