Has anyone else noticed how archery is becoming trendy now, or is that just the FB/IG algorithm messing with my head…only showing me things I like…

Funny story: when I turned 30 I decided I wanted to go to the Olympics as an athlete.  I looked at all the sports I liked, athletics, rugby, judo etc and decided that I was about 10 years too late for all of them.

But then I noticed Archery.  The UK men’s team consisted of a truck driver and an icecream man and the Canadian team was similar!

Sure the best in the world were professionals but I didn’t want to win, I just wanted to make the team.

I joined the local archery club, took private coaching and even made a podcast before podcasts where a thing documenting my journey…yup always ahead of the curve….

Things were going well, my coach started to make more positive noises than negative ones (as with most minority sports, they tend to attract ‘characters’) and I thought I might be in with a shot.

That is, until I attended a club night for intermediate kids…no that not the funny part, it comes later.  There was about 10 kids that night, we all lined up to take the first shot with me in the middle standing 2 foot taller than everyone else.

Now, when you are using a recurve bow, similar to the one I’m using in the picture, you are not meant to grip it.  Ideally it will be loose in your hand and you actually let go of it when you release the arrow.  The only thing that stops it from flying out of your hand is a small leather strap that goes from your thumb to your middle finger.

That night I’d forgotten to put on the leather strap, kinda a rookie error.

Me and the kids all lined up let our arrows fly…although my arrow didn’t fly, my bow did…all the way down the range….now, as any of you who have been to a firing range will know, you can’t go and get anything until the firing has stopped.  In archery that is usually 3 arrows.  So, I had to wait there, while a bunch of 9 years olds took forever to shoot off their remaining two arrows.

When I was finally able to retrieve my bow one of the parent came up to me and said, “I don’t think this class if for you mate.”

That comment worked on a number of levels, sure it wasn’t my age group, he was factually correct, but I think he was implying that my skills weren’t quite up to the level of intermediate kids….

I took his advice onboard, let the kids take up their positions for the next volley and quietly packed up my bow and zipped it along with my olympic dreams in my case….I don’t think I ever went back.

But, I still love archery and I’m really enjoying taking the bow out with me to remote beaches like this….plus 10 year later I managed to go to the Olympics as part of the team Canada medical team…so I’m happy.

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