Engineering the Perfect Season
November 18, 2010 02:48 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The demands on a student-athlete are daunting. Between juggling classes, practices, tests and training sessions, free time is a novel concept and an organized planner is a golden commodity.
West Virginia University senior Tommy Santelli is all too familiar with this crazy lifestyle. A five-time National Rifle Association (NRA) All-American on the 14-time national champion rifle team, the Prosperity, Pa., has spent the last four years splitting his hours between the WVU Rifle Range and the WVU College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. After a few years of practice, Santelli finally feels comfortable balancing his daily demands.
“It’s always challenging, but it’s actually going better than my sophomore and junior years,” he explained. “I’m getting better at managing my practice and school time. I’ve learned to separate the two, so when I get to the range for practice, my time is more efficient and I’m less stressed about school.
“It’s still quite challenging. I would say the amount of work has gone down a bit, but the work’s level of difficulty has gone up significantly. Each year, it seems that the work gets more and more difficult.”
Luckily for Santelli, he has a firm grasp of understanding on the sport of shooting. An athlete at an early age, he broke onto the national scene in 2005, finishing as Junior Grand Champion at the USA Nationals and winning the Gold medal in junior men’s 3 position and prone. From there, he shot on the junior level at the 2006 International Shooting Sport Federation World Championship in Croatia, finishing ninth in 3 position.
Following a solid rookie season at WVU in which he was named an NRA smallbore second team All-American, Santelli fulfilled a personal dream the following year, navigating a rocky national championship match and playing a part in the team’s first NCAA title since 1998.
Since that championship, Santelli has emerged as one of the most consistent Mountaineers. Strong in both guns, he says that while he does not feel pressure in matches to lead the squad, he tries hard to set an example for the rest of his team.
“As far as pressure goes, I believe that an outside person cannot put pressure on you,” he expanded. “Pressure is all about how you perceive it. You can only put pressure on yourself. Once I step inside the range, I ignore everything else that is going on around me and focus on shooting 60 good, solid shots in each gun. That eliminates general pressure.
“When I’m outside the range, I feel a little pressure to step-up and help the team when it faces adversity. I see that as a challenge and motivator – when it counts, I step-up.”
Santelli put in the practice hours this past summer to ensure that his team has its best shot at a nation-best 15th title. He says that while the physical hours he spent inside a rage were minimal, the hours he channeled toward focusing on his mental game were astronomical.
“I really just sat there and analyzed my mental game,” he said. “I started to make improvements in that area – whenever I would be driving down the road, I would visualize what a good shot should look like, so whenever I came back in to the range, I was mentally focused and ready to go.”
Despite setting a personal-best smallbore mark (585) last season, and matching the score in this year’s second match, Santelli is still pushing, not only for a higher score, but also for more consistency in both guns.
“I’ve really been working hard this season with coach (Jon) Hammond – I want to make my match performances mimic my practice sessions,” the constant student said. “So far, I’ve had quite a bit of success this season. The plan is starting to pay off.”
Hammond, the fifth-year Mountaineer coach, agrees.
“There’s definitely been a lot of growth and maturity in his training,” said Hammond. “That was really the biggest part that Tom needed to work on. He’s had the talent and skill since he’s been here, but he really needed to work on the mental side and get used to collegiate shooting.
“I think this season, everything that I have been telling him has really been sinking in and it’s showing. He’s been a lot more consistent this semester, especially compared to the past. He’s really stepped-up this year and taken responsibility as a team leader.”
Gearing up for this weekend’s matches against Great American Rifle Conference foes NC State and Nebraska, the squad’s final two contests before a two-month hiatus, Santelli is pleased with what he has seen.
“Personally, this semester has gone exceptionally well,” he enthusiastically stated. “Smallbore has been meeting my expectations, which to be honest, is a first for me. My expectations are high. This year, I’m working hard, and the work is starting to pay off.”
The No. 1-ranked Mountaineers play host to the Wolfpack on Friday, Nov. 19, and the No. 9-ranked Cornhuskers on Sunday. Both shoulder-to-shoulder matches are set for 8 a.m. starts at the WVU Rifle Range and are expected to play into the afternoon.
West Virginia University senior Tommy Santelli is all too familiar with this crazy lifestyle. A five-time National Rifle Association (NRA) All-American on the 14-time national champion rifle team, the Prosperity, Pa., has spent the last four years splitting his hours between the WVU Rifle Range and the WVU College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. After a few years of practice, Santelli finally feels comfortable balancing his daily demands.
“It’s always challenging, but it’s actually going better than my sophomore and junior years,” he explained. “I’m getting better at managing my practice and school time. I’ve learned to separate the two, so when I get to the range for practice, my time is more efficient and I’m less stressed about school.
“It’s still quite challenging. I would say the amount of work has gone down a bit, but the work’s level of difficulty has gone up significantly. Each year, it seems that the work gets more and more difficult.”
Luckily for Santelli, he has a firm grasp of understanding on the sport of shooting. An athlete at an early age, he broke onto the national scene in 2005, finishing as Junior Grand Champion at the USA Nationals and winning the Gold medal in junior men’s 3 position and prone. From there, he shot on the junior level at the 2006 International Shooting Sport Federation World Championship in Croatia, finishing ninth in 3 position.
Following a solid rookie season at WVU in which he was named an NRA smallbore second team All-American, Santelli fulfilled a personal dream the following year, navigating a rocky national championship match and playing a part in the team’s first NCAA title since 1998.
Since that championship, Santelli has emerged as one of the most consistent Mountaineers. Strong in both guns, he says that while he does not feel pressure in matches to lead the squad, he tries hard to set an example for the rest of his team.
“As far as pressure goes, I believe that an outside person cannot put pressure on you,” he expanded. “Pressure is all about how you perceive it. You can only put pressure on yourself. Once I step inside the range, I ignore everything else that is going on around me and focus on shooting 60 good, solid shots in each gun. That eliminates general pressure.
“When I’m outside the range, I feel a little pressure to step-up and help the team when it faces adversity. I see that as a challenge and motivator – when it counts, I step-up.”
Santelli put in the practice hours this past summer to ensure that his team has its best shot at a nation-best 15th title. He says that while the physical hours he spent inside a rage were minimal, the hours he channeled toward focusing on his mental game were astronomical.
“I really just sat there and analyzed my mental game,” he said. “I started to make improvements in that area – whenever I would be driving down the road, I would visualize what a good shot should look like, so whenever I came back in to the range, I was mentally focused and ready to go.”
Despite setting a personal-best smallbore mark (585) last season, and matching the score in this year’s second match, Santelli is still pushing, not only for a higher score, but also for more consistency in both guns.
“I’ve really been working hard this season with coach (Jon) Hammond – I want to make my match performances mimic my practice sessions,” the constant student said. “So far, I’ve had quite a bit of success this season. The plan is starting to pay off.”
Hammond, the fifth-year Mountaineer coach, agrees.
“There’s definitely been a lot of growth and maturity in his training,” said Hammond. “That was really the biggest part that Tom needed to work on. He’s had the talent and skill since he’s been here, but he really needed to work on the mental side and get used to collegiate shooting.
“I think this season, everything that I have been telling him has really been sinking in and it’s showing. He’s been a lot more consistent this semester, especially compared to the past. He’s really stepped-up this year and taken responsibility as a team leader.”
Gearing up for this weekend’s matches against Great American Rifle Conference foes NC State and Nebraska, the squad’s final two contests before a two-month hiatus, Santelli is pleased with what he has seen.
“Personally, this semester has gone exceptionally well,” he enthusiastically stated. “Smallbore has been meeting my expectations, which to be honest, is a first for me. My expectations are high. This year, I’m working hard, and the work is starting to pay off.”
The No. 1-ranked Mountaineers play host to the Wolfpack on Friday, Nov. 19, and the No. 9-ranked Cornhuskers on Sunday. Both shoulder-to-shoulder matches are set for 8 a.m. starts at the WVU Rifle Range and are expected to play into the afternoon.
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Saturday, April 18
