Blog with a message

Projects update – seems appropriate today

Helen Sharpe Blog with a message, Event recap, Quick catch up

The last few weeks there have been a number of enquiries and some of those who support me, or who do work with me have also had questions asked by people about Integr8Archery both the Community Interest Company and the archery club. So I thought as we are at the next quarter and I have been doing updates at intervals then it seems timing is good to answer at least some of those questions.

Along with that pre Integr8Archery rollouts were planned from 19th June 2022 to 4th October 2023 – today! Perfect timing then.

I had worked on my projects, then grew them as an ambassador for AGB, then collaborated with Aim4sport, working on their projects, mine and creating some together, in some cases threading them together. Information was out there about some of what was going to be launched after the closure of the shop and training centre. I have explained that I have little to no knowledge to answer questions outside of my work with Integr8Archery though I have tried to help where I can.

So where are things at that I know of?

Archery In Education –

This project currently sits at 18 secondary schools and 5 primary schools in Northamptonshire. Along with 2 schools in Norfolk, 1 in Lincoln, 3 in Yorkshire, 2 in Kent, 3 in the south and I am supporting coaches in a variety of areas who work in a total of 11 other educational settings. There are 5 settings I have drawn a line under who were part of my project but I cannot/will not work with the coaches in those settings.

Disability and Health

I thoroughly enjoy spending time with the DISC group hosted by Northamptonshire Carers and have a great time. The group being set up for existing archers with disabilities had some delays but is getting back on track and will be getting together soon. I have had a great time over the summer being invited to a number of groups who support people with disabilities showing just how adaptive archery is and I am excited about plans for some long term work on access around the areas of learning disabilities, wheelchair and mobility issues, physical disabilities and also visually impaired individuals.

Incusive and supportive

Integr8Archery has hosted another 3 groups of ladies who have found themselves in refuge and making amazing progress on changing their lives and regaining control and confidence. As with any individual or group I try to pair projects with the right coaches, we don’t all have the same strengths and that’s what make us great together. This is definitely a group that selection of coaches is key and I thank those who have been involved. It’s been an amazing experience to be allowed to work with these ladies.

I have worked with several groups around accessibility and inclusion of those with different cultural backgrounds and I am excited to see a couple of these grow into amazing ideas for sustainability.

I continue to work with 3 support groups for LQBTQIA+ young people. The idea I had developed around inclusive competition that became entwined with a bigger idea and I took to a working party and the NGB is something that I stepped away from after being attacked via social media that the idea I had joined with didn’t belong exclusively to the person who shared it with me. So I went back to my original smaller idea and we have had a few small local competitions based on inclusion and I have also worked with 3 senior archers looking at competitions and supporting them in their respective journeys.

There have been another 2 groups of foster children who have taken part in a number of sessions and have had a great time and I am currently working with a couple of different agencies and creating opportunities for children in care to be involved with our sport.

Safeguarding

My most important role I think, those that know me well know this. I constantly work to improve my learning and knowledge in an area that has impacted my paid employment for 30 years and my years of volunteering. Safeguarding is something I have done for years in my sport and I see well-being an important part of this role too.

A large portion of my time here is taken up with something that sees me having been dealing with 14 years worth of information from 42 archers and coaches and sees me continuing to support 9 people and their families on an ongoing basis but also new people come to me at intervals. Some days this fight can be overwhelming but though I have occasionally considered walking away from it, I can’t, changes need to be made so on we fight. I do need to thank Mario, Lynn, Ted and Martin though because I couldn’t fight if I didn’t have a support network for my own wellbeing.

A network in safeguarding is especially important and supporting other officers has always been an important part of what I do.

Charity and franchise

Having spent over two years working hard on contracts and legislation and seeing it all fall into place was amazing, we had it sorted. Creating the charity was something to be hugely proud of and I had a number of people who were ready to invest and donate when we were to launch in June 2022. Linking these two things with the education project was a fantastic project and had amazing potential so pulling it apart was upsetting. Keeping my education project and growing it has made me proud. Being allowed to help look at where those donations could go instead was a privilege and combined it was a huge amount of money, though some offered it to me for Integr8Archery I refused all offers out of this pot as it simply wouldn’t have sat well with me to take it. I do thank those who have sent me updates on the impact that money has had, it’s great to see young people enjoying opportunities that have been given.

That positive energy and news has helped balance the ultimate decision I had to make to pass on some of the abuse I received to the police and that 2 of those people had charges made against them. What was to be an amazing project certainly beat me emotionally and mentally in the end. The decision to pull the education project out of it was the only thing I could do, the other elements were not mine to push forward without the collaboration.

America

The app and the coaching elements that I had worked on here were not mine to continue. However I was blown away to be asked to continue to consult with what had been my elements and I do enjoy the process of developing the community sports projects across the Atlantic, even if that means I am usually shattered and ready for bed when they are excited 😆 again it’s great to get updates and even a couple of little videos from some of the children who have been involved in the three cities involved. It’s not the right time at the moment for me to go over but it’s lovely to have the open invitation to visit when I am ready. I have however had a couple of visits to Camden to chat with my friend who’s business opened those doors when I contacted him and been rewarded with a couple of my favourite sandwiches as thanks for what I am doing – I’ll take that as reward for giving my time.

Volunteering

The very many hours that I give to Integr8Archery all given as a volunteer.
I also love giving my time to the other sports that I join occasionally, especially within the running community who are always a great crowd. I love the time I spend with the competitions team at Archery GB for national and international competitions and have been a little disappointed this year with how few I have managed to attend, Grand Prix, JNOC and I will be at the indoors in December but I think the changes we have agreed at work will help me balance paid employment, family commitments following the loss of dad and my own archery and let me attend more AGB volunteering next year.

I have also submitted an application to volunteer in something entirely different, I will keep you updated if this happens and I think it may surprise you to hear what it is!

Employment and my own learning

I love my job, 6 months in I can say it’s fantastic and gives me a level of satisfaction and motivation that I haven’t properly had in paid work for many years. Exhausting, mentally and emotionally draining at times, of course, but I really do feel it’s the right job for me. I don’t complain about my work, I may complain about frustrations that all of us who do the work have, it that’s very different. I am about to embark on a level 3 diploma for that job, along with restarting some courses I had paused due to my mental health and devoting time to dad so the next 12 months will be busy.

Collaborating?

I spend a lot of time in webinars, meetings, conferences with a number of groups, organisations and agencies looking at lots of areas that impact sports and how we can all work together towards common goals.

I am also enjoying working together with other Community Interest Companies and charities to bring access to sport to such a variety of groups and individuals – it’s a privilege to be part of these.

CIC and Club

Simply, we will continue to enable people to try our sport, access it in whatever way they wish, stay in it if the feel change may prevent this. When the recent kit damage is repaired our little club will pick up and carry on with its plans too. If you wish to belong to our supportive community please contact us. You don’t have to leave your club to be part of us, everyone is welcome and it’s lovely to get updates on how everyone is doing.

I am sat here feeling like I have forgotten something 🫣 no doubt someone will point it out to me 😂

So whilst I wait for that I just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me in any way or who has trusted me to help them. Never do I take any of this for granted and you, the people are always the priority 🥰🏹



Week 66 – this week has felt big, with reason

Helen Sharpe Blog with a message, weekly update

Week 65 meant a year and 3 months and I had so many things I wanted to say and I wanted to share with someone I couldn’t. 10 months now without my weekly chat with dad about Integr8Archery, plans, hopes, updates etc. He was always awesome in listening and talking and enjoying updates.

Sunday was awesome for seeing my shirts on the shooting line, and county championship medals worn with them ❤️🏹

Also a great time to catch up with friends, some archers, some coaches, some friends made through the sport, lots and lots of hugs. As a child I was taught the importance and power of a hug and many people know I scatter them around. Lots of supportive hugs that are a celebration of what we have achieved in various battles and also of acknowledging the battles still to come.

People have asked again what the purpose is of Integr8Archery CIC, it is to help bring our amazing sport to people yet to try it, to support those in it who want to stay but are struggling in various ways, to ensure and promote the inclusion, diversity and equality whilst showing how incredibly adaptive it is, enabling access for everyone. This is why the club was set up, a separate entity but enabling a safe environment for those who need it. For some this is a temporary step, for others a supportive community to be a part of, shirts, hats – ways of identifying others who share that same understanding of giving and using the supportive community.

I am proud of everything that I achieved from starting my volunteer journey in this sport but especially so of what I have achieved since creating Integr8Archery.

So today that’s my message, thank you to the many people, some who I have named before and some often but especially the huge hugs on Sunday from Anita and Lisa and the coffee reload from Lisa was especially great 😊

Tomorrow there will be another blog drop, three in three days, yesterday’s was my update, today is my thank you for the community we have created under the brand I made and tomorrow a project update, to update what is happening, give some tastes of things to come but also to answer some of the questions I am being asked, particularly around the releases I made in spring 2022.

All 3 important updates and I think each deserving of separate attention.

Wow what a weekend that was ❤️🏹

Helen Sharpe Blog with a message, Event recap, Health, Numbers and stats

In March I sat down and set my goals for the outdoor season.


Taking into account that 2018, 2019, 2020 I got a second class, 2021 finally my first and after an awful, torrid 2022 ground out another first. Knowing that where I had been in 2021 was gone for me, but the terror of 2022 was being dealt with and that mentally I had safe spaces I set those goals and looked forward to the summer.

One that would see me enjoy the whole week at Dunster and volunteer for AGB along with starting a new, amazing job.

Knowing that I hadn’t barely had an indoor season as I devoted my time to family and particularly dad’s last weeks but had, in those few occasions I had picked up my bow achieved a C class – my best ever indoor classification. I signed up to AGB’s #great arrow count and set off to see what summer would bring.

Well initially I achieved 4 personal bests in different rounds and 2 x bowman 3rd class scores – decent start I felt.

Then my shoulder started to grumble and over the next few weeks that grumbling got louder. The issue with my hands but especially my right hand, that I had been having for 6/7 years and had been gradually deteriorating suddenly, rapidly becoming a huge issue. So my shooting fell apart, no matter as I set about asking questions and looking for answers whilst carrying on, scores didn’t matter at all, smiling with a bow in my hand certainly did! Then of course we have those vocal folks who believe their opinion matters! That my scores are so appalling I have no right to be on the shooting line! Well huge raspberries to you and your opinions because your knowledge of me is zilch so you don’t have an opinion that I need!

So the great arrow count is done – 26 weeks and I have shot 15,669 arrows. Not as many as I planned. But 60% of my aim back in March. A combination of 19 scored rounds or competitions in target archery, approximately 2/3 of what I had intended. None of the 3 flight completions I had intended to attend. A combination of the new job, shifts, health and family commitments and the responsibilities I now have with dad gone impacting these aims.

Plans made with work and family to help me resolve the time issues and of course huge plans to work my backside off over indoors with bow, new release aid and pretty much a new way of shooting for me to continue to be on the shooting line and get ready for outdoors 2024.

Desperately disappointed in my classification but also happy to still be shooting at all. There has been a constant theme since I signed up to my beginners course in 2018 that I should not bother and I should quit. Thankfully I am possibly one of the most stubborn and bloody minded folks or I would certainly have quit on many occasions!

So I have one more outdoor competition in a few weeks and then indoors it will be to learn my new way forward! Planning ahead for what the possible surgeries might mean and two further steps in case the issues with my hand/arm/elbow deteriorate further and further again. Like me the county captain is a planner! 🙃

I thoroughly enjoyed this weekend – scored round stood up on Saturday and shooting the county champs Sunday morning followed by agenting Sunday afternoon, all done with amazing company 🥰

Thank you as ever to those who support me in continuing to hold my bow – forever grateful 🤗

Blown away by the words of friendship from three different people in 3 different places this weekend – always strange to hear positive thoughts about me and how I am perceived by people who have opinions I value and they had made those thoughts public!

A photo sent to me Sunday evening that, for me, truly showed me how far I have come from 16th May 2022 – wow 🤩

Lots coming this weekend and I will explain as we go through the week, for now, I am off to bed 😴🫣

Week 62 #sitting down does not mean sitting out

Helen Sharpe Blog with a message, Event recap, weekly update

This week I had to choose between national flight championships and an invitation to shoot for the county.

Having shot flight nationals in 2021 and 2022 and making great friends there as well as bringing home medals has been amazing and flight is my favourite type of archery. So much so that I include it in the list of things I deliver and share.

The county squad have been with me almost since the beginning – I hadn’t been shooting long when I received my first invitation to wear the county shirt. They have stood by me through every challenge, never judge me but always support me and in return I do what I can to support each and every one of them, always. They are my family.

So I guess the decision was easy even if I was going to miss something I love, this was about my people. The county struggle to field a squad for the Thorsby shoot every year so even injured and trying to regain form I was in.

As I sat on the line waiting for arrows to be collected I saw that there were 4 of us sat on the line, 3 out of the 5 counties had seated archers on their squad. This is hugely important for me as I am privileged to be allowed to help archers who need to make changes to stay shooting and also to introduce new people who have thought they have a disability that excludes them from sport. #sitting down does not mean sitting out. Ours is the most inclusive and adaptive sport I know.

The other noteworthy thing of this week was the completion of the NSPCC welfare officer training: time to talk delivered by UK Coaching. 3 hours very well spent and as always I do find multi sport environments incredibly rewarding as we share good practices.

Lots to do this week for work, for me and for Integr8Archery so I hope you all have a great week ❤️🏹

Quick update – you should see less disruption, down for a while but definitely not out – thank you for your support ❤️🏹

Helen Sharpe Blog with a message, Health, Quick catch up

I had huge plans for the summer and it simply hasn’t quite worked out, I am picking everything back up and the effects of that should be seen in the next few weeks. Thank you for your patience, most of you know that Integr8Archery is just me, sometimes the size of it all is a little overwhelming but I love it all the same. A lot of the projects simmer down over the summer so logically it was always going to carry the risk that if I relaxed the issues I have personally would bubble up and they did.

Nothing serious – she says 😂😂 but combined have a large impact on my day to day.

My head space – having had to go back to counselling last year that was doing ok but we had plateaued and needed something new, unsure of what that should look like I took a step in to The Frank Bruno Foundation and the foundations for my next steps have been laid and a new phase to my journey has begun.

All of those joints, if you know me you know I describe my body as second hand and the first person crashed it 😂 few joints aren’t impacted.

When I started shooting in 2018 I was fairly sure I would have two years and set about cramming as much as possible into that. With the help of Ben, as it started to breakdown we have managed to keep it going and it does throw new things regularly and we tweak and move on. I am not going to lie, the tweaking gets harder but I have my bucket list for 2025 and I really want to shoot until the end of that year and tick those boxes!

There are no surprises – my lower back, my shoulder and my hand have really had a party in 2023!!! Scores are poor but the last few weeks Martin and I have started to make some changes that seem to be the start of making it all better, I have no doubt more tweaks will be needed and I am grateful to have someone who will help me.

My hands? Grip has been a problem for many years – often drop things, glasses enter our house at great risk 😬 This year has seen the issues increase significantly and it’s not uncommon to see me dropping things 🤷‍♀️ this week a couple of new things have happened and it will be a trip to the doctor Wednesday – maybe there are clues because what has always been invisible now has a very visible indicator!

My blood, it was struggling and certainly into the beginning of summer was hard to manage, it’s not amazing but I have worked hard and it’s stabilised at fair to good 🤞🏻 so if I build on this then hopefully it can only get better, the next set of blood tests will confirm or deny if I have achieved what I think I have.

Just for a little added extra the tree bite has kicked off this summer, maybe with everything else I have just been walking differently and so antagonised it, who knows but it’s always interesting to suddenly have reduced sensation in my foot!

Anyhow, the point is I needed to focus on this stuff, the work isn’t done, it’s never going to be, but I can get my head down and crack on with all things archery, so expect it all to pick up in the next week or so. Helped also by my day job sitting down and helping me find a way to stay in a job I love but saw me loose me for a while whilst I gave everything to them and my family and left nothing in the tank for me – fantastic as I do love working in that crazy house 🙃

Thank you especially to Clair, Ben, Pip, Dan, Will, Martin, AOR and of course Jack and Rose ❤️🏹

Today I am off to shoot some arrows and eat burgers at AOR before heading up to Derbyshire to spend time with mum and shoot for the county tomorrow. The love the county squad show me is never taken for granted 🤗

To my flight family, I shall really miss you tomorrow and I am sad that I have missed out on my flight season this year. Love you all and I have already set about planning to see you all next year 🥰🏹

Have a great weekend and never underestimate what you all give me, on the tough days you keep me going thank you 😊

Week 61 – Completed the programme and now the hard work really begins 🥊

Helen Sharpe Blog with a message, weekly update

If we go back to July (it seems so long ago!) you may recall me writing about dragging success out of the jaws of defeat during my first visit to the Frank Bruno Foundation. Today I attended the presentation for those of us who have most recently completed a programme delivered by the foundation. I took part in the first blue light card programme funded by the blue light card foundation, and I am very grateful to the foundation for providing the opportunity.

Part of the success is that as most of us work shifts we are welcome to attend what we can of the 8 weeks because it’s incredibly unlikely that we will be able to get a rota that will enable us to attend all of the sessions. I managed several and they have included laughter, tears, a week were I banged my head and still carry the bruising 🫣 we know I am clumsy! And the week where I went straight from a night shift with no breakfast and did myself no favours!

I have gained so much in those few short weeks not least the ability to admit to people that I have PTSD and it does of course bring issues with it. Previously something only a very tiny circle of people knew about and I would brush over with I have struggles with mental health and move the conversation on.

Maybe the timing was right, the happenings of the last 2 years and the loss of dad, with support I find myself in a place where I understand that I deserve the same care as those I care for and those I give my time to help and support. 8 years of therapy haven’t gotten me there, I add here that I don’t dismiss my amazing counsellor because what she has achieved means I am still here at all.

I definitely need to work on what looking after me means because having never done it I don’t really know how.

So the presentation does not mark the end but the beginning, the beginning of how I learn to put me first, this will include continuing to attend The Frank Bruno Foundation and today as I enquired about what I thought that would look like, the very lovely Tracey made an alternative suggestion and so next week I will start my next step.

It will definitely include dropping in when I can to see the people who welcomed me on that first Friday morning, who have no expectations from me and don’t care if I am grumpy, happy, there for me or them, because as we check in on each other and chat, my mood always lifts and I will at some point start to laugh. Priceless.

So, my advice would be, if you have the chance, go along, drop in and see what you can find for you.

What else have I done this week, meetings including the latest catch up with the Children’s Coaching Collaborative, another great session around the importance of listening to the voice of the child, including considering how article 12 of the UN Convention and The Rights of the Child, something I have worked with for a long time, but looking at with a different twist for sport and the coaching experience.

This will see me attend a workshop run by UNICEF UK hosted by the Play Their Way movement on the rights of the child.

What I do is a privilege – thank you

Helen Sharpe Blog with a message, News, Quick catch up

I often think back to January 2022 when I was giving a friend a lift, and I was asked why do you do all this, why volunteer so many of your hours to do the things that you do, what do you get out of it. That person is paid for everything that they do in sport, it’s a business and my choice to give my time for free clashed with their own view.

I personally think there’s a place for both and I don’t question those who do it for payment, giving my time for free with Integr8Archery and everything else that I do, and all of the years of volunteering before is exhausting and it certainly would be easier if I didn’t have to do a paid job to allow me to do it for free. First years stats show I averaged 26 hours a week – that’s a lot but I love it!

There’s variety in what I do, introducing new people to our sport, enabling self sustainability of groups by providing mentoring, supporting existing archers who are struggling, some have been bullied with in the sport, some are facing changes if they want to remain but have worries and anxiety, some have put down a bow because of some of these mentioned issues but would like support to return.

There are days that it’s tough, really hard work, the balance from a day job that is shifts, can be intense and requires all of me when on shift. Coming home exhausted, finding time to shoot my bow, dealing with my own health issues, making a brew and cracking on with meetings, emails, calls to arrange shooting for others, in whatever way possible.

But I love it, the hard thing is doing it alone, some days wanting to sit and share, good days, bad days, those who have worked with me know that some days I literally bounce as the ideas flow and I see things coming together – sharing that is great but I don’t get much opportunity to do that now.

There are those who find it irritating that I do all of this! Why it bothers anyone I do not know, there’s plenty to be done, crack on with your own thing and I wish you the very best of luck with it! Genuinely because the more of us out there doing anything for our sport means there are more people shooting and getting something from it. It gives so many things to so many people, we should be celebrating what we are all achieving.

Which brings me to what do I get out of this? The messages and updates, how things are going, what achievements have been made, and success is measured in so many ways.

The last couple of weeks have been this for someone I haven’t known long but who let me in, wanting to return to archery but things have changed and they had concerns about returning. The photo at the top of this blog is the very amazing Niamh returning to the range, the one at the bottom – one of several sent to me yesterday from the flight competition she attended.

It is a privilege to be part of anyone’s journey and some chat with me and take ideas and go off to do the things we have chatted about, some contact me some time later and update me, some stay with me, share often, message me to discuss worries along the way, some when they are on ranges struggling and thinking they need to quit.

I was once told that I was carried in someone’s pocket, their greatest cheerleader, their greatest believer, the person who never questions anyone’s right to be on the shooting line. This is a great privilege – to be allowed to support a person when they feel they’re most vulnerable. Thank you to everyone who lets me in, lets me stay and shares their successes and achievements no matter if it’s a small step or a huge leap.

So the answer to that question, why do I do what I do, give all of my time for free? Why wouldn’t I, why wouldn’t I do what I can to give anyone the peace they find on a range?

Sorry this Saturday blog is two days late, Saturday I should have been home at 22:00 but it was nearer 1:00 Sunday and as result I didn’t get to go to my beloved flight shoot, which means this year I will not get a flight season. I took Sunday to look after me, I needed that. Sometimes we need to look after ourselves to allow us to give to others and those that know me, know it’s rare I do that.

Thank you, as always for reading what I write. For allowing me to share some of what is happening with Integr8Archery CIC.

Trying to trust someone to help is hard work

Helen Sharpe Blog with a message

My history has made trust hard for many, many years.

I do not ask for help, ever, anything that makes me vulnerable simply isn’t going to be asked for. Just one of the very many things that keeps my therapist busy even after all these years!

Sport creates a quandary, you need someone to teach you, then you need someone to help you improve or deal with issues that arise, someone with the knowledge that you don’t have.

How do you find that person, where do you find them? Word of my mouth, internet search engines, sports governing bodies ……….?

You found one, how do you judge them? Know when things are right or wrong? For it to work you have to trust them, but if you trust them and then you aren’t sure about something but they explain or justify it, well they are the expert right? When do you ask someone else’s thoughts, whose opinion is the right one?

Different coaches have different ideas, different methods – right? With a little niggle, a little doubt, maybe it fades, may be it grows, and on you go. Until next time, the next thing and so the circle begins. How do you know when to ask or who to ask?

That was my merry go round, and it went on for 2 years, I tried to ask the coach, that never went well! So then I became reluctant to question anything, so I decided the better idea would be an email, a coach may be a friend but it’s also a working relationship and emails are absolutely appropriate in that setting.

Well that got me an early morning (5:30) angry, incredibly angry phone call. Screaming! How dare I speak to the coach in that way! Well I have that email, I have read it many times, it’s polite, respectful and carefully worded, my coach had had me in tears on the range on more than one occasion, some times in front of others, trust me I was careful because I was very much aware of the rage that could be triggered.

Apparently their coaching and authority had never been questioned or disrespected in such a way.

My quietly spoken question of if that was because no one else had experienced the same or had they simply not felt able to ask was met with more rage.

The response to all of this was not what I had hoped, not a sit down let’s look at how to answer those questions and make it safe for me to ask more questions about what and why we were doing things, but a slow destructive pattern that the following summer ended with me being told I have no place in this sport in any role, as an archer, a volunteer as someone who champions what this sport has to offer and what it can give.

The most destructive of endings I think to a coach/athlete relationship.

So I have fought to stay, on the line and in every other role that I value in my sport. Carved out where I am safe and who I am safe with. That trust that I barely had when I let that coach in, shattered.

To stay shooting with everything my body faces I need help, my physio – who never left, and someone who can offer the coaching but knowing I have a serious issue letting anyone have that access.

I am blessed to know many coaches, numerous sports and levels in my friendship circle. 2 who I can tentatively ask questions and who know what daring to reach out costs me, who are patient and gentle and supportive. They also respect each other, actually something else that I have learned isn’t as common as it should be either, another massive issue within coaching.

This year I have dared to let my friend, my county captain and safeguarding officer in a little, he coached me previously and he gets it. Occasional sessions where I ask questions and there may be tweaking but we shoot together, kind of coaching but without the label.

Whilst everything fell apart in Dunster I reached out to him and my physio to ask me to save my shooting with me.

Today we did that, tweaked and looked at options and sent me out into the world with work to do knowing I will ask my next question when I am ready.

I have become aware that the other coach has stepped further into my world and to stay safe I may need to shrink my world a little more, may loose one of my most important safe spaces. We are looking at ways around that.

My point? Don’t be afraid to ask questions, be brave enough to trust on your terms, there will be someone out there who will accept those terms and work with you.

If you don’t feel safe tell someone, anyone, and keep telling them until someone listens. I promise some of us do. One day we will all be safe ❤️🏹


Crazy, busy but very serious – all about safeguarding so far this week 🫶

Helen Sharpe Blog with a message, Quick catch up

This has been an incredibly serious and busy week, pretty much all along the lines of safeguarding.

A multi sports meeting around the topic of safeguarding and wellbeing. I find these kinds of meetings fascinating, frustrating and inspiring if they are my sport, multi sport or work related. You have the opinions about titles – safeguarding, welfare, child protection officers ……… and many more.

The debate about what is expected of those who take up such roles and does this vary depending on where within structure – club, county, regional, national levels. Are expectations varied depending upon if you are paid or a volunteer?

Then we enter the debate about who is responsible for safeguarding! Just those with the job title, wider committee, dare I say it? EVERYONE!

Then how do we deal with things, take details and hand it off and walk away, stay and help, support ……

Is a safeguarding course enough or should there be continuous CPD?

These meetings can take hours of unmanaged and at some point I usually feel my temper triggered. However I always come away equally inspired to have usually found others, who like me, take it incredibly seriously and one of, if not the most important topics we deal with.

Many of us who volunteer in these roles also work in something similar or connected to the issues we deal with and as such we take it incredibly seriously, the understanding of what matters left undealt with can lead too in the long term. We also understand why it’s vital those of us in these roles have a supportive network to turn to.

Anyhow it was, as always, a productive evening with links created.

Some virtual catch ups for me with a couple of archers who I have been supporting for a long time, great to catch up, see how they are getting on, discuss a couple of worries and create a plan for going forward.

Then a huge crash as something happened that threatened my feeling of safety and the work I have done to look after me. Thankfully I have people who reached out.

Some news that prompted some reviews of big issues that I have been dealing with for some time and firm decisions that I have made around who I now involve in these to further issues that are just not being resolved. Ultimately I need to know I did every to keep everyone safe and sometimes that requires more than 1 agency.

Risk assessments for young people at work and as always the disappointment that opportunities were missed for these and help that might have been sought sooner, that could have made a massive difference and reduction in trauma sorrowfully missed and now we look at how best to support recovery. This just makes the conversations around sport more focussed as I fully understand the damage of things left undealt with can do.

Last night dealing with a raid traffic accident outside of work for several hours and wondering how the gentleman is today, his prognosis and recovery and his family, hopefully they are all ok and being supported now and through the states of whatever happens. The crew for police interceptors was on scene so maybe I might find out in some months when that airs but I am fairly confident I managed to avoid being in shot, I am well practised in avoiding them when out with the roads policing officers and when they are in the officers trying to get footage when I have been at work 🤔🙃 No desire to pop up in tv shows 🫣

So apologies if you are waiting on something, I have been a tad busy with other stuff, I will get there in the next few days.

Hope you are all well and enjoying your weekend. See you all soon I am sure ❤️🏹

Remember – if those of us who care join together we can change things 🫶

Week 57 – be kind, always but also, be mindful

Helen Sharpe Blog with a message, Health, weekly update

I do not hide my battles with mental health, I don’t share everything with everybody either. It’s important to me that I don’t hide it, I have nothing to be ashamed of! By sharing, occasionally I am told it helps others too.

That said, sure I am stronger than I was last year but to be considered strong I still have a long way to go and I work at it daily. It doesn’t take much to make me wobble.

Last year was nearly my end, I survived, I didn’t hide, I know from past experiences that hiding gets easier and easier with every day that passes until months have passed and I haven’t left the house so this was important.

When you volunteer at big events you do a lot of hours, you are exhausted and the longer you are away from home – it all adds up and takes you to the edge. So last year I volunteered at the European Youth Championships – 10 days. This was just 3 months after the day that I survived so fragile, vulnerable – lots of words could be used to describe me.

On the Wednesday I was exhausted, shattered and being pushed from pillar to post by demands from 3 people, demands that clashed with each other and I found myself in a place I knew I shouldn’t be, doing something that I shouldn’t be, I had tried to avoid exactly that all morning but the people making the demands were not listening.

I found myself in a space distraught and wanting, needing to go home, trying to explain. At the same time knowing if I quit and left I would likely not make it half way home before being desperately upset and disappointed in myself and wishing I had stayed.

Stay I did, sorted myself out and got on with it! Not pretty and certainly in part caused by how immensely fragile I was.

Fast forward 48 weeks, I am stronger but not yet strong. Still recovering from what happened 16/5/22.

I know my journey, that took me from 1996 to 2021, the destruction from November 2021 to May 2022. The path to August 2022 and onto July 2023. Who I share what with? That’s up to me.

Imagine though, battling your own fight and having someone say, well it must have been a good day, Helen didn’t cry today! Certainly nothing like she did last August! For the next week, similar comments every day, well it’s better than last year when you broke down and cried and had to be taken off the field!

Now I don’t believe the person who said it meant harm. It’s bemusing to me as we have spent time on the range together since last August and it’s not been mentioned so why now and why so often? I replied several times, in ways that I believe should have ended the comments, but it didn’t stop. So I tried to ignore it. Thing is, now more people know about that day and in a way that only makes me look weak. Giving other ways to dig at me. In fact someone else who didn’t even know me last August and was nowhere near the range started to make comments in reference to it!

I have thought long and hard for the last 2 weeks, but it’s not ok. What happened happened, and it doesn’t matter why. If you saw me distressed last year and now I appear stronger why on earth would you use it to behave in such a way!

Be kind – always but also, be mindful because you know little to nothing of what another person has lived through – and now your behaviour has set me back, but also given another person something to use against me.

So this last week, I have had meetings, lots of them, in person and via the web, thank goodness for the internet and technology.
Activity partnerships and community groups reviewing existing projects and planning next steps and what I can help achieve, some exciting things there.

Activity partnerships, new groups and new projects, announcements to come over the next few weeks.

3 archers deciding to leave or adapt to remain within the sport who have allowed me in to help with their decisions and to find them the correct support, hopeful that they can stay in our sport that they love.

Last night (or was that this morning) my first collaboration meeting with a project across three cities over the water. Massively scaled down from what the plans had been last year when I had been building work for someone else but the people involved still wanted what I had always going to give and though they have offered me something huge I have, at this time kept it small to allow me to step forward slowly. Exciting though that my work here over the last 5-6 years within local and wider communities sees me invited into a project that covers communities in the UK and the USA.

So as my meeting was at 2am here I am now off to bed as I have work tomorrow!

Take care of yourself and for me, this week sees the beginning of my flight season 🥳