The Sporting Connection
Six times British Field Archery Champion (including 2011), I have represented Great Britain many times over the last 20 years. But it wasn’t always like this…
I first saw archery in 1982 and immediately liked the look of it. Needing only one eye for aiming, it was an ideal sport for me. At school my 2D vision had made catching and racquet sports difficult. Using a beginners’ club bow, I came last in most of the competitions attended but I didn’t care because I just loved doing it. For the first few years I did target archery where everyone stands in a line on a field and shoots at a line of targets all day.
In 1984 I was working in Oxfordshire and my club took me to Wales to try field archery. The targets were set out on a steep, wooded hillside at various distances, some of which you had to guess. Challenging yes, but such fun. We went round the course in groups of four as they do in golf making it a very sociable weekend. There were so many factors to think about and trees and rocks to avoid. Fortunately the club lent me some arrows. I lost two and bent all the rest; I was hooked!
Since then I have gone from strength to strength. My best results have been wins at the Circuit des 5 Nations in Luxembourg and Germany, a bronze medal in the ladies’ team at the European Championships, 8th place at the World Games and 10th place in the World Championships. My results have been helped by my interest in sports psychology and performance under pressure. I developed a chart to keep records of my training and performance that allowed me to see trends and make changes to improve. I describe how to use my charts for several sports in my book Succeed in Sport train-learn-adapt-improve.
The techniques and approaches that sportsmen use can equally be applied to performance improvement of individuals in a business setting.
The following pages cover:
