Brian Halligan: National Team Camp 1

I have been attending biathlon camps at the U.S. Olympic Training Center (OTC) in Lake Placid, New York for many years now, but this one was different. I had always been there training in the shadow of the National Team but this time I was there training with the National Team.

When I first arrived I met the new USBA shooting coach Jonas Johansson, and met up with some friends like Sean Doherty and Susan Dunklee.

Our first workout was some L4 race pace intervals at the new roller loop behind the Ski Jumps. Due to the Time Trial we had in Fort Kent only two days earlier I felt gassed and unable to go fast.

That afternoon I was able to meet With Jonas in the SCATT room to work on shooting. (SCATT is a program that allows you to see where you’re aiming on the target via a laser that is attached to the end of the rifle.) After a Solid two hours of working on getting in and out of position and shooting at paper, Jonas and I were able to come up with some good thing to work on while shooting, and keys to think about.

Some other “adventures” that happened during the camp was a Hike up Big Crow, Little Crow and Hurricane mountains. Unfortunately it was foggy and rainy that day so there was no view (literally couldn’t see 10 feet)

There was a Rhythmic Gymnastics event at the OTC this Weekend so there were about 250 15 year old Girls at the OTC this week. After talking to a small group of them (just trying to be friendly) there was constant “HI BRIAN!!” whenever I walked in the hallway, entered the cafeteria or strolled through the lobby. I did find some time to watch a little of the competition. I wasn’t sure how the scoring worked, or what was going on at all really. But some of the routines were pretty impressive.

Overall I would say the camp was a success. It was good to meet my new coaches and teammates, also to see how typical National Team training sessions go. I look to bring this professionalism back to FK and use it in my everyday training.

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Also I added some pictures of my newly finished stock! (I know some of you have been asking for pictures)