Hollywood often puts the spotlight on archery with kick ass girls shooting bows and arrows in movies like Brave and Hunger Games. A whole generation of young girls have grown up wanting to be just like Nerida and Katniss. It's fun and exciting but if you haven't tried it yet, the good news is it's never too late! Archery is a sport you can take up at any age.
Archery is a great sport for almost everyone, but it's often a sport overlooked by women. Archery is one of the few sports where anyone regardless of gender, age, size, fitness, strength or coordination ability can enjoy success. You can participate at whatever level you enjoy, from high level competition to flinging a few arrows with your mates or on your own. Many people say it's like a form of meditation. Shooting a bow and arrow demands all your attention. Your brain can take a break from everything else going on in your life and focus on this one simple task. At Advanced Archery we teach a simple repeatable shot process and then work on the focus and mental game to be able to repeat that shot process to the level of consistency we're after. The process is simple but getting the consistency isn't easy - but wow, when you get a shot that feels just great and the arrow hits the middle - it's awesome! And that 'reward' is enough to keep you coming back to try and do that again and again. You can join a club or shoot at home - you just need a few metres of space to put out a target with a safe backdrop. That might be shooting into the back of your garage or outside with a wall as a back stop.
The equipment available these days is amazing. It can be as simple or as high tech as you like and you'll be able to find a bow you'll love to shoot. Strength, or rather lack of it, isn't a barrier - bows are available in a range of draw weights and some are adjustable.
I started in competitive field archery over 30 years ago and then took up bowhunting after I had kids and didn't have the time to devote to competing. I still love getting outdoors and off the grid and bowhunting is still a great escape for me. Other than running, I wasn't a sporty kid at school, I wish archery in schools had been a thing back then! Now I train staff at schools to teach archery with the New Zealand Archery in the Schools Programme - a charitable trust I'm involved in. I recently had the pleasure of going back to my old high school to teach their staff to teach archery. My old PE teacher would have been astounded and amazed to see me back there teaching Phys Ed staff anything lol! So whatever your sporting background is, honestly, it's irrelevant when it comes to archery. Absolutely everyone can learn to shoot a bow and arrow.
It's important to get fitted properly for a bow and here at Advanced Archery that's all part of the service we offer. We love it if you can come in and have a couple of one on one lessons on our bows - it's a great way to get started with a solid shot process and bonus, you get to find out what kind of bow floats your boat before you buy! Then we can fit your bow to you. But if you can't make it in to see us, we can still do a lot over the phone to work out what will suit you.
At Advanced Archery we're an equal opportunities employer. Of our 6 full time staff, 3 are women, and we're all active shooters. Rachel shoots compound bows is a competitive field and target shooter. Isa shoots recurve for fun and loves to coach. So if you want to get a great start in archery and talk to women who shoot for fun, shoot to compete or shoot to hunt, come and see us!
