With everything going on my time is restricted but I am gradually picking up on communications properly and starting to make plans for 2023. There should be a flurry of emails coming out over the weekend and I have a plan now for the next 5 weeks of work and personal life, I will be splitting my time between Northamptonshire and Derbyshire so meetings that had been planned for face to face may find themselves on zoom or alternative, thank you to those have done that with me this week already.
New contacts and existing projects are all slowly moving forward now that I can settle into a routine and certainly getting regular feedback on how the schools are doing is a big boost to my mood. Though we are currently down a school due to a serious injury and rehabilitation for the coach – continued love and best wishes to Julie for a great and smooth recovery. This week has seen 218 return to shooting. Thank you to all the coaches who are helping this happen whilst supporting me.
Short but sweet, I look forward to seeing the few people I have managed to squeeze in next week for face to face meetings, I have no doubt that being around some arrows will help lift me ❤️🏹
See you all soon and thank you for your continued support.
I cannot believe that it’s been 6 months! It’s been a massive learning curve and in so many ways. I have to say thank you to everyone who has supported me in anyway from helping put on a session, to listening to me bounce ideas around, to just giving me a nudge when I think I might not be good enough.
I was literally on my knees on the 27th June having been barely surviving for 6 months and really hit a very dark place, a small group of incredible people had literally, some days helped me to breathe and dragged me through but on that Monday evening I genuinely couldn’t see any way to keep my sport at all. To continue to shoot or to continue my work within it.
What I hadn’t counted on were 2 people that evening – one who shared their own story and then told me to put on my brightest leggings – I guess it was my very specific version of being told to put on my big girl pants and fight 😉 if you know me, you would know that was probably hitting the nail on the head. The other was someone who had stood back, remaining neutral and that evening decided to express their opinion after months of being quiet. It turns out my quiet friend has a very specific brand of motivational talking, and a lot like my counsellor mostly leaves me with my thinking significantly questioned, challenged and with a lot of work to do within my own mind. His timing was perfect! I think earlier would have failed and maybe he knew that.
For his trouble, the following morning he and a selected bunch of others awoke to messages explaining my early basic plans and what I needed to do to get started. So 28th June 2022 Integr8Archery was born, and here I am 26 weeks later, 6 months!! Having achieved so much, and with so very much still to do.
I thought it would be a great time to look at some numbers because in recent weeks I have been asked by a number of people for some details, and also use what I had done previously to add some context. So, if you are interested here are some figures, grab a cuppa and have a read:
I completed my beginners course in 2018 and I have held lots of roles since then, I did do some volunteering within the sport before I became an archer myself but I thought 2018 seems like a decent place to start and yes, this is all volunteering, and it doesn’t include what I have done at AGB competitions or for other sporting events outside of archery.
2018 –
1. helped out on 3 taster days – attended by local community groups and saw 143 people pick up a bow.
2. helped out at 4 beginners course – 49 people completed those courses
2019
Organised and put on a county charity event
helped at 5 taster days – attended by 185 people
helped at 3 beginners courses – 37 people completed
organised archery for 2 multi sports events – helping 72 people get a taster of our sport
volunteered for archery at the World Transplant Games
2020
The year of the pandemic! I did lots of things this year but by far my biggest achievement was helping with the return to sport guidance particularly when I picked up the phone following the original release and explained that until every archer was given the opportunity to choose to return we hadn’t yet gotten it right, those initial steps prevented some of our most vulnerable members being given the choice!
I attended so many webinars and workgroups, not just within archery but within multi-sports settings both locally and nationally and took the opportunity to study and learn for my role in safeguarding, being furloughed gave me the chance to do some of those things I had never had time for.
Sitting on the range for hours every day helping people feel confident enough to come back to shooting or try a new sport they discovered whilst locked in and searching the web, was incredibly rewarding and the ability to work with other grassroots sports to help each other was definitely another advantage to that time as we all took to get to know each other, bonds created which we still use now.
2021
3 taster days – 135 people with a bow in their hands
5 beginners courses across 3 clubs – 72 people completed
business games events – 135 people shooting
organised and hosted a county charity event
archery in education starts with –
wave 1 – 102 children shooting
wave 2 – 136 children shooting
primary school sessions – 57 children shooting
colleges – 27 students shooting
Out Of school educated children – 87 people with a bow in their hands for the taster sessions and 32 going onto weekly sessions
10 school staff completing an instructors course
29 coaches across all levels helping put these sessions on
2022
up to April
9 secondary schools – 118 children shooting
out of school setting children – 27 children shooting
3 local community groups having 4 sessions each – 48 individuals shooting
Integr8Archery
first 6 months
13 secondary schools across 3 counties after school clubs – 208 children
2 schools now have Integr8Archery satellite clubs – 23 children
weekly curriculum sessions providing archery for 72 children
4 primary schools – 68 children
3 nursing homes – 31 individuals
Weekly sessions for 4 weeks for ladies from a local refuge = 15 people, LGBTQIA+ support groups = 28 people & foster families = 13 children
helping 3 school games events – totalling over 200 children shooting
2 flight archery workshops – introducing 18 people to this style of archery
Integr8Archery club – currently collating the paperwork for 38 children and 11 adults
getting access to the anti violence pledge available online
obtaining Community Interest Company status and ensuring the very strict guidelines to being non profit are set and unchangeable – my way and no one else’s regardless of who collaborates with me – set in stone so I can relax
start my journey to become a disability sports coach and learn 5 new sports
joining forces with Sport for Development Coalition, Children’s Coaching Collaborative, We are Undefeatable, Belong and continuing to build and strengthen the relationships with the National Governing Body, Sport England, Northamptonshire Sports, local archery clubs and counties who have the same aims, and numerous groups who, together, we continue to learn to bring people to sport but to protect them whilst they are in our care.
Throughout this time I have continued to work in my safeguarding role and deal with incidents as they arise, develop my knowledge and support a number of families in well-being. Whatever else happens, I stand by my promise that I will make sport safer for everyone and to help support those where issues have created failure of care. Together we can create change.
So without a doubt, thank you to those who told me I did have a place, there’s a lot of shooting happened because you didn’t just watch me walk away when I thought I had no alternative.
So this weekend sees the last AGB tournament of 2022. What do I get out of giving my time to these events? The privilege of being part of an amazing team who together put on world class events.
The only way you can find out how much you can enjoy it is to have a go. So why not take a look and see what you could be involved in.
Is it hard work? Yes. Will you enjoy it? I would be surprised if you don’t!! Will you want to do it again? I believe so!! My family of blue shirts are pretty amazing and achieve fantastic events by being the best team there is.
This weekend my amazing friend is joining us – let’s see how she gets on.
With everything that has gone on this year I had withdrawn from competition volunteering but that didn’t last very long did it 😂
I have volunteered at:
Junior National Outdoor Championships
European Youth Championships
European Para Championships
National Tour Finals
AGB National County Team Competition
AGB National Indoor Championships
Junior National Indoor Championships
18 days – you don’t have to give that much of your time 😂but I think you should give it a try and see what you think.
I was asked why I hadn’t just walked away this year and why I stayed with my sport and fought for my projects. There are still days I see it as a possibility- but it takes care of me as much as I take care of it! Plus I only have to start looking at stats to remind myself of what I am doing it for. I have been looking at numbers in a big way for the last month. I will share more of these another day but how about this one? Every week in Northamptonshire alone my Archery In Education project sees 225 children shoot on a weekly basis, that doesn’t include the ones who drop in for a taste!
Worth fighting for surely? Then there are my other projects!!
I have not lost sight of the ones I had to drop either, every now and then I look at them and ponder, could I pick them back up? It would be a lot on my own and at the moment I have to be realistic and say no.
Right I need a cuppa, see you Tuesday for 23 weeks!!
This is been an emotional week on a personal level so I thank those who have supported me, checked up on me and those working on projects with me – for your patience when I took time to give to the important issues over the weekend, there will be a repeat of this next month.
However, for Integr8Archery this week has been important for schools, two approaches from new schools in new counties, early days but potentially very exciting. Progress on existing schools and this week saw the first session delivered at Weavers Academy- thank you Chris, the first curriculum sessions at Wrenn – thank you Maggie and updates on the latest group at Roecroft Lower School – thank you Julie. This week between these three sites we have seen 65 children pick up a bow for their first taste of archery. Thank you so very much ladies for helping these schools on their way to sustainable archery.
New members registered for Integr8Archery club and a bunch of paperwork coming back for my next batch. Meetings is the theme of the coming week, along with shooting with an important young chap and of course my first session of my Disability Coaching Course, just my luck the trains are disrupted that day! 🫣😂
That’s it for today, short but important I think. I am proud of all of my work, but getting new people involved is always exciting. Have a good week, catch up soon ❤️🏹
Today is the day! happy anniversary gift – the club is now live!
I have thought long and hard about today’s blog, the questions that I tried to politely answer 4 weeks ago are still being asked. However they will be dealt with at a different time, today is about what have I done in my first 3 months as Integr8archery. Having taken control of some of my work, work I have been doing for years, what have I managed to do with those projects in this 13 week period?
Well my Northamptonshire schools are still shooting, some existing and new schools have had some day sessions for different groups, resulting in me now discussing with a number of primary, secondary and a higher education facility how to get their sites up and running. 3 groups looking to have a number of children join my club whilst shooting on their site.
Hopefully continued involvement with the school games, working on a possibly huge Project Rimaya group and new multi sports collaboration in Northamptonshire with the activity partnership.
Some pilots being ironed out to get my out of school setting children back shooting, focusing on their return for autumn/winter and new children come spring.
Leicestershire is fast turning into a rival in size, likely may even be bigger than Northamptonshire – currently 2 waves of schools planned – the first a possible 17 primary schools going live, the second 12 schools from a combination of primary and secondary schools.
Plus the new development of low active groups within the county and how we can get those moving by working together across the county.
The exciting news that after successfully applying for various grants in the last 2 years, last week I received the wonderful news that the first grant I have applied for under integr8archery will see The Worshipful Company of Fletchers help Northamptonshire Carers.
I have joined forces with Well-being through Sport, the Sport Development Coalition, the Belong Network, and my amazing friend who is evolving her own work and has allowed me the privilege of the two of us sharing the space to safely find our way forward together whilst separately, for strength comes from supporting each other and working together rather than against each other.
I have almost completed the two level 2 courses that I have started in this time and I have, this week, submitted my application to learn something that will totally push my comfort zones but will add so much value to what I am doing, both with multi sports and disability sports.
So, here I am, after a very rough 12 months, finding myself that Monday evening standing crying yet again in the middle of the range, being given a very specific yet amazing brand of pep talk as I did and with the very generous support of people who believe in me, I now find myself with a community interest company and an archery club! It’s been a whirlwind and I cannot see sign of it calming anytime soon, but whilst amazed, I am also proud of these 3 months. Sure I get sad when I think of my work that I have had to leave behind, but my passionate belief in my sport and how I can use it to help change lives is stronger than ever, the work I have done for 6 years, alone or with others gave me many examples of how my quirky self can help me think outside the box to help achieve things. I haven’t lost that and now I have so many more examples to add to my list. I am grateful to everyone who has encouraged me, spoken with me, hugged me whilst I have cried, and who stand beside me in any way, special thanks to the coaches, paid or volunteer, who work with me to help provide what my groups need and for sharing my excitement when they become self sustaining.
As I sit here I know there are things that I haven’t included – my first flight workshop presentation, helping put on 4 Archery GB competitions, 2 were internationals, but my family of blue shirted volunteers are unbeatable! So many hours I have given to grassroots via my projects but also managed to volunteer at some running events too.
So, here’s to the future and whatever it brings us all and thank you to everyone who has read anything that I have written because I lost my person who I share it all with and you have all stepped into the space left behind. Thank you for believing in me when I wobble.
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.
28/6/22 – With the help of people who believe in me, I put out my idea of how to move forward after weeks of crying about what was happening, and within 12 hours we had come up with a name, I had the most amazing logo and a plan.
24 hours later with the help of a couple of people who proved they had buckets of patience – I had the makings of my website.
Fast forward a month I have taken on and fulfilled some new events , I have tidied up existing projects , moved them forward, and I am creating huge new relationships.
I am currently working on a possible 8 primary schools and two secondary schools in Northamptonshire. 3 events for the summer holidays and working with 2 groups who are new to Integr8Archery.
Along with partnering with a new county that so far has a possible 12 primary schools and 5 secondary schools.
This week? So far I have been to Lilleshall for 2 days of the youth festival to support some juniors who’s parents reached out to see if I could go over and, whilst there , had some productive conversations with people at Archery GB around a number of things, which may lead to me being on some new working groups later in the year.
I am incredibly grateful to have had people support me and look at different things with me, never do I take any of it for granted.
Hopefully in the next few weeks some things I am working on in the background will be in a position to have me make some announcements – so I am still excited and nervous – but now I am also a little bit brave and a little bit proud!!! Oh and as always I am winging it 🤪😂 every single day!!!
I have been working on my schools project since I picked up the phone to Northamptonshire Sports in May 2021. The joy I get watching children pick up a bow and shoot their first arrow, then a few tweaks and hitting the boss and away we go. I often hear talk of soft archery versus real archery!! There is a place for both!
Soft archery can allow for challenges that require a slower learning pace, moving to pointy arrows at a steadier progression. Maybe strength issues? Space related issues , preventing full boss and off shoot areas in keeping with the rules of shooting. 3 weeks ago I was invited to help out at the Wellingborough leg of the inter county soft archery competitions.
On the day awarding individual and team medals, whilst finding the four teams to go through to today’s event. 2 different archery competitions – arrows and inclusive archery. Again individuals and team events awarded medals but in the wider environment of the county school games hosted by Northamptonshire Sports.
18 competitions, 138 teams, 1200 participants and 160 young leaders supporting the different activities.
A great day of encouraging children to push their boundaries through sport, meeting newly trained young leaders from a variety of sports and watching the confidence of both grow.
An amazing environment to pick up on conversations 3 weeks ago and also start new ones around possibilities for the coming school year and ideas to help the activity partnership. Along with an idea and a possible event to thank the volunteers for their hard work which allows a lot of grassroots sport to happen.
My archery in education project just keeps moving forward.
To quote Northants Sports –
“active children are happy children”
As always a privilege to work with my son who always amazes me.
Proud we were both part of a great day of inclusive events putting such a variety of sports in the hands of so many children.
