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Clarke's Achievements
24th place – Jr. World Championships, Lilleshall England (highest of the
recurve team)
4th – 2004 Cadet division, United States Overall Ranking
2004 Jr. World Team, Cadet division, male recurve
4th place – 2004 Jr. World Team Trials
1st place - 2004 Western Region Champion (Cadet division)
3rd place - 2004 Indoor Nationals, JOAD
6th - 2004 Indoor Nationals, NAA
1st - April 2004 California South Coast Spring Classic
3rd place – 2004 Elimination round South Coast Spring Classic
1st - 2004 Utah Indoor Champion, JOAD
1st - 2004 Utah Indoor Champion, NAA
1st – 2004 Utah Outdoor JOAD Champion
1st – 2004 Utah Outdoor NAA Champion
2nd – 2004 Utah Outdoor elimination round
2nd place - February 2004 Las Vegas World Festival
1st - December 2003 Utah Open FITA
July 2004 Gold Olympian in JOAD Outdoor
Oct 2003 - Gold Olympian in JOAD Indoor
1st – 2003 Utah State Champion, Outdoor, Cub division
Holds Utah Outdoor Recurve Record (Cub division)
2nd place – 2002 Utah Open Cub division – 1st FITA tournament – had been
shooting for 7 months
17th place – 2003 JOAD Nationals – 1st national tournament- had been
shooting for 1 year
About Clarke
Our love of archery started on Clarke’s 13th birthday, 1 April 2002. We
took him to pick out a bow, though we had no idea what we were getting
into. We thought Clarke would enjoy archery. Salt Lake Archery sold us
Clarke’s birthday present, a Bullseye, chosen purely on the basis of it
looked better than a compound. We didn’t know the difference! That day,
Clarke took his first lesson from Larry Smith, and we believe it was the
best birthday gift he ever received.
For a year, we made the 3 hour round trip drive to Salt Lake once, twice,
sometimes, three times a week so all three of our sons could take lessons.
In a very short amount of time, all three boys owned a recurve bow--- and
we were hooked.
Clarke, along with his brothers, Dakota and Barrett, practiced regularly,
especially when they decided they wanted to compete. Their first
competition was the Utah Open, 8 months after they first started archery.
Clarke finished 2nd in his division in 2002, which to him meant he needed
more practice. A few months later, he competed in his first national
tournament, 2003 JOAD Indoor Nationals, where he finished 17th, and he was
determined that he would place much higher in 2004.
With sheer determination and a lot of practice, Clarke finished 3rd in
JOAD Indoor Nationals in 2004, and 6th in NAA Indoor Nationals. Not quite
2 years from his first lesson, he participated in the Jr. World Outdoor
Team trials and made the team! He represented the U.S. in England. He
finished the highest of the Cadet Recurve team, 24th in the world. His
overall U.S. ranking in 2004 was 4th.
Clarke’s intenseness was one of the things we most admired about him. When
he decided to do something, he worked very hard. He had high standards for
himself and he expected to achieve his goals. He had plans to try out for
the Jr. World Indoor team in 2005 and compete in Denmark. He was working
on training plans the day before he died in September 2004.
Clarke was a very quiet and reserved person outside of our home. He was
extremely observant and found funny things in the nuances of life. His
observations of people’s behavior and words provided a lot of
entertainment for our family.
Clarke was the funny man in our house. He loved movies, and he loved
imitating voices. He took a few drama classes at the Utah Alliance for the
Arts in Logan, Utah. When he had a chance to tryout for a play, he earned
a small part in 2003 in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” as one of the
shepherds. He had a lot of fun.
The long round trip drives to Salt Lake Archery multiple times a week
meant we needed entertainment. We often did movie line quotes, where one
person would quote a line from a movie and everyone had to guess which
movie it was from. Clarke loved the game, and was always trying to get it
started.
His long-term goals were admirable. He loved lawyer jokes, and he decided
to be a lawyer. We would banter back and forth as to ‘what type’ of
lawyer, with him telling me he wanted to be a rich one, and me telling him
I wasn’t paying for him to go to law school and be an ‘ambulance chaser.’
It was a long running joke between us. One day, I found him downloading
page after page from the internet. He was 14, and had found a sample test
for entering law school. It was more than 750 questions and he spent all
day taking the test. Never mind, he hadn’t studied for it, never mind he
had no clue what was on this entrance exam, he figured he could succeed.
After several hours he came in to my room and sadly announced, ‘I failed
the test.’ I said, “Clarke! You are only 14, you have to study for this
type of test, and I promise that by the time you need to take it, you will
be ready. By the way, how many did you get right?” I laughed out loud with
his reply of ‘only 175.’ 175 right answers to the entrance exam for law
school – never studied, age 14. I told him how amazing he was, and how
high he held his standards. I continue to laugh when I think of that day
and our conversation. And I find myself smiling, a rare event these days,
when I think of his lawyer jokes that he loved to tell.
His other long-term goal was to make the 2008 U.S. Olympic Archery team.
He used to talk about how he would act when he won his gold medal. He
would tease his brother Dakota that he could make the team with him, but
Dakota would have to settle for the silver medal because he wasn’t giving
up the gold for anyone. I always believed that we would someday see Clarke
on a U.S. Olympic Archery Team. He believed in it 100% and he left no
doubt that he would achieve his goal.
On September 7, 2005, Clarke spent his day doing the things he loved. He
hung out with his brother Dakota doing ‘guy’ things, and then went out to
coach his younger brother Barrett. As I sat on the porch watching the two
of them, the pride Clarke had in helping Barrett in archery was obvious.
As they walked down towards the 30 meter target to retrieve Barrett’s
arrows, his arm draped around his little brother, Clarke shouted up to me,
‘Mom! He shot a 57!” and he rubbed Barrett’s head in pride. It is a moment
I will always remember.
Later that evening, Clarke was out getting his own practice done, with his
dad watching him shoot. He was shooting 30m on a 40cm target. This was
something he commonly did. He liked to shoot smaller targets to help
improve his focus. One of his favorite targets was a 20cm target he had
found at a local archery range. He carried it in his quiver to remind him
that he had Olympic dreams, and he would shoot at the target before
tournaments. In Las Vegas 2003, he was told he had to practice on a 40cm
target like everyone else, much to his dismay. That night, as he stood out
with his dad practicing, I watched from the house and smiled to myself.
Our lives were perfect. Our kids were excelling at something they loved.
They put in the practice and hard work required to be top archers.
At 8:33 a.m. the following day, Clarke was wounded in a gun accident.
Unfortunately, our funny, happy 15-year-old son died in my arms as I
waited for the ambulance to try to help us.
The loss of a son is the most powerful loss to suffer. Most people cannot
imagine the heartbreak, but we know it too well. Our family has struggled
to live without Clarke. It is not an easy task. He was the center cog of
our wheel. He was my friend and traveling buddy. He was Dakota’s shooting
partner and best friend. He was coaching Barrett and regularly laid on the
floor watching Barrett play Legos just to keep him company, loathing every
minute of it, but doing it because he didn’t want Barrett to be alone. He
loved his dad and waited daily for ‘Bobert’ as he’d nicknamed him, to come
home. Upon Bob’s arrival, you could always hear Clarke yell, “Bobert!
You’re home!” It is a noise we miss desperately. It is a laughter and
voice that cannot be replaced. It is a young man with incredible integrity
that made us admire him greatly.
Clarke was a true sportsman. His ethics and values were very high and I am
proud to be his mother. It is with great sadness, but great honor that we
have formed the Clarke Sinclair Memorial Archery Scholarship.
In Honor of Clarke,
Lorretta Sinclair
President
Two Ninety: A Milestone By Clarke Sinclair
I recently shot my 290 Olympian score for JOAD. I am fourteen. I have been
shooting a year and a half, receiving my first bow on my 13th birthday. It
was the most difficult achievement to make, counting the leap from 200 to
250. I spent a fairly long time in between the 260 and the 270 scores.
That seemed to last forever. At that time, I was shooting an older td4
Gold Medallist riser built by Hoyt. It was a fairly decent bow, extremely
forgiving and well built.
My current riser is Martin Archerys’ Aurora designed by my coach Mike
Gerard and several times Olympian Ed Eliason. The Aurora riser has a
unique limb alignment system that as far as I know is not used on any
other recurve bow. It is a medium sized cylindrical knob that has a screw
holding it down, and when you loosen the screw, the knob will revolve
around and re-align the limbs. The Aurora has a threaded hole directly
underneath the grip where you can put a damper, which I have done. It
reduces vibrations quite a bit.
Learning about tuning has been very important. When I got my Aurora riser,
immediately after Mike and I tuned it, I started shooting in the upper
280s and the lower 290s. After a few weeks, I decided to try for my 290
Olympian achievement at the Datus JOAD club up in Salt Lake City. I
decided that I would shoot on a 40-centimeter target for my achievement,
even though as a Cub I normally shoot a 60 cm face. I scored one round and
I finished with a 277, three points off. (For a 40 cm target you only need
a 280 score.) It wasn't that disappointing because the very next day a
different club in the same area which only shot for achievements twice a
month would be shooting, so I could try again. I arrived late due to heavy
traffic on the 2-hour drive down to Salt Lake. I had to hurry in putting
my equipment together which detracted massively from my first score. So
once again, I shot for my Olympian score, this time on a 60 centimeter
face. I would be able to shoot two rounds.
On the second round, second to last end, I was on my last arrow. Two tens
were already in the target. It looked like a 292. I drew back and lined my
sight pin up with the X. Everything was perfect. I looked down at my
clicker as always. All I had to do was pull a little tiny bit and it would
click, I would release, and it would hit the X. Everything was still
perfect when my fingers slipped on the string, and the arrow shot off
without the clicker ‘clicking’. I watched the arrow spiral towards the
blue. It hit the five, almost four ring, with a fairly final sounding
thwap. That hurt. Curious about the other ends? Not one to let a
catastrophe affect my shooting, I shot an 'incredible' 27 and a 28. It was
disappointing to say the least. My two scores were: 282 and a 285. I was
going to have to wait until the next achievement day.
The next week rolled around and once again I found myself at the Datus
Archery club, this time a half an hour early to ensure that all my stuff
was perfect. My dad noticed that my arrows were porpoising badly on most
of my warm-up shots. On a close inspection of my string, my coach saw that
my thread nock had slipped. After he repaired it for me, I was ready to
shoot.
The first nine ends were good. I got one 28 and that was quickly fixed by
two 30s. On the last end, it looked like I would get it with one point to
spare. On the first arrow I pulled back to full draw, looked at my
clicker, saw it was in place, and I lined up my sight with the X.
Everything was perfect. I released smoothly, and watched it strike - the
eight. I rolled my eyes. Another failed attempt, I thought. I nocked
another arrow and pulled back. I released and it looked like a nine. I
pulled back the third arrow and released it. It hit the X.
I walked over to my dad who was looking through binoculars to see how my
brothers and I were shooting, {I avoided my mother who upon seeing the
eight was close to hysterics} and asked what I had gotten. His reply was
"28". Just then, the whistle blew and I started walking down to the target
wondering if it really was a 28, the nine really being a 10. It was! Some
of the other archers I was friends with had almost been holding their
breath while I was shooting, and were trying to see the expression on my
face. Finally, when my older brother Dakota called what I had shot, I
totaled it up and it came to the grand total of: 290 on the button.
My mom called down range, "Did you get it?” I yelled back, "Yes!" The
result was the people who knew I was shooting for my Olympian started
cheering. There were several younger kids saying, "What happened daddy?” I
could not keep a grin from appearing on my face. Mike pulled me in front
of everyone there and declared, "Just now Clarke Sinclair shot his
Olympian score making him the second archer to shoot it at the Datus
range." I was grinning like a fool. Though the main feeling I had was
relief, I was still happy. The next large tournament I am going to is the
Utah Open at Salt Lake Archery. Next achievement: 295. You can always
shoot better.
2004 Jr. World Team, Lilleshall England By
Clarke Sinclair
When I made the Jr. World Archery Team as a member of the cadet recurve
team, I was very excited to have achieved the goal that I had set for
myself. I practiced 6 days a week for many weeks and I really looked
forward to the opportunity to compete internationally.
England was fun though I didn’t get to go out and shop or even tourist
around because of our shooting schedule. It was fun getting to meet people
from all over the world. I ended up spending a lot of time with the
Canadian team, as well as meeting archers from Guatemala, South Africa,
and Australia!
The food over there was nasty though. It seemed that British people like
their food either floating in something or congealing in fat and grease.
They served lamb, fish, and cheese and onion sandwiches for meals. I was
really happy that my mom packed a full suitcase of American food for me. I
lived off of beef jerky, Chex mix, and cookies.
The recurve competition for both Juniors and Cadets was very tough. There
were more than twice as many recurve archers as there were compound
archers. There were a total of 402 competitors, and 269 were recurve
archers. There were teams from 43 countries representing archery.
We arrived on Sunday morning and I had jet lag pretty bad. I slept a lot
the first few days. Official practice was Monday afternoon, and then
scoring began on Tuesday. We shot 70m and 60m on Tuesday, with 50m and 30m
on Wed. Thursday and Friday were the elimination rounds.
The first day, there was a lot of wind and it was much like shooting in
Utah. It was very difficult and I had a hard time at 60 and 70 meters. The
next day, my mom and I talked about how hard I had trained and that I knew
how to execute a shot and she told me to go out and shoot my way. I shot
my average at both 50m and 30m on Wednesday. In the elimination round, my
first match was against an archer from Croatia. I won that match and then
competed with the #2 ranked archer. I finished 24th out of 63 competitors
and was the highest ranked of the Cadet male recurve team.
It was a great experience and I hope to make other Jr. World teams in the
future. I will pack more beef jerky and Chex mix.
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