What Does Karate Have to Do With Archery? More Than I Thought... 🥋🏹

If you'd told me when I started karate at eight years old that some of the things I was learning would eventually help me become a better archer, I'm not sure I would have believed you.

They don't exactly look like similar sports. Karate involves punching, kicking, blocking and moving around quite a lot. Archery mostly involves me trying very hard not to move at all.

But I've been doing karate for four years now and archery for just over a year, and the more I've got into archery, the more I've realised how much of my karate comes with me onto the shooting line.

Starting at eight

Where it started – my first year of karate, aged eight.

I started karate when I was eight and for most of the last four years I've trained twice a week. I'm now a Brown belt with two white tags, which has taken quite a few hours of training, gradings, fitness, sparring, being taught by my coach Dean Howard and practising things over and over again.

I've learned how to attack, defend myself and use lots of different techniques, but I think some of the biggest changes have been things that aren't as easy to see.

I'm much fitter than I was when I started and definitely more confident. I've also learned that being good at something usually involves doing things repeatedly until you don't have to think about them quite as much.

It turns out that is quite useful in archery too. :)

My first tournament

Not long after I turned nine, I entered my first karate tournament. I can still remember walking into the main room of a working men's club and seeing a full-size boxing ring in the middle. That was where I was going to fight.

To say I was overwhelmed was an understatement. But as I got into my gear and Dean started my warm ups with me, I calmed a little.

Then it was time for my fight.

My first tournament. That ring looked even bigger when I was nine! 😂

To make it even more dramatic Unstoppable by Sia was playing (I had chosen this as my walk on music). I'm not sure whether that made me feel better or made the whole thing seem even more serious. 😂

I'd spent the previous four Saturdays at fight-training camp on top of my normal two karate sessions each week, so I'd done loads of preparation. I was still a little scared climbing into a proper boxing ring at nine years old, but I also felt ready. My Mum and Dad were there clapping for me and Dean was in my corner.

Once the fight started, Dean was coaching me from outside the ring. He kept reminding me about the things we'd worked on in training and stayed positive throughout the match, which helped me stay calm.

Unfortunately, I didn't start particularly well.

I was fighting a boy who was a year older than me and by the end of the first round I was behind. Over the next two rounds, though, I started clawing back the gap. All the training I'd been doing started to kick in and I stopped thinking quite so much about what I was supposed to do.

I just couldn't quite catch him.

I lost.

Things went a little better at the tournaments that followed! 🏆🥋

When I came out of the ring, Dean didn't make a big thing about me losing. He told me I'd done really well and that it had been a really good match.

I've competed in three karate tournaments now. I lost that first one, but I won the other two. After the first tournament, I always made sure I started fast and hard rather than giving myself a gap to make up later.

Looking back, that original competition was almost more important than the others, because there was, in truth, more lessons to take away from it.

So strangely, one of the most useful things I got from my first competition wasn't a trophy or medal. It was perseverance.

Practice until you don't have to think about it

Karate involves a lot of repetition. You don't learn a technique once and then magically become brilliant at it. You practise it, Dean corrects something, you practise it again, he finds something else, and you practise it again.

And again.

And again.

Archery is very, very similar.

Recently I've been doing lots of work on my bow arm. That has involved stretch bands, mirrors, blank boss shooting and repeating the same movement over and over again. Sometimes I'd much rather just shoot some arrows and see what I can score, but I'm learning that you have to get the movement right first.

One of the things I remember from that first karate competition is that eventually my training and instinct kicked in.

That's what I'm trying to achieve with archery too. I don't want to stand on the shooting line thinking about ten different things my body is supposed to be doing. I want to have practised them enough that they just happen. 

Learning to be in my own corner

There's another connection between that first tournament and archery that I hadn't really thought about until we started writing this.

When I was nine, Dean was outside the ring reminding me about my training, telling me what I needed to do and keeping me positive.

In archery, there isn't always someone standing next to me when I shoot an arrow. At competitions, I have to work things out myself and I'm learning to control what goes on inside my own head.

That's not always easy.

I can shoot an arrow that feels brilliant and then immediately shoot one that makes me wonder what on earth just happened. But getting annoyed about it isn't going to move the arrow. And one of the things I've learned to tell myself is:

The arrow has gone. I can't change it. I can change the next one.

I suppose I'm learning to do for myself some of the things Dean was doing from the corner of that boxing ring when I was nine. Stay positive, remember my training and concentrate on what I can do next.

From being shown to showing others

One of the nicest things about doing karate for four years is noticing how my place in the dojo has changed.

Dean has been part of my journey since long before I picked up a bow.

When I started, I was one of the beginners watching the more experienced students and trying to copy what they were doing.

Now I'm sometimes the person being asked to show somebody else.

Dean has started using me as his demonstration partner and sometimes I help by taking a small group and showing them things I've learned. I'm definitely still learning myself, but I really enjoy being able to help some of the newer students.

I think that's probably one of the biggest signs of how much my confidence has changed.

It's also something I'd like to do more of in archery. I've had lots of people help me since I started and I'd like to encourage other young people, especially girls, to have a go too.

Seven things that seem to work in both sports

Dean talks about the Five Virtues at JIYU Martial Arts: respect, discipline, courage, humility and integrity.

When I thought about them properly, I realised all five appear in my archery too. You need respect for your coaches and the people you're competing alongside. You need discipline to practise things that aren't always exciting. You need courage to put yourself into competitions where you might lose. You need enough humility to listen when someone tells you something needs changing, and how you behave when things aren't going well matters just as much as how you behave when you're winning.

Practicing techniques with Dean during a karate session. Concentration and listening are important in both karate and archery

I'd probably add two more: focus and growth.

Focus is a massive part of both karate and archery, and hopefully the growth part is fairly obvious when I look at the difference between the eight-year-old who walked into her first karate lesson and the person I am now.

I'm still nowhere near finished learning either of them.

JIYU and the next part of my journey

Archery has become much busier over the last year, so recently I've had to reduce the amount of karate I do. But I don't want karate to disappear from my life because I enjoy it and because I now realise how much I've got from it.

That's why I'm really pleased that Dean and JIYU Martial Arts are going to become a Development Partner in my archery journey.

Dean has actually been part of my development since long before I ever picked up a bow. He's helped me become fitter and more confident, but he's also taught me about discipline, focus, staying positive and what happens when you keep working at something.

As I continue developing in archery, I'll still be doing karate and hopefully joining some of JIYU's other fitness and development sessions too. I'd also like to keep giving something back by helping some of the younger students when I can.

When I was eight, I walked into karate as a complete beginner.

Four years later, I'm a Brown belt, I'm sometimes helping other students, and I'm competing in a completely different sport at regional and national level.

I'm not sure eight-year-old me would have predicted any of that.

Although she probably would have been quite pleased to know she'd eventually get some trophies. 😁

And apparently spending four years learning how to punch, kick and move quickly is surprisingly useful when your other sport involves standing incredibly still.

Who knew? 🥋🏹

Hope🏹