From the Chairman - The US Youth Fly Fishing Team has had a terrific run with the tremendous accomplishment of medals two years in a row,” says Chairman of the Board of Directors, USYFFT, Inc., Walter Ungerman.

“Paul Bourcq, Chris Lee, Josh Stephens and Chris Smith have all given strong, capable and effective leadership and coaching. There is no question that the youth themselves are the

strongest part of this organization. We offered them the opportunity to compete and we have been so pleased at what has developed. The Team gave 100% and did some intense fly fishing this year. The support of the parents has been great. I am very proud of the whole organization and kudos to John Ford.”

This has been a remarkable year. A well attended clinic in early spring set the stage in North Carolina, and three successful competitions meant medals for the Team and some individual personal bests. Head Coach Paul Bourcq summarizes the 2012 competitive season: “As a new head coach of Team USA Youth Fly Fishing, I am excited to be closing out one of our best years to date. At the beginning of the year we ran a clinic in North Carolina. We worked on advanced tactics, fly tying, beat strategy, and focussed on progressive techniques to keep us competitive on the world stage. All of the young anglers that came showed that they had a fantastic skill set and would be

representing our country soon enough. A few months later we hosted the National Championships on the same water. I was really looking forward to seeing the boys and watching them compete. What I wasn't prepared for was how much progress they had made in their angling. Some of them had made drastic improvements to their ability. It is certainly a testament to their hard work and the training by all Team USA members. While at Worlds we had a great showing. Our team of experienced anglers did exactly what they know how to do. When the dust settled we found ourselves in 2nd overall as a team. Austen Randecker won individual Bronze! A great showing in what was arguably the toughest water I have ever experienced.

2013 will prove to be our strongest year to date. The Team has several clinics to cater to the United States up and coming talent as well as several team practices to hone our current members into the World Champions that they are. We hope to host a day-long class for youth anglers sponsored by current team members in each of their hometowns. This will provide young anglers the opportunity to ask questions, and speak with their peers about their experiences on Team USA. I've been asked several times what our secret is. Our secret is simple, TEAM MEDAL MENTALITY. Everything I do is to build the boys' sense of trust in the technique and each other. Everything we do is to help our team

as a whole. To achieve the team medal at a competition means that your whole team worked together, shared flies and tactics. TEAM MEDAL MENTALITY...it's what hones competitive anglers into World Champions. I want to thank everyone personally for supporting the team. I'd also like to recognize my assistant coaches: Josh Stephens, Chris Smith, and Chris Lee. Their experience is invaluable to building a strong team year after year. All of our time is volunteer. Our team runs entirely on donations both individual and corporate. We need your support! If you are considering donating to Team USA Youth Fly Fishing, please contact us to discuss sponsor opportunities. Our success depends on a very active group of parents, volunteers and donors to help us represent the greatest country in the world in fly fishing. If you have contributed, thank you for being a part of the family. And, as always, if you need anything, phone or email me.”---Paul Bourcq, Head Coach, USYFFT

Editor's Note: The US Youth Fly Fishing Team (USYFFT), Inc., is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit and is the only authorized US national team to compete in the FIPS-

Mouche World Youth Fly Fishing Championships.

Each competition in 2012 brought new experiences and advanced the team. Many of our Team members competed in other events to gain valuable experience. For example, one of

US YOUTH FLY FISHING TEAMTEAM USA NEWSLETTER

September 2012

Walter Ungerman at the NC Nationals 2012

Silver Medal Winners, Lozère, France

the Team members, Austen Randecker, won the Nationals, in Cherokee, North Carolina. The Travel Team, consisting of Aston Boone, Cody Burgdorff, Austen Randecker, Owen Welch, Robbie Wirth, Noah Thompson, distinguished itself in the 11th FIPS-Mouche Youth Fly Fishing Competition by bringing home a Silver Medal, the second consecutive year the Team won a medal. There was also a Bronze for an individual performance with Austen Randecker. The America Cup, held in Colorado, saw another group of Team members, Aston Boone, Hunter Enloe, Gabriel Wittosch, Jonathan Dietz, Cam Chioffi, compete and win the Bronze, and Aston Boone win the individual Bronze. Team Manager, Rich Reedinger was with the Team in Colorado and coached them during the competition. He shares a trip report:

...Here it is Tuesday morning and I am home from the America Cup Tournament in Vail, Colorado. I am looking back on the experience, from my view, having accompanied the Youth Team to the event. First and foremost in my mind is the great focus and determination from each of the teammates that I observed throughout the three days of high pressure tournament fishing. The final results were beyond belief of most observers, but I had an inkling that this group was going to be special. I watched them practice the day before the opening round of the tournament and saw Team Captain

Aston Boone, really take control of the group and impart a great deal of his experience and skill set to the others who were very seriously following along. It was a sign of good things to follow. The first morning (Friday) everyone was in a high state of energy and expectation as they boarded the vans to travel to the first and second venues of the competition. To me, it felt like race horses at the starting gate, chomping at the bit to get the race started. Our kids had confidence and demonstrated great poise in the midst of all the other world class anglers. I traveled to the Sylvan Lake venue first. I had never attended this venue in the past and wanted to see it. The long drive was well worth it. It is a beautiful alpine lake in the midst of some of the most glorious scenery the Rockies have to offer. I watched Hunter Enloe fish from afar as he was out on the lake and appeared to be doing OK. It was a sunny bright day and I drove around a bit admiring the Aspen trees in their autumn gold against the dark green firs on the mountain sides. Later, results of the first day were posted and, lo and behold, Team USA Youth was in First Place!! Cam Chioffi was on top of the list as the leader after the first two venues. Teammates Gabe Wittosch and Aston Boone were close behind in the top ten. The next morning, watching the competitors get ready to board the vans, I saw team members from all the various teams comparing notes with each other. Our team had spent time the night before dissecting each others performance and settling on flies and techniques that were successful to be used the following day after the rotation to different venues Our kids

looked confident and were excited to get going. Again, the bright sunny skies and pleasantly cool temps made it a great day to get out and visit some of the venues. I wandered around to the Colorado River and talked to the sector judge and was told the groups were having great difficulty in finding fish. It looked like one fish would win the session and only three beats were producing any fish at all. All the others were costing competitors blanks for that venue. Our kids were not having much luck catching any fish at the Colorado. Later in the evening, results were posted and holy cow!! Cam Chioffi was still leading the tournament after 4 sessions! Team USA Youth was holding on to third place in the overall standings. Good enough to get on the medal stand. Sunday morning, everyone looked tired and beat. Our kids were tired as well, but had enough energy to make the others look like zombies. Cam Chioffi looked a bit nervous but said he was not when I spoke with him to give him some encouragement. He was heading to the dreaded Colorado River venue for the fifth and last session. Interestingly, I saw a few of the competitors from the European teams look at Cam as he walked around and they shook their heads in disbelief. I really believe Cam intimidated them and shook their confidence. Way to go, Cam! Everyone else appeared confident and wanted to get going.

US YOUTH FLY FISHING TEAMTEAM USA NEWSLETTER

SEPTEMBER 2012

America Cup Team 2012

I drove over to Lake Nottingham to watch Jon Dietz for a while. He had a nice session with 5 fish caught. The clouds were getting together and provided a little break from the bright direct sun of the first two days. Everyone later returned to the hotel. Most of the competitors retreated to their rooms to rest or take a nap. I went to look for our guys. Couldn't find them. They went back out to fish the Eagle River just for fun! Energy to burn and totally relaxed. Cam Chioffi, unfortunately drew a blank on the last session and it

appeared he lost his place on the leader board. However, when results were posted, we all took a good look. Team USA Youth had held firm and retained their third place

finish, the first youth team to ever medal in the America Cup. Team Captain, Aston Boone was the third place angler and that put him on the medal stand. Again, another first for a youth angler!!! Cam dropped to 7th place, but still, in my eyes deserved a medal for his accomplishment of leading the entire pack for two straight days. Most people would gladly give up an arm or leg for that distinction. Gabe Wittosch was 15th overall. The awards dinner was a wonderful success. John and Jody Knight really put it all together for a memorable feast. Guests Tred Barta and Andy

Mill kept the whole atmosphere upbeat and joyful. It was great to see the team receive their medals and hear the cheers and “attaboys” from the crowd of competitors. Another young angler from Colorado, Conner Murphy, won the award for largest fish. Conner had attended a Youth team clinic in Colorado and will be trying to make our team next year at the Nationals. Many Team USA Youth Team members competed for other teams during this event. Tyler Befus, Hunter Hoffler, Zach Acunzo and C.J. Pelligrini all did well and gained a tremendous amount of experience to better themselves in future competitions. Colorado is a great place to visit for many reasons, but the fishing is at the top of the list. We like this venue so much, we hope to plan the US Youth Fly Fishing Team 2013 National Championship in this great fishing destination. I am looking forward to that! That's all for now. Hope this gives you all an idea of the excitement and thrill of fly fishing competition. Any youth angler out there who may read this, I hope it gives you some encouragement to try us out at a clinic and future competitions. It is the most fun!--Rich Reedinger, Team Manager, USYFFT

A new member hasjoined the USYFFT, Inc. Board of Directors. Dejon Hamman, whom many know from the competitive circuit and for his outstanding website and forum, Trout Legend, (http://troutlegend.com/). All of us at USYFFT, Inc., are looking forward to working with Dejon and know that he will be an asset to the organization.

When asked what he is working on right now, he told us that his

major initiative is to continue his work on implanting regional team structures across the continent. He writes, “The ongoing

working theory which seems to be proving itself ten-fold is each time we build a regional team... we also create foci for exponential growth in the competitive fly fishing arena. Each foci creates new team members, new sponsor interest, new fans, and much more.” Dejon is “is looking to engage youth anglers who may be unaware of the competitive scene but otherwise engaged in the fly fishing industry. I think there is great potential for immediate expansion by concentrating on this segment. Also, I've just begun another initiative to build Collegiate Level teams. The master game plan is creating a viable career path for every competitive angler at all age ranges.” Dejon has unique insight from his work with TL and offers an example: “...the newest signer up to the TL forum is an individual named Tyler Befus. Tyler is also starting to ask, like many youth of late, about his pt standings. In my estimation this is the beginning of full-by-in and worth its weight in Gold.” Welcome aboard, Dejon!

US YOUTH FLY FISHING TEAMTEAM USA NEWSLETTER

SEPTEMBER 2012

Dejon Hamman, West Branch Delaware River

Bronze Medal AC 2012

Lake Nottingham

More updates about the year's competitions, as well as historical venues are now available on the Team website at

www.usyouthflyfishingteam.com

The section “Meet the Team” has been updated with biographical information from each team member and the “Team USA in the News” section keeps a running list of media releases about the Team and competitions. Thanks to Connie and Bill Welch and Randy Thompson for their input this summer.

The Team Facebook page continues to be one of the best ways to get immediate news out about the Team.

Also new, thanks to a suggestion from Board member James Webber, the Team now has a Twitter presence at

Team USA Youth@YouthTeamUSA

Got big news from your summer of fishing or competing? We'd like to hear about it! Send a short item, 100-200 words, describing your news, plus photos, (digital preferred) to deb_ridgeway@hotmail.com

Understanding the many aspects of competitive fly fishing is central to the business of the top leaders in the sport. We couldn't have succeeded this year without the generous support of the companies who provided gear for our anglers: Smith Optics, SIMMS, Hardy North America, Frabill, Trout Hunter, Umpqua, and Performance Flies.

Sports Illustrated selected one of our Team members again this year for its “Faces in the Crowd” section. Congratulations to Austen Randecker. Trout Legend highlighted Gabriel Wittosch, and Mark Nale, a member of the PA Outdoor Writers Association, wrote about the Team in the Centre Daily Times. Cody Burgdorff was highlighted after his performance in the June Loch Day Tourney. Front Range Anglers and MidCurrent highlighted Team USA's activities. It's all good! Links to these and other stories are on our website. We are working on getting stories out to many of the hometown newspapers during the last quarter of the year.

Another competitive year finished and what a great one it has been! The organization will use the winter months to finalize plans for the 2013 year, increase opportunities for raising financial contributions, and reviewing important documentation associated with the Team activities, such as the Code of Conduct, Chaperone Guides, etc. Look for some additional information on the website, too! Thank you all for your support, hard work, and belief in Team USA!

Tight Lines!Deb Ridgeway

US YOUTH FLY FISHING TEAMTEAM USA NEWSLETTER

SEPTEMBER 2012

North Carolina Clinic, 2012

Nationals, 2012 North Carolina

Arriving in France 2012

Team USA in France, 11th FIPS-Mouche

Cam Chioffi, America Cup 2012

The mission of the United States Youth Fly Fishing Team (USYFFT), Inc., is to develop the highest quality competitive fly fishing team to represent the United States in FIPS-Mouche worldwide competition. The USYFFT (a 501 (c)(3) non-profit) is incorporated with a Board of Directors, the members of which represent all significant areas of the sport, industry, and educational processes.

The USYFFT, Inc., is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, Federal I.D. 26-1759674