One Arrow at a Time: My Archery Story So Far

If you'd told me a little over a year ago that I'd be travelling around the country with a bow, shooting at national competitions, training at Lilleshall and spending far too much time talking about arrows, I'm not sure I'd have believed you.

But that's pretty much what happened.

My archery journey hasn't been very long yet, but quite a lot seems to have happened already. There have been medals, PBs and some amazing days. There have also been arrows I'd quite happily pretend never happened.

So, as this is the first post in Arrow by Arrow, I thought I'd start at the beginning.

It started with just shooting arrows

When I first started archery, I definitely wasn't thinking about national competitions, classifications or development programmes. I just enjoyed shooting.

There's something really satisfying about standing on the shooting line, focusing on the target and trying to make the next arrow better than the last one.

Of course, archery has a slightly annoying habit of making you think you've finally worked something out... and then your next arrow reminds you that you haven't.

I think that's part of why I like it. There's always something to improve.

Then competitions happened...

Eventually I started competing, and my first competitions felt very different from shooting at the club. Suddenly there were scores, other archers, judges, whistles and the strange feeling that everyone else seemed to know exactly what they were doing.

I soon realised something important though. I really enjoyed it.

Not just winning or getting a good score, but the whole experience. Meeting other archers, shooting somewhere new, trying to beat my own PB and learning how to keep going when an end doesn't go the way I wanted.

Gradually, the scores started improving. Then came my first wins, a county title, a county record and Master Bowman.

Somewhere along the way, I think we realised this might have become slightly more than a hobby.

Lilleshall

One place has become a pretty important part of my archery journey: Lilleshall and Archery GB's Performance Archery Centre.

Being accepted onto the Archery GB National Talent Development Programme gave me the chance to learn from different coaches and think about much more than just where my arrows land. I've learned more about technique, preparation, mindset and what happens when things don't go to plan.

That's probably one of the biggest things I'm working on.

It's very easy in archery to shoot one bad arrow and then spend the next five arrows thinking about it. I'm learning to reset.

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

I also train at Lilleshall on Tuesday evenings, so it sometimes feels as though we're there rather a lot!

I'm definitely not complaining.

Some pretty amazing moments

There have already been some moments that I don't think I'll ever forget.

Competing at the Junior National Outdoor Championships was one of them. Finishing 3rd on the first day was amazing, and then I finished 8th on the second.

Then there was the Archery GB Youth Festival. More than 200 young archers from across the four home nations were there, which made it feel completely different from anything I'd done before.

I came away with Silver in the Under-15 Female Team event and Gold in the Under-15 Mixed Pairs.

That Gold medal was definitely one of those “did that actually just happen?” moments.

I've also achieved Indoor Grand Master Bowman and Outdoor Master Bowman classifications, represented Staffordshire and the West Midlands, and managed to keep pushing my PBs higher.

I'm proud of all of those things. But I don't think the medals are actually the biggest change.

I'm a different archer now

When I look back at the archer who entered those first competitions, I can see how much I've changed.

I'm learning more about my shot and I'm getting better at understanding what went wrong rather than just being annoyed that it went wrong. I'm also learning to listen to different coaches and take useful things from different coaching styles.

And I'm learning that sometimes progress isn't a new PB.

Sometimes progress is shooting a bad arrow and not letting it ruin the next one. Sometimes it's turning up to training when things aren't quite clicking and working through it anyway.

That's probably harder to put on a results page.

And apparently I'm getting older...

From January I'll move into the U15 category.

Which seems slightly unfair considering I've only just turned 13!

It means longer distances, new challenges and probably quite a lot more learning. But that's okay.

There are lots of things I still want to achieve, but I don't want archery to become just a list of scores and medals. I want to enjoy it. I want to keep learning. I want to see how far I can go.

And I'd really like to encourage more young people, especially girls, to give archery a try too.

Arrow by Arrow

That's partly why we've started this journal.

Arrow by Arrow is going to be where I share some of the things that don't necessarily belong on a results page: competitions, training, equipment, mindset, things I've learned, things that haven't worked and probably a few disasters.

And some of the other things I enjoy away from archery too.

I don't know exactly where my archery journey is going to take me yet.

That's probably what makes it exciting.

For now, I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing.

Aim. Focus. Believe.

And take it one arrow at a time.

Hope 🏹