So – 9 weeks in!
After 6 years of working on so many things at grassroots level I truly felt I had lost everything and had no choice but to step away from my sport, the sport which I am truly passionate about.
I have given 20-30 hours a week consistently for a good 4 years volunteering in so many ways.
But when I fell apart yet again on a range on the 27/6/22 it was in the company of someone different. Someone who knew the whole messy story and had a different way of dealing with what was happening to me.
I am incredibly grateful to those few people who had helped me get through every day before that. Literally helping me to breathe most days since 29/12/21.
But 27/6/22 was different, maybe a combination of things, but after a very specific brand of talking to I drove home with a lot to think about, driving time is always when I churn through thoughts, added to the fact, I don’t sleep – and I certainly didn’t that night!!!
I woke up with a determination of what I wanted to achieve, that maybe, just maybe, I do have something to offer.
19 projects, between me and my best friend! Collaborating on each other’s work and also creating new work together for over 3 years. Using my links to bring Aim4sport and Archery GB together as I continued my projects under my role as ambassador.
But the mess I was in had created issues within those collaborations.
In July with a serious breakdown in communication all round, I signed over all of my rights to a number of projects, regardless of who started them or of how passionate I might be of my work or it’s aims. Moving forward under my new brand with the 8 I have kept but hopeful that as no communication was causing issues, with me stepping away, the ones I handed over could fly without me. Sad? terribly, and I had so much still to give on them, but I believed it was the best decision at the time.
I am repeatedly asked what’s happening with work that I had passionately discussed with people. The plans I had described for evolution and roll out from May to October.
Simply this, Aim4sport is not and never was mine. Whilst I do still belong to Aim4sport Archery Club, I have had to make the very sad decision to leave as it is necessary that I can satellite the children from my projects and this was no longer going to be possible under A4SAC.
So, my company is now a community interest company, a social enterprise as was always planned. There is a lot going on for those 8 projects that I have kept.
Recent conversations with Archery GB are seeing the communication get back on track and things moving forward to help me.
Should my best friend reach out, there is much I had planned for the work that I handed over and collaboration between the 2 brands could work. If not, then I genuinely hope that he succeeds and that is all I shall ever say, so please do stop asking for my opinions.
For now, I am working hard on the schools I have on board, the many I am working to get up and running by autumn. The re-estabilshment of archery in a local disability group. Work with a local group who provide access to sports for the deaf community. Return to shooting for the out of school setting educated children. Several new collaborations and a bunch of new groups, not least a possible huge Project Rimaya development.
So thank you to everyone who has kept me going in the last 9 months, those who have helped since I made the middle of the night decision that the best way forward to protect my work was to create a business!! I know there’s a small group of amazing people who woke up that Tuesday morning 9 weeks ago to find a couple of crazy messages asking for help – and I shall never take for granted that they stepped up.
And of course, thank you to my small but amazing committee who have stepped up to join me in creating a new archery club in the joined belief that we can help amazing children achieve great things.
All of these people surely share my believe that we can change lives through archery.
