Category Archives: archery

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Patrick Huston

10 February, 2016

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PH at the National Series final 2015. Pic by The Infinite Curve

Patrick Huston, 20. is a full time archer for Team GB. He won the first stage of the indoor World Cup in Marrakesh in 2015, and is the reigning World Youth Champion (winning in Wuxi back in 2013), as well as the World Junior Field Champion from Croatia in 2014. 

This is my second interview with Patrick. You can read the first one from 2013 here, and find his website here: http://www.patrickhuston.com/

Where are you right now and what can you see?

On a SouthWest airlines flight from Las Vegas to San Diego. The chair in front has Alex Smith with his headphones on and the old air steward sporting bright white hair and a yellow vest.

Tell everyone why this has been a good year for you.

This past year has been my first full year as a full time archer, and I’ve absolutely loved it!  I’ve set a World Junior record of 348/360 at 70m during a 1440 round. This also claims every record up to European Senior and below as mine as well.  It was on the second day of the National Series at Exmouth in August, amazingly at the first tournament I’ve camped at!

I also won the British National Series (outdoor), the British Target Championships with a clean sweep across the three events and my first senior international – the Indoor World Cup in Marrakech saw me win men’s recurve gold.  Such an experience!  I’d advise you to have a look at the video! My shooting is a lesson in why to never give up during a head-to-head.

Is there any part of your technique you’ve changed recently?

Well, over the summer I started doing a fairly noticeable canting of my bow. A photo of this was actually the cover of issue 103 Of Bow International.  The reason before this was that as I did it I dipped my left scapula down and engaged the lower traps on that side to hold the position.

The thing I actually loved about doing it was that loads of people have no idea why I did it and some came up with many of their own explanations of why I might be doing it… ;).

How has your mental game changed? Has it changed?

Yes, quite a lot.  I read ‘With Winning in Mind’ by Lanny Bassham in June and the stuff he teaches in that revolutionised my mental game.   I think I already had a pretty solid mental game but now I feel I can hit the focus level and intensity I need far more consistently.  I’m really pleased to have been able to spend an even with Troy and Brian Bassham, Lanny’s sons, in Vegas. Absolutely wonderful guys!

When you broke the European record in August, did you know you were on for it? If so, how did the last arrow feel?

I have to say I knew I was on for records but I didn’t know how high, personally I just knew Larry (Godfrey) had the British record at 343, so I knew I’d be over that. It hadn’t really occurred to me that I might be achieving well above that! The last two ends I did come up and down a little more than I would normally do and I was there till the last twenty seconds, something I really don’t do outdoors. The last end my last arrow was shaky, I won’t deny that, frankly I feel it was very shaky.  I probably held a good ten or more seconds, but I still hit a nine with it! I’ve just asked Ashe (Morgan) and he says I wasn’t really noticeably shaky at all… just my point of view then!

Have you learned anything from other archers on international duty recently?

I think the most important thing I have learnt recently is to check your scorecard thoroughly and to make 100% sure you have it signed.  With Reo Wilde having the USA men’s compound team dropped from the cut (in Copenhagen) for not checking that his target companion had written the right score – and those guys would have been serious contenders for the world title.

It’s the kind of thing you don’t really think about but when it really matters it’s gonna jump up and bite you in the bum. I know judges in the UK are being lenient with it, which is fair as it’s a lower standard of shoot at home, but we really need to get on top of this so that our athletes fit the bill abroad and also so our shoots are the hitting the same standards as internationals.

Tell us your impression of Rio and the Sambodromo. 

The Sambodromo is the most amazing venue!!  It is the home of the Rio Carnivale, an enormous concrete structure rising 20m or more each side. We are shooting on a concrete surface, strangely with a massive hump in the centre which is being flattened out with a man-made surface on top of it.  There is a huge arch, not dissimilar to the McDonald’s M, at the target end. This is the back drop of many concerts held in Rio.

The spectator stands tower above the shooting line with ten or more levels, each block holding around 10,000 people.  The ranking round, in front of this arch is on a field maybe 150m wide, whilst the matches are held in a much more confined area. Here the stands are maybe only 50m or less apart. This will make for some high intensity archery! The precursor of this you could already see with Kim Woojin shooting 353/360 for his last 36 arrows at the test event.

What’s the strongest part of your shot cycle?

Frankly I would have to say my release. It is a result of years working to get back tension involved in my shot.  I shot four times a week in my early teenage years and a very large proportion of this time was trying to clean up my release and get through the clicker. I have a strong back half of my shot which is probably the foundation of my shot.  It knows exactly what it does, and it does it well.

Funnily though one of the hallmarks of the best archers in the word is incredibly fine clicker control – basically at full draw they hold a millimetre or so of point under the clicker and expand through that! Strangely I have pretty crap clicker control comparatively, I hold maybe three or four millimetres in front and often seesaw a bit back, however the movement is consistent and powerful which is what I need!

Who was your inspiration as a child?

As an actual child I would say Agamemnon of Mycenae. I have a copy of his death mask at home in Northern Ireland from a visit to Greece as a youngster – my granny was a great fan of the classics.  I always admired his incredibly leadership and persuasive capabilities!  He united a massively disparate nation of Greek kingdoms under one banner to attack one of the most well defended strongholds in the world – Troy!

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via instagram.com/hustagrams

What have you got planned for the outdoor season?

Well, as you all know this outdoor season is a pretty important one for us guys on the GB squad. We have Olympic qualification as the first big target on the agenda! The year is starting out with a week in Chula Vista – the US Olympic Training Centre – doing high level competition training with a host of other international teams. That’s where we are off to at the moment!

Then we go down to Mexico for a week more unstructured training with those guys.  March we are at home most of the time… But at the end we fly out to Antalya for a training event on the World Cup field there, home for a selection shoot then shortly after off to Shanghai for the first leg of the outdoor World Cup.

We come back from that, another selection shoot – these two are for the European Championships, which come in at the end of May. These present an opportunity to qualify one man and one woman for Rio. That event is held on Friday 27th of May, support would be much appreciated! You can make a weekend of it and come along to Market Square on Saturday and Sunday and watch the finals. Two weeks later it’s off to Antalya for the World Cup again with the hope of securing teams of places for the games. Busy I know!! Pretty mental when you look at all of it like that.

Who’s the new GB coach, then?

Richard Priestman.  He’s a three time Olympian and twice a bronze medallist – Seoul and Barcelona in the team event – he’s been around since the dawn of modern archery and frankly knows everything! Hanging worked with him for the past few months I’m very pleased with him and we are already seeing noticeable increases in the scores being posted! He’s the kind of guy who you’ll ask him a question about something archery related and he’ll give you three or four different opinions on how to approach the topic and then apply the most suitable one to you…

Thanks Patrick! Shoot strong this year. 

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Bhutan: the first nation of archery

8 February, 2016

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There was extraordinary news for the sport last month as the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan became the first nation in the world to institute a mandatory Olympic archery programme in every school. Kuensel reports:

All the schools in the country would initiate Olympic format archery programme with trained instructors by 2020… the long-term grassroots programme aims to build base for the Bhutanese archers in the recurve bow, the bow used in Olympics.

BAF’s General Secretary, Tsewang Rinchen, said SSIs, physical education teachers and games in-charge are being trained using a prototype of the recurve bow made from bamboo.

Since providing all the trainees with the actual bow was expensive for the federation, he said, a simplified version of the bow was made from bamboo and used for the training.

“On an average a recurve bow would cost Nu 100,000 ($1500) just for the body without any accessories,” said Tsewang Rinchen. “We have simplified and brought down the cost. We’ll further streamline the bow so that it will be easy for parents to make one for their kids.”

“We don’t have a programme promoting our own national game in schools, it’s ironic.”

Because of these limitations, he said the selection for the national team for international competitions are also done ad hoc.

“Through this programme we want to groom children from a very young age so that over the time we can produce quality archers and have a better chance against international counterparts,” added Tsewang Rinchen.

Famously, Bhutan is the only country in the world where archery is the national sport.  If you haven’t already, make sure to watch the documentary The Archers Of Bhutan, which I wrote about last year. This contrasts traditional archery (albeit often with compound bows) with the Olympic career of Tshering Choden.

Archery Way

A recent news article shows the continuing difficulties faced by full-time Olympic athletes in the country, with just a single Olympic field available. However, Bhutanese archers managed to snag four individual bronze medals and a team silver at the 2016 South Asian Games in Shillong, India  – a meet crushingly dominated by the host nation.

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Bhutanese ladies recurve team, 2016 South Asian Games

As well as a trip to the World Championships in Copenhagen, Bhutan sent a squad to the Shanghai World Cup last year; their recurve archer Kinley Tshering had already made quite an impression at the 2014 Asian Games, using Brady Ellison’s old bow.

I’m hoping to go to Bhutan at some point in the next few years and see if this extraordinary idea bears any fruit. As the last nation on earth to introduce television hurtles towards modernity, who knows what could happen?

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more bad archery

27 January, 2016


If you can’t see the video above click here.

So here we have an US archery-based commercial for Milk Life , fresh for 2016. Oh my. Where do we start? I did make a vague promise to stop featuring ‘bad archery‘ as a category, and let the Back-To-Front Archery Club carry the torch, but sometimes you’ve got to step in.

So, you wanna use archery to illustrate how awesome your product is, right? Don’t blame you. It’s pretty hot right now.

Let’s go with the stance. It’s not too bad; her toes shouldn’t be pointed that far out, weight is a bit off balance. The chunky riser shape they’ve overlaid the milk on the second shot strongly suggests a Samick wooden trainer bow. Cheapskates. She’s gripping it all wrong. She’s gripping it, for a start. You don’t grip. Two finger draw, should be one over two under – or three under for real barebows, but I guess they all watched the Hunger Games again. Maybe that massive ring on her third finger got in the way.

Her draw wrist is cocked sideways and not flat to the forearm. Hope she likes wrist pain. Her bow elbow is wayyy over extended. No bracer, either. That’s gonna hurt tomorrow. Shoulders aren’t in alignment, which means it’ll be all arm muscle to draw – you aren’t using your bones and back, as our Lord intended.

She doesn’t anchor to her face or anywhere else. Cut back to the wide CGI shot, where the arrow isn’t anywhere near where it was in the previous shot. Lazy. And inevitably, there’s a  horrible sideways popped release (if she’s actually releasing a physical string) that would send things wildly to the left.

But no matter, because the arrow doesn’t seem to actually hit the target, looks like it’s just been CGI’d in there. (I’m guessing they gave up after running out of fresh target faces). As for the arrows, the points wider than the shaft and the gigantic plastic nocks indicate that they must be the standard child’s starter fiberglass ones you get with the jelly bow sets. Cheapskates again. Why not go for some awesome crested traditional arrows, beautiful feathers flying? Says ‘authentic outdoors life’ right there.

Look, I know. No-one cares. It looks like a girl firing a bow (made of erm, milk) and that’s all that matters, right?

BUT: this is the thing I’ve said a few times. I believe that people tend to recognise authenticity when it is in front of them. When something sophisticated or technical is presented you can almost always tell when you are seeing an expert doing something rather than just an actor – and with archery-based ads that little gleam of reality is only going to enhance the image of rugged individualism / ‘aiming for the gold’ / ‘hitting the target’ etc. that they are trying to project with their products.  You could get more interesting close ups, too.

Also the archer is very unlikely to be the most expensive element of the production, and I could name half a dozen elite archers, male and female, who are young & hottie enough to sell this particular gig.

So: I think you could have tried harder, Milk Life. And it would have been better. For you. For your sales. For everybody. Duuhhhh.

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A clean sweep for Korea?

25 January, 2016

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This week Dutch sports information firm Infostrada published predictions for every medal at Rio 2016 on their ‘Virtual Medal Table‘. For the first time (apparently) they have predicted a clean sweep of four gold medals for Korea in the archery – men’s and women’s team gold, and Ki Bo Bae and Kim Woojin predicted to take top honours in August. To save you going through it, their full predictions for ‘our thing’ are right here: 

Women’s Team

  1. Korea
  2. Russia
  3. India

Men’s Team

  1. Korea
  2. USA
  3. Italy

Women’s Individual

  1. Ki Bo Bae
  2. Choi Misun
  3. Lin Shih-Chia

Men’s Individual

  1. Kim Woojin
  2. Rick Van Der Ven
  3. Lee Seungyun

The methodology is based around major competitions, world ranking, and past results heavily weighted toward previous Olympic success, which seems reasonable – for most sports. Unfortunately, our thing is reliant on peak performance and subject to considerable variance. It should be remembered that Infostrada are a commercial outfit who rely on headlines and just a little controversy to sell their products – and they’ve been wrong before. 

I suspect the actual archery medal table will look a little different.  Rick Van Der Ven’s nod seems to be based on his world ranking and Copenhagen performance. He’s a great champion and a great performer, but I’m not sure I’d pick him for an Olympic medal this year – although I’d be incredibly happy to see him prove me wrong. 

The team picks ignore clear and present dangers from China on both sides, Chinese Taipei on the men’s and Japan on the women’s side  – and perhaps half a dozen other squads who could very easily produce a last four run. The individual titles have seen many extraordinary peak performances and unexpected victories over the years. It seems entirely possible we’ll see something similar again. 

Finally: the great white sharks. It seems very unlikely Korea won’t be taking home at least a clutch of medals, but none of the four named Koreans are guaranteed a place on the squad – they will all have to fight for a place at their internal selection tournament in April: by some distance, the toughest recurve tournament on the planet. 

Also, the national stakes ratchet ever higher. The enormous pressure to win appeared to get to the Korean men’s team at the Asian Games in 2014, and they only ended up with bronze. The conditions and humidity in Rio perhaps don’t really suit squads used to temperate climes – there were issues raised during the test tournament, and the whole lot of them are on extended acclimatisation training in Sao Paulo of this writing. Naturally, no expense or effort will be spared to try and bring the goods home back to Seoul, but could the pressure be too much?

As for Ki Bo Bae’s frequently stated ambition to win back-to-back Olympic titles – something no-one has ever done – it would almost certainly be the greatest target archery achievement of all time. We’ll see. 🙂

Stay tuned for a full Olympic picks piece later on this year. 

More on Infostrada and their medal predictions here. 

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Oh: “I will accomplish all your goals.”

19 January, 2016

 

Click here to watch the video if it doesn’t appear above. 

The Korean sports press have started the Rio hype early, and have been pulling in all their best prospects for a quote – however reluctant. Here’s what Oh Jin-Hyek had to say:

“So… erm…the last 4 years flew by quickly since London.”

Q. What’s the goal for Rio 2016?

“All athletes, myself included, are facing the most important tournament this year. We will prepare strongly and hope to accomplish all the goals for Korea.”

Q. What’s your strategy for the Olympics?

“The rules have changed this time round and there is an introduction of sets in the group competitions.

So, we need to focus on finishing matches in the fastest time possible. There is also the possibility of further rule changes after Rio, so it might be the last chance to achieve our goal.”

Q. What’s your personal goal for Rio?

“Well, the end of my professional career is always on the back of my mind, and perhaps I would like to end it sooner rather than later.  Whatever I decide, I would like to save the best possible result till the end.”

Q. Can you give everyone a message for the New Year and your resolution for the Olympics?

“Hello, I’m Oh Jin-Hyuk , a professional archer. It is the year for the Rio Olympics 2016. This summer, the national team including myself will compete to the highest standard and we look forward to your support!”

OH

 

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David Bowie 1947-2016

11 January, 2016

 

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“The Archer”. David Bowie on the Station To Station tour in Toronto, Feb 1976. Photo by John Rowlands.

“Having seen the previous evening’s show on the 1976 Station To Station / Isolar Tour, Rowlands was primed to capture the image of Bowie as ‘The Archer’ while the singer was preparing to ‘fire’ his imaginary bow and arrow… The pose was used as a signal for Bowie’s lighting engineer to kill the lights. The picture was taken moments before the lights were killed. Rowlands took the shot about 30 feet away from the stage and he credits his Hasselblad camera for producing an image that is striking in its sharp tonal range of whites, blacks and greys.”

Apparently this was one of Bowie’s favourite pics of himself. You can buy an eye-wateringly expensive signed print of it here.

David Bowie. 8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016. Rest in peace. x.

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“After Rio comes Tokyo. I want to make it to the Tokyo Olympics.”

30 December, 2015

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SEOUL: Newsis.  Ki Bo Bae: “I’m shooting 450 arrows day preparing for the Rio Olympics. But right now, the national selection tournament is more nerve-jangling than Rio.”

During an interview that took place this 22nd December at Korea National Training Center Archery Field, ‘Empress of Archery’ Ki Bo Bae (27 years old, Gwangju City Hall), a double gold medalist of archery at the 2012 London Olympics and Gwangju Summer Universiade, had this to say:

“The Brazil Olympics is due for next year, but the national selection tournament is first in line. I’m trying my best to cope with the anxiety I get from thinking about all of the talented archers that I will be competing against in that tournament.”

“To take part in this competition is extremely tough. It lasts for 6 to 7 days, so the score of the day is entirely dependent on my condition. I can never lose my focus and tension, and I’m nervous at every moment.”

“When I’m in the national team, I have the tendency to put all of my concentration on the score, leading me to overlook many other aspects of being an athlete: but I fixed all those aspects when I was eliminated from the national team (in 2014)”, stated Ki.

“After leaving the national team, I felt rather refreshed. You’re like a hamster running on its wheel: the Olympic village life kept repeating on an ongoing cycle, from early morning to night. It was very exhausting, so life outside of training was free as free could be. These things actually were good to release all of my energy, and I had a great time.”

Ki mentioned, “For this year, there were many, many shoot-offs in the national tournament. In preparation for this, I also had to work on my shoot-offs.”

The set rule is changing for the team match, with Rio marking its first Olympic start. Due to many matches ending in a draw, a shoot-off in which results an overtime match will be very important. When each player shoots an arrow and a tie is given as the score, the archer who shoots closer to the centre takes the win.  Through training simulation, the national team is practicing concentration – and in the complicated selection process procedure around 8% of the total final score will be based on shoot-off performance.

“The Olympics that come every four years may not last long, but it’s not like that for the players. It’s where I’m playing as a national representative, therefore making it a place I want to achieve everything I couldn’t (elsewhere).”

Continuing, Ki said, “In time for winter, I’m spending a lot of time on weight training and fitness-orientated training. With the help of psychological counselling, I’ve also been trying to deal with the pressure increasing as the match approaches.”

When we asked about the struggles of having to train in the bitterly cold weather, Ki replied, “We train indoors where a hole is punctured through a window covered in plastic, which means it’s not cold enough for your hands to freeze up. The environment is organized so that the archers train well, so practicing is pain-free.” (EDITOR’S NOTE: it’s not pain-free for everyone)

Considering that this is Ki’s second Olympic experience, we questioned whether she’s willing to make more appearances in any future competitions. With strong determination, Ki stated firmly: “After Rio comes Tokyo. I want to make it to the Tokyo Olympics.”

At least reading the press, there seems to be a particularly brutal, tough-it-out approach to winter training among Korean Olympic athletes, with temperatures in Seoul only a few degrees above zero. Plus if I have parsed this right, the whole squad are being sent up a freezing mountain again for New Year’s Day – just like last year.

Via this news piece from Newsis. Thanks to Jessica Cho. 

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Longbows of the Mary Rose

10 December, 2015

A brief clip here from the BBC4 programme The Mary Rose – A Timewatch Guide, the segment featuring the longbows and arrows pulled off the ship, and the testing of one of them to destruction. The actor Robert Hardy, later to play Cornelius Fudge in the Harry Potter films, was part of this project as one of the country’s foremost longbow experts.

If you don’t know, the Mary Rose was a Tudor warship in the navy of King Henry VIII which sank off the coast of Britain in 1545. The well-preserved remains were raised off the seabed in 1982 in the greatest maritime archaeology project in history, and have been yielding up secrets ever since. As for the bows, here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

“A total of 250 longbows were carried on board, and 172 of these have so far been found, as well as almost 4000 arrows, bracers (arm guards) and other archery-related equipment... Longbow archery in Tudor England was mandatory for all able adult men, and despite the introduction of field artillery and handguns, they were used alongside new missile weapons in great quantities…There were several types of bows of various size and range. Lighter bows would have been used as “sniper” bows, while the heavier design could possibly have been used to shoot fire arrows.”

The warbows found on board were extremely heavy – up to 185lb in draw weight. Famously, the scientists managed to identify several likely archers among the hundred plus skeletons found on the wreck, based on their shoulder blades. Anyway, enjoy.

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