Our History

Ameera Lee makes it to the round of 16 in the Women’s Individual Compound Open category and partnering with Jonathon Milne made it to the quarter final of the Mixed Team Compound. Jonathon also makes it to the round of 16 in the men’s Individual Compound Open event.

SOPA coaches Ricci Cheah and Alex King also attended the 2024 Paralympics coaching Ameera and Jono meaning that of the 7 spots available to the Australian Archery Team SOPA occupied most of the quota!

SOPA’s Ameera Lee wins gold in the Open Women’s Compound division.

Jonathon Milne wins the bronze medal at the World Para Archery Championships in the Czech Republic.

SOPA member Peter Boukouvalas takes second place in Honiara, Solomon Islands

Korean mens team gold medallist, Mr Oh Kyo Moon returns to the SOPA range to coach the NSW Institute of Sport high performance squad. The squad includes the following SOPA members: Giorgio Vasiliades, Branden Tse, Marcus Yiu, Kim Lavender, Peter Boukouvalas and Laura Tresize.

SOPA’s Jonathon Milne who won Paralympic bronze in Rio has warmed up for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games by shooting a World Record at the Australian Nationals held in Victoria.

Garry Robinson is the epitome of someone who is unbreakable. If you don’t already know his story, please take a few minutes to view this video ABC Australian Story. We are so inspired by Garry’s recovery and achievement we thought we would have a tournament on each Saturday after Anzac Day and call it Unbreakable.

We wanted a tournament that would be available to most archers but would be so mentally challenging that only the toughest would survive and become the Unbreakable Champion of 2019, receive $1000 and be engraved into the new Garry Robinson Perpetual Trophy.

SOPA’s Tayla King has won a team silver medal at the 2019 Asia Cup stage 2 held in Taipei. This was a big achievement as Tayla and her team were up against many higher ranked countries including Korea, Japan, Chinese Taipei and Malaysia. The club has assisted Tayla with her costs for the trip by presenting her with a $500 cheque. Well done Tayla!

SOPA archers received an amazing 23 National and 42 State Medals at the 2019 National Indoor Tournament.

Congratulations to the following SOPA National Champions : Ammrutha Vashetharan-Cub Female Recurve, Darren Chandra – Cub Male Barebow,  Eddie Upston – Cadet Male Recurve, Imalia Oktrininda – Para Female Recurve, Ameera Christina Lee – Women 2 Para Compound,  Rebecca Woods – Women 1 Para Compound,  Kevin Curran – Veteran Male Barebow, Norman Sim – Veteran Male Barebow Compound, -Kuytim Alikay – Veteran+ Male Barebow Recurve

2nd Place (Silver) : Branden Tse – Cub Male Recurve, Giorgio Vasiliades- Intermediate Male Recurve, Melissa Spinocchia – Open Female Recurve, Tracey Hansford – Veteran Female Recurve, Marek Steiner – Para Male Recurve, Garry Robinson – Para Male Compound

3rd Place (Bronze): Chevyone Cheah – Cadet Female Recurve,  Laura Trezise – 20 and Under Female Recurve, Braven Tse – Intermediate Male Barebow, Tayla King – Open Female Recurve,  Jonathan Milne – Open Male Compound, Dari Mollart – Cub Female Barebow Recurve, Kevin Curran – Veteran Male Barebow Recurve, Richard Edser – Veteran+ Male Compound

Garry Robinson (Special Forces Team Commander) was in a Blackhawk Helicopter that crashed in Afghanistan in 2010, he sustained severe injuries to his body and spent 2 years in hospital rehabilitating from a traumatic brain injury. Garry took up archery as a sport to assist with his rehabilitation and to stay focused and active, he joined our club in May 2017 and competed in the upcoming Invictus Games in Sydney. Garry and his family have been an enormous inspiration to all of us at SOPA.

Gold Medalists ( NSW State Champions ):

Ammrutha Vashetharan – Cub Female Recurve,  Branden Tse – Cub Male Recurve,  Dari Mollart – Cub Female Barebow Recurve, ( first time competing in a State Level),  Giorgio Vasiliades – Intermediate Male Recurve,  Chevyone Cheah – Cadet Female Recurve,  Eddie Upston – Cadet Male Recurve, Laura Trezise – 20 & Under Female Recurve,  Joanna Murray – Open Female Recurve, Alex King – Open Male Recurve, Kevin Curran – Open Male Longbow, Saskia James – Master Female Recurve,  Gregor Whiley – Veteran Male Barebow Recurve, Elise Kayla Grech – Cadet Female Compound, Gabriel Willis Buckland – Cadet Male Compound, Jonathan Milne – Open Male Compound, Marek Steiner – Para Male Open Recurve, Ameera Christina Lee – Para W1 Female Compound

Silver Medalists :
Tyla Cordingley-Sheehan – Cub Female Recurve, Henry Malin – Cub Male Recurve, Elizabeth Parington – Intermediate Female Recurve, Isabella Mavlian – Cadet Female Recurve, Alex Kim – 20 & Under Male Recurve, Tyla King – Open Female Recurve,  Rachel Milne – Open Female Longbow,  Dawid Bester – Open Male Recurve,  Fran Boyle – Master Female Recurve, Louise Mollart – Master Female Barebow Recurve,  Jason Doyle – Master Male Recurve, Raymond Broady – Veteran Male Longbow, Peter Hale – Veteran + Male Longbow, Kuytim Alikay – Veteran + Male Barebow Recurve, Rebecca Woods – Para W1 Female Compound, Maxwell Liu – 20 & Under Male Recurve

Bronze Medalists :
Peter Boukouvalas – Open Male Recurve, William Lawlor – Open Male Barebow Recurve, Julie Ann Edser – Veteran Female Compound, Norman Sim – Veteran Male Compound, Julia Wright – Open Female Longbow

At the recent Youth Nationals held in Morwell, Victoria, SOPA Juniors brought home 53 medals and received around 75% of all medals won by NSW clubs. This was an incredible achievement made possible with the brilliant work of our head coaches, Ricci (Head Coach) and Alex (Youth Coach) and of course the dedicated archers who trained so hard to receive their awards. The KSL accredited coaching structure SOPA has put in place is now reaping results.

SOPA Medal tally achieved at the 2018 Youth Nationals:
26 GOLD Medals
13 SILVER Medals
14 BRONZE Medals

Ammrutha and Eddie also picked up best female and male performance awards.

What an exciting weekend it was for our SOPA Para Archery Team who participated in both the Tuggeranong Para & VI Indoor Championship on Saturday 10/3/2018 with:

1st Place winners
Jonathan Milne – Male Compound, Rebecca Woods – Female Compound, Ameera Christina Lee – Female Recurve,

3rd Place
Garry Robinson

Outdoor Event
1st Place
Jonathon Milne – Male Compound, Ameera Christina Lee – Female Recurve, Rebecca Woods – Female Compound

3rd Place
Garry Robinson – Male Compound

A very special warm welcome also to be conveyed to two talented para archers Peter Marchant and Imalia Ismojo who will be joining our SOPA club para team. Both Peter and Imalia had also performed well in both the Championships by attaining:

1st Place – Indoor
Peter Marchant

2nd Place – Indoor
Imalia Ismojo

2nd Place – Outdoor
Peter Marchant
Imalia Ismojo

Thank you to the following Agents who had assisted the Para Archers during the course of the two days weekend:
Adriana Tan
Saskia James
David Hunter
Rachel Milne
Katrina Robinson

Another haul of medals for SOPA.
Congratulations to:

Division 1 Male
: Jonathan Milne – 1st
Division 2 Female
: Vivian Gan – 2nd
Division 3 Female
: Vivian Gan – 1st
Division 3 Male
: Hassy Sfar – 2nd
Division 4 Female
: Katrina Robinson – 1st
Division 4 Male
: Garry Robinson – 1st
Team Compound SOPA – 1st
Jonathon Milne,
Vivian Gan,
Daniel Curran

Well done!

At the 2017 Indoor Championships SOPA archers achieved an amazing 9 National and 34 State Medals

GOLD MEDALS
Ammrutha Vashetharan
Giorgio Vasiliades
Chevyone Cheah
Eddie Upston
Tayla King
Dawid Bester
Kevin Curran
Pearly Sime
Kuytim Alikay
Raymond Broady
Rebecca Woods
Garry Robinson

SILVER MEDALS
Isabella Mavlian
Gabriel Buckland Willis
Laura Trezise
Alex Kim
Peter Boukouvalas
Nicholas Kyriazis
Joanna Murray
Jonathon Milne
Victor Wei
William Lawlor
Marek Steiner
Gregor Whiley
Kevin Curran
Norman Sim
Peter Hale
Leon Hides
Rebecca Woodsd
Garry Robinson

BRONZE MEDALS
Tyla Cordingley-Sheehan
Elizabeth Parington
Rudy Doyle
Kevin Gillett

SOPA has dominated the State Short Course Championships held at Penrith on Sunday 9/7/2017. SOPA arches won a total of 21 medals including 8 Gold..

Gold Medals
Chevyone Cheah
Eddie Upston
Laura Trezise
Jonathon Milne
Joanna Murray
Pearly Sim
Rudy Sicha
William Lawlor

Silver Medals
Tayla Cordingley Sheehan
Giorgio Vasiliades
Isabella Mavlian
Gabriel Buckland Willis
Peter Boukouvalas
Tayla King
Ian Asidera
Victor Wei
Norman Sim

Bronze Medals
Elizabeth Parington
Nicholas Kyriazis
Melissa Spinocchia
Dawid Bester
Marek Steiner

SOPA has taken out Gold and Bronze in the final of the Australian Matchplay Series. Jo Murray took the gold and Tayla King the bronze. The girls have been training hard under the watchfull eye of SOPA’s Head Coach, Ricci Cheah.

SOPA has dominated the 2017 National Para Championships held in Canberra with 4 out of 4 Indoor Gold and 3 out of 4 Outdoor Gold.

Our new National Champions are Ameera, Rebecca, ‘Jonno’ (Jonathon) and Marek.

We wish to thank Ricci Cheah (SOPA Head Coach) for steering them to success and those who assisted at the event, Daniel, Saskia and Kez.

SOPA is a club with a track record of supporting Para’s reach their sporting dreams and goals even to winning a Paralympic Medal (Jonno, Rio 2016).

SOPA’s Laura Trezise has won a bronze medal at the 2017 Australia Open in Brisbane. Laura who is 16 years old has also recently qualified as a Level 2 international KSL coach.

Congratulations to the following State Champions from Sydney Olympic Park Archers.

GOLD
Chevyone Cheah
Eammon Marha
Elizabeth Parington
Giorgio Vasiliades
Joanna Murray
Rudy Sicha
Victor Wei

SILVER
Gabriel Buckland Willis
Isabella Mavlian
Jonathon Milne
Rudy Doyle

BRONZE
Alex Kim
Dawid Bester
Tayla King

In just a few years Jono Milne has gone from being told he wont walk again to being one of Australia’s best archers. He has now blasted onto the world scene by winning a bronze medal in Rio. With Australia’s new young talented coach Ricci Cheah guiding him and a strong support group of family, friends and club members at SOPA, Jono has achieved what most would think an impossible task. He is an inspiration to all. Life can deal out some tough blows but don’t tell Jono that, he is to busy achieving his next goal. Jono is the first Australian para archer to win a medal at the Paralympic Games in 32 years.

NATIONAL
2nd Mat Tonowicz >20 & Under Male Compound
2nd Rudy Sicha >Veteran Male Barebow Recurve
3rd Peter Hale >Veteran+ Male Longbow

STATE
1st Tayla King >Open Female Recurve
1st Mateusz Tonowicz >20 & Under Male Compound
1st Alex Kim >Cadet Male Recurve
1st Elizabeth Parington >Cub Female Recurve
1st Rudy Doyle > Cub Male Recurve
1st Rudy Sicha > Veteran Male Barebow Recurve
1st Peter Hale > Veteran+ Male Longbow
1st Pearly Sim > Veteran Female Compound
2nd Shaun Wang>Cadet Male Recurve
2nd Giorgio Vasiliades > Cub Male Recurve
2nd Chevyone Cheah > Intermediate Female Recurve
2nd Peter Valas >20 & Under Male Recurve
2nd Alex King > Open Male Recurve
2nd Kevin Curran > Veteran Male Compound
2nd Kevin Gillett > Veteran Male Recurve
3rd Marha>Cadet Male Recurve
3rd Isabella Mavlian >Intermediate Female Recurve
3rd Norman Sim > Veteran Male Recurve
3rd Danielle Jansen van Rensburg > Cadet Female Recurve
3rd Steve Cheah: > Master Male Recurve
3rd Gabriel Buckland Willis > Intermediate Male Compound

Congratulations to the following SOPA Archers who represented Australia at the 2016 Oceania Championships held in Tonga.

Ian Asidera
Gold: Commonwealth Championships
Gold: Oceania Championships
Gold: Mixed Matchplay
Silver: Oceania 1440

Lisa Maton
Gold: Commonwealth Championships
Gold: Oceania 1440
Silver: Oceania Championships

Mat Tonowicz
Silver: Oceania Junior Men Championships

Congratulations to the following SOPA archers who obtained medals at the 2016 Youth Nationals.

Rebecca Valassis
Gold: Target
Gold: Field
Gold: Short Distance

Peter Valassis
Gold: Target
Gold: Field
Gold: Short Distance

Laura Trezise
Gold: Clout
Silver: Short Distance

Eddie Upston
Bronze: Clout

SOPA broke another Australian record last weekend when 37 archers from one club headed north to Brisbane to compete in the 2016 Australian Open. 38 airline seats, 20 bedrooms and 6 people movers.

Around 1/3 of the entrants in this high performance event were from SOPA.

Gold
Mat Gray – Team Matchplay

Silver
Tayla King – Team Matchplay
Jo Murray – Team Matchplay
Mellissa Spinocchia – Team Matchplay

Bronze
Tayla King – Individual Matchplay
Shaun Wang – Team Matchplay
Alex King – Team Matchplay
Victor Wei – Team Matchplay
Mat Gray – Team Matchplay

SOPA archers dominated the Warringah open held 13/02/2016. Victor, Ian and Lisa won their divisions. SOPA also won both compound and recurve team events including matchplay. Well done to all!

SOPA Placings:
Male Open Recurve
1 Victor Wei
2 Frank Figliuzzi
3 Jaymie Murray

Male Open Compound
1 Ian Asidera
2 Jonathon Milne
3 Clinton Wright

Female Open Compound
1 Lisa Matton
3 Julia Wright

Female Open Recurve
2 Jo Murray

Male Master Recurve
3 Steve Cheah

Most archers will shoot up to 100 arrows in one day, so shooting 1000 in one day is both physically and mentally taxing, To complete this grueling process requires a determination and focus that not too many posses.

Four SOPA members completed the challenge on New Years Eve.

Chevyone
Victor
Shaun
Nic

Chevyone at the age of only 13 showed how determined she was to complete this exhausting challenge and was the first to finish. She was then rewarded with a shoulder massage from our Head Coach and qualified physio Ricci.

The future of Australian archery is once again looking good due to the passion and discipline of these young archers along with Ricci’s experience and guiding influence and using KiSik Lees sound bio mechanical archery methods which reduces physical and mental fatigue.

Congratulations to the following SOPA members who achieved medals at the 2015 State Clout.

Gold
Tayla King
Jaymie Murray
Elizabeth Hole

Silver
Melissa Spinocchia
Bailey Twomey

Bronze
Joanna Murray
Steve Cheah

The AA National Championships were held in Morwell Victoria. Congratulations to the following SOPA members who received medals.

Tayla King: Gold (Clout), Silver (Short Target), Bronze (Target), Bronze (Field)
Liz Hole: Bronze (Clout), Bronze (Short Target), Bronze (Target), Bronze (Field)
Kevin Gillett: Gold (Clout), Silver (Field), Bronze (Short Target)
Pearly Sim: Bronze (Target), Bronze (Short Target)
Alex Kim: Bronze (Target)
Shaun Wang: Bronze (Short Target)

SOPA produced some impressive results at the State Championships including a 1, 2 and 3 on the Men’s Open Recurve Podium.

Shaun Wang: Gold Medal – Open men
Tayla King: Gold Medal – Open women
Nic Kyriazis: Gold medal – Cadet Boys
Chevyone Cheah: Gold medal – Cub Female
Dawid Bester: silver medal – Open men
Liz Hole: Silver medal – Master Women
Alex King: Bronze Medal – Open men
Steve Cheah: Bronze medal – Master Men