Frederick outlines detailed plans for archers

With the target of winning at least a medal in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo under the slogan “Teer Go for Gold,” the Bangladesh Archery Federation (BAF) yesterday appointed German coach Martin Frederick for five years.

The 50-year-old coach, who had a six-year stint in Chili till 2017, had come to Bangladesh in December last year to talk with the  BAF officials for the agreement and to check out the infrastructure and facilities of Bangladesh archery as well as the standard of Bangladeshi archers. The high-profile coach has happily taken over the responsibility with the challenge of delivering something good in the near future.

“I am happy to be here and am looking forward to doing good work with the federation and archers. I came here last December for one week and could see hard-working archers, motivated coaches and an enthusiastic federation and sponsors. I said, 'Wow, here something is possible to do' and I accepted the challenge,” Frederick said during his introduction and contract signing ceremony at the BOA auditorium yesterday.

Even before putting pen on paper, Frederick started his activities after arriving here last week. Yesterday he presented his plans -- long term, midterm and short term -- as well as a domestic calendar and international events which the archers will participate in 2018, before the media.

Frederick's long-term goals include seeing Bangladesh in a stable position among the top teams in Asia while his midterm plans include an improvement in world rankings and success at international events. The short-term plans will be to upgrade training process, promotion of talented archers, transfer of knowledge among the coaches, improvement and stabilisation of performance, running coaches' courses, efficient planning, strategy and effective team work.

Apart from local competitions, Frederick wants to judge archers at international events such as the South Asian Archery Championship, Asian Grand Prix, Asian Games, ISSF Islamic Solidarity tournament, World Cup and Youth Olympics this year before working out plans and strategies for the next years.

“I have come here to achieve something for Bangladesh but it is not possible within one year. I want to see young archers, who need to be promoted for next Olympics as part of future development plan," said Frederick.  

“I think archers in Bangladesh have potential to shine at international level because infrastructure and facilities here are good and archers are young. The federation and sponsors are enthusiastic about working together, so something is possible to achieve but not within a short period of time,” said the German.

Frederick worked in the Berlin Olympic center, German Shooting and Archery Federation and Chilean Archery Federation as coach. Under his guidance, German and Chilean archers won medals in different international junior and senior competitions. He last guided 16-year-old Ricardo Soto of Chile to a top 10-finish in his debut appearance in the Rio Olympics in 2016.   

Under the agreement with BAF, Frederick will get US 5000 dollars per month along with accommodation, transport and food. He will also be given 90 euros per month for his insurance and two return air tickets per year, informed Shoeb Md. Asaduzzaman, executive director, sales and marketing of sponsors City Group. BAF general secretary Razib Uddin Ahmed Chapal was also present at the programme.