Athlete Feature: Jeff Holguin Goals to Achieve STORY AND PHOTO BY MARCO DALLA DEA, ISSF
pionship to compete in the so called ‘Junior Olympics’ in Colorado Springs. I went there and I did well, and when I went to my fi rst na- tionals, I made the national team at my fi rst try.” From there on, Holguin
“Always have a goal that
you want to achieve, and do whatever you can to get there.”
These were the words
of Jeff Holguin (U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit/Yorba Linda, California), winner of the fi rst Double Trap World Cup fi nal of the year when asked if he had advice for a kid starting to practice sport shooting. And that’s something he certainly did. He had a goal, and he went for it, fi nally winning his fi rst World Cup gold in Tucson, Arizona, in front of his fam- ily, teammates and friends, approximately 20 years after he started shooting. “This is the fi rst World
Cup I have ever won! I have been around for a while, and I had earned a few bronzes, I shot some good scores, I even won a silver at the World Championship, but not a Gold medal. It feels awesome!” he said, right after the Double Trap Men fi nal he won after participat- ing in a shootoff against his teammate Josh Richmond (USAMU/Hillsgrove, Penn-
sylvania) in an all-American medal match. “Going against a team-
mate is a little bit easier. When we both qualifi ed for the Gold medal match, that took some pressure off. We shoot against each other all the time: we train together, so I felt comfortable going into the medal match with Josh,” Holguin said, wearing the fi rst ISSF Gold medal of his career.
Holguin’s athletic biog-
raphy on the ISSF website states he started shooting in 1990, and competing in 1996. But the dates are not that important: shooting was a family passion, he just grow up with it. “My dad started shoot-
ing before I was even born, and then my grandfather and my brother also shot, so I grew up into it. That’s where I started, it was a fam- ily thing,” he said. “My father was shooting American Trap, which is different, it’s eas- ier. I also started off in this event, then USA Shooting invited all the winner of the American Trap State Cham-
34 USA Shooting News | September 2014
kept on shooting at high levels, climbing the interna- tional rankings. In the late ‘90s he made his debut in World Cup events. In 2003, he turned out to be the best at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo. The following year, in 2004, he climbed upon an ISSF World Cup podium for the fi rst time, winning a bronze medal in Americana, Brazil. He qualifi ed for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, making it to the fi nal round, eventually fi nishing in fourth place with 182 hits, just two targets away from the podium. Later on, in 2009, he
earned a silver at the ISSF World Championship in Maribor, and those are prob- ably his fondest memories. “I will never forget my silver medal at the World Champi- onship, and then competing in the Olympic Games in Bei- jing, it was awesome.” After the 2012 Olympic Games, the Double Trap event changed as a result of the new competition format introduced by the ISSF, but that did not scare Holguin, who proved to be perfectly comfortable with it.
“The biggest change was last year, with the new
rules,” he said. “We’ve been hammering hard to get them right: we’ve a nice group at the US Army Marksmanship Unit, training hard. We’ve been getting used to this new version of Double Trap over the last few months.” And the had work paid off, earning them positive feed- back on the road leading to the next Games. Indeed, returning to the
Olympics is Jeff’s next goal to achieve. He didn’t go to London, and he’s aiming for Rio 2016. To get there, the fi rst thing you need is a Quo- ta Place, and the fi rst chance to win one is approaching: the 2014 ISSF World Cham- pionship will take place in Granada, Spain in Septem- ber.
“I have qualifi ed for all the
international competitions, except the ISSF World Cup in Beijing, this year…Of course we are really paying extra attention to the ISSF World Championship in Granada, and hopefully we will bring home some medals.” The goal is set, and Jeff
will follow his own sugges- tion: do whatever he can to achieve it. Experience counts in shooting sport. And the 2008 Olympic Final is something he won’t for- get. “I learned some things there, and this time when I make it to the Olympics there will be a different re- sult, and I know there will be something hanging from my neck.”
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