Archery is full of people who are amazingly supportive, share their knowledge and if you need it, often their kit! Of course, like anywhere in life there are those people who are less friendly, but they are a minority and easy to ignore fir the most part.
When Jack first started shooting he’d tried other sports and they had been what we had expected, friendly but often standoffish as everyone wants to win. Very early in his competition journey he had an equipment issue and would have had to retire had it not been for the boy who was his main competitor, he had a spare of what Jack needed and the boy’s dad fit it to Jack’s bow. The idea that Jack would have to finish and his son would win, rather than by shooting against each other his son might not beat him wasn’t even considered. We were stunned that day and without a doubt the boys became fast and firm friends and have grown together and always supported one another.
More than that I have watched my children, our family, make countless friends on so many ranges because we support and are supported by others. We all want the best for each other, always, of course we all want to win, can be incredibly disappointed if we don’t, but we also celebrate the successes of others. I genuinely do not know of another sport quite like ours. I am proud of it and those of us that take part.
I am grateful to the friends I make all over the country, as a parent of archers, as an archer or as a volunteer. I love competing but I am only interested in beating myself but I travel all over the place to compete or to volunteer, I firmly believe that I may walk on to a range of strangers but it’s likely I will leave at the end of the day having made new friends.
I don’t hide the issues I have, or that it is sometimes incredibly difficult to leave the house let alone pick up my bow and shoot. Not helped by the occasional rude individual who feels that sharing their opinion about me sitting or even how I am shooting, is perfectly acceptable. Without a doubt the friends I have made help me and support me and I am blessed to have them, particularly a core group who have stood by me throughout everything. Without them there would be no Integr8archery CIC because they believed in me when I didn’t.
This weekend saw me hit a rough spot with my PTSD and the night terrors wild, I know the trigger and I will settle again, but in the mean time a bit of support means more than I can say. At the same time a couple of friends also needed a little support, so we are an archery family and we pull together, all helping each. What started as a rough day on Sunday ended after lots of love, laughter and hugs. With arrows shot through the day. We all achieved what we wanted on Sunday and we all enjoyed our day and I never take for granted what we share, in fact I am immensely proud of how our sport brings out the very best in most of us.
