2008 Archery Olympic Hopeful Seeks Sponsorship for Next 4 Years
Even before the torch is lit 6 days from now in Athens,
Joy Fahrenkrog’s quest to make the 2008 US Olympic Archery Team has begun. Like many Olympic Hopefuls, Fahrenkrog’s
success will only come after much dedicated time and effort to training. That type of success costs money, money comes
with a job. The catch is obvious, work full time to cover training expenses and the preparation for the next Olympic
Games will suffer, train full-time to make the team with no job and go into serious debt.
“What comes next is the most critical
for me,” Fahrenkrog says, “If I can find a company or group of companies that would be willing to sponsor me over
the next 4 years it would make my chances of making the Beijing Olympic Team extremely promising, not to mention helping the
dream of becoming an Olympic Medalist even more of a reality.”
Few will dispute that Fahrenkrog has
demonstrated serious potential to make it all the way. Having just picked up a recurve bow less than 2 years ago, she
had 4 top 5 American finishes in 2004. She placed an incredible 6th at the Olympic Trials missing the team
by a mere 45 points. According to the Rolling Ranking maintained by the National Archery Association, Fahrenkrog has
improved her 2003 ranking from 61st in the country to her current 2004 ranking of 6th. Her year
was good enough to put her on the 2005 US Archery Team.
Fahrenkrog isn’t just asking for
free hand outs of money however – she understands that everything comes at a cost. “Whatever company or
companies pick me up, I want them to get something back for sponsoring me.” In return for sponsorship Fahrenkrog
is willing to work with the companies to establish the best way to make her sponsorship benefit each company.
The estimated cost of Fahrenkrog’s
training comes out to around $25,000 a year, this figure does not include living expenses which could range from $15,000-$20,000
depending on where she is located for training. “It would be awesome if one major company would step up and say
‘Here is $200,000 for the next four years’ but I worked in the stock market for two years and I know that isn’t
how it works in today’s economy.” That is why she is also looking for a group of 4-5 companies to team up
and sponsor her with $9000-$11,250 annual contracts each, a percentage of which could be contingent on performance.
Although she knows it will be challenging,
Fahrenkrog is optimistic and feels that her novice status in the sport will work to her benefit. “It is rare that
companies get an opportunity to sponsor an athlete as they are coming up the ranks, how incredible would it be if, in 4 years,
I was on the Olympic team and the companies that sponsored me knew I couldn’t have done it without them? It is
an amazing story with a potential fairy tale ending.”
Having just finished the National Championships
in Pennsylvania last week, Fahrenkrog will start preparing
for the 2005 Archery Season when she gets back from the Olympics where she will be rooting for her boyfriend Vic Wunderle.
Her first tournament will be the Face 2 Face tournament in Amsterdam,
Netherlands, an event which is likely to air on Dutch Television
and possibly on Eurosport. Most recently she took part in the NBC production “Making the Team” which aired
on USA Network featuring Athens Olympic hopefuls. During
the Olympics, she will be interviewed by Woody Paige on the ESPN morning show Cold Pizza. If you are interested in helping
Joy get to Beijing you can contact her by phone at 309-303-5650
or by email at aim4athens@yahoo.com. She accepts personal sponsorship on her website www.aim4athens.com as well.
