weekly update

Week 67 – busy making plans into 2024 but not forgetting important dates happening now ❤️🏹

Helen Sharpe Blog with a message, Health, News, weekly update

Lots of planning bubbling away for existing and new groups and I love sitting with people who don’t realise how adaptive our sport is and how easy it is to make it work in so many ways.

School groups are nicely back and settled and I am hearing lots of positive things so that’s all great stuff.

October is Black History Month and this year the focus is ‘Saluting Our Sisters’.

At the age of 13 my English teacher handed me a copy of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou and I became absorbed in the book and the conversations and discussions we would have about what I was reading. I recall being amazed that whilst my teacher gave me this and we delved deep into it, at the time it was released many schools set out to ban it from their shelves. I thank my teacher for sharing the book and I have read all of her others and her poetry is one of several books that I often pick up to read when I have a window of time to loose myself and I have favourite quotes of hers that I scatter through things.

“If you’re always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” Maya Angelou

Today is also World Mental Health Day. I make no secret of my battles with mental health, I am grateful for the peace my sport can help me find, the calm, quiet time on the range is a blessing. Please do look after yourself you are important and if you need support ask for it. Mind is a great starting place and there are other organisations out there some I know better than others.

I have a rest day today and I have lots of things to do but I am going to take my coffee and my book and sit in nature for an hour, I deserve the time to breathe. Looking after yourself is not a luxury.

On Friday as I dashed about at the beginning of a long weekend of work with 56 hours on house I was made aware of .International Smile Day. Harvey Ball created the smiley face in 1963 but became concerned with the commercialisation of his symbol and created this day to remind us all that the smiley face knows no politics, no geography and no religion.  Harvey’s idea was that for at least one day each year, neither should we.  He declared that the first Friday in October each year would henceforth be World Smile Day® and the first was held in 1999. The idea is that a small act of kindness can make someone smile. If you know me you know that this is something I truly believe and try to achieve daily.

As many of you know October is breast cancer awareness month and wear it pink will be on 20th October. I am grateful for the care I received from the unit at Kettering General Hospital several years ago. Please take the time to check your health and remember men can and do also suffer from this.

The other subject I feel it’s important to highlight and you are aware I do is October is also used to highlight Domestic Violence an area that I have worked in for many many years and I enjoy the time I have been allowed to use Integr8Archery to show how sport can help with mental health, confidence and to allow new friendships to be formed in a safe and supportive environment by working with some amazing people in refuge.

Have a good week and stay well and safe 🥰

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.

Gosh – week 65 – busy weekend approaching for my arrows!

Helen Sharpe weekly update

Lots going on this week but I am actually making my own archery important too for a change, big weekend coming up as I only have two outdoor competitions left and whilst I am pretty sure my goals set at the beginning of the season, though they started promising, are out of reach with the issues with my shoulder and hand, I shall await that final arrow to see for sure.

Planning my own indoor season and winter training with next summer in mind but also helping a couple of others with their plans, exciting. What will summer 2024 see us all achieve?

I was blown away Monday to receive messages from 3 different people who have at various times and for various reasons walked away from archery but have reached out to see if I can help them return. I definitely think it’s possible for each of them.

Play their way conference and the latest Children’s Coaching Collaborative catch up online, both very good ways to boost ideas and motivation around what we are all trying to achieve in our own but also across sport all around. Together we can get this right and it’s very important.

Also important is safeguarding and training updates on exploitation and wellbeing. Along with a comprehensive conversation with the Ann Craft Trust. All very thought provoking as always.

The latest Belong webinar and the topic of how sport can build communities.

Huge congratulations yet again to Chris moving from AGB instructor to sessions coach and Duncan from level 1 to Development Coach. Both determined to improve their own knowledge for the benefit of others. Proud of you both and that you both work with me for the aims of Integr8Archery CIC.

I think that about sums up the week. I have been notified that 3 of the awards that I had been nominated for have not seen me shortlisted but 2 of the organisations have said they would like to run pieces on the work in the next year so that’s a bit of positive news at least.

Take care of yourselves and hope to see you soon ❤️🏹

Week 64 already?!

Helen Sharpe Health, weekly update

So I am a week away from a quarter of the way through year 2 of Integr8Archery! I still can’t believe I have a CIC and a club! I do however love how it’s all tied down tight on paper with the government so that anyone who does any work with me can’t take advantage of the CIC.

So what’s the last week been? Calls, webinars, teams, zoom, webex …… attending the inaugural conference hosted by the Muslim Sports Foundation. Many interesting speakers and some great networking as well as catching up with friends who were also in attendance.

Testing options and making decisions regarding how to proceed with my own archery. Those made and the next 4 weeks planned to complete my outdoor season for 2023 and a plan created for the serious work that will begin to learn to shoot again through the indoor season. Certainly will not be bored! There will be no time for that!

October will see my new agreed rota start for the day job, adjusting to allow family and shooting time and remove some of the stresses of trying to fit those in whilst doing a job I love. It all become a little mangled and messy over the summer so this should be a great step forward to let me have control of time back.

Lots to do for Integr8Archery with new groups and sessions being requested and lots of great things in the pipeline.

I love getting updates from groups and individuals who keep me up to date with what is happening and I am loving the data for this next quarter as much as I did those first 12 months. It is a privilege to be allowed to bring my sport to people and work with those already in it, thank you.

This weekend will see Chris undertake her assessment to become a sessions coach, I am so very proud of her, having been an instructor for years, joining the education project in September 2021 when she answered the email Archery GB sent out for me to the local instructors, she has become an important part of the team who supports me, continuing to work with schools and wanting to further her knowledge. Thank you too goes to Northamptonshire Sport for funding to help with the cost of her course.

Today is Youth Mental Heath Day – check out Young Minds or Stem for help with support. This years theme is #bebrave which can mean many things to many people. Take a look at The Children’s Society page to look at the latest good childhood report.

With this in mind it was extremely good to receive the email from The NSPCC to announce that the online safety bill has been passed. It’s been a long road but absolutely worth the efforts of anyone who’s supported it.

Have a good week and take care of yourselves please ❤️🏹

Week 63 – what a week!

Helen Sharpe weekly update

Kind of feel like a nap would be amazing! But we know I don’t sleep well so in reality – unlikely 🫣

What a week it’s been, kind of getting used to the wrist brace, hate it and have yet to find time to pick up my bow and see how that all works together, dreading doing it for the first time but I have support so hopefully we will fathom a path quickly 🤞🏻

Safeguarding has been a huge part of this week – in both the day job and my sport, often hard work and an intense weekend saw me have to put everything else to one side for a couple of days, but there was nothing going to spoil and I did answer urgent enquiries.

Which brings me to several messages I have received over the weekend, 8 by this morning, from people who were at the Disability Championships this weekend. I was supposed to be volunteering but had to withdraw due to work commitments, I will be at the indoors in December and I am stabilising my calendar for next year. So I was surprised to find people think I have quit volunteering and closing down Integr8Archery CIC! Not a single idea where those ideas have come from, so very difficult to answer as I don’t know the root of it all.

Schools are back and it’s great to see some children return to archery and also new children try our sport, perfect.

New projects bubbling away and getting ready to start, exciting!

looking forward to the communing week, tomorrow a day with the Muslim Sports Foundation and lots of like minded people in the room working towards the same goals. Sunday I shall be at DISC, always lovely to spend time with them at their sessions. These are just a couple of the highlights.

For now? Coffee and emails to catch up on everything that’s going on.

Take care of yourselves and I look forward to catching up with you soon ❤️🏹

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 ❤️🏹

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.

Week 60 – crazy crazy days, big decisions – getting there

Helen Sharpe weekly update

This week has been somewhat crazy, decisions around many things, day job, Integr8Archery, my archery, health and a bunch of other stuff.

meetings, webinars and shifts at work in between and blessed that my amazing girl has walked and walked with me whilst I mull over all these things. She’s awesome and I am blessed to have her for a sounding board and to offer me her thoughts.

hopefully the right decisions have been made so far, though only time will tell and I still have some more to make so 🤞🏻

exciting things to come for sure and a great catch up with the over seas team who had news to share on how my input has helped them so early in our collaboration, united through our sport and shared aims despite being separated by a huge ocean.

Thank you to the people who have spent time this week updating me on how they are getting on, I am especially excited to see the two range returners, each having stepped away from archery for different reasons but with support have both picked up a bow to return 🥳

see you on a range soon I hope, take care

Week 59+1 day!

Helen Sharpe weekly update

For me this has been a busy week, admin, meetings and planning. Not much to share at this point, reviewing projects and planning new things, trying to set dates for a number of things. Things to share in coming weeks but not a lot today in these stages. It interesting for someone to read but incredibly important for managing projects. Evolution is critical to the process, ongoing learning to achieve the best for everyone.

Super news from some of the archers that I support, goals being achieved, for some that involves medals, for some it’s successfully adapting and finding ways to stay in the sport, I am grateful they trust me and I very much enjoy when they share their success with me. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to do that, I am pleased for all of you. I am always here, I have said before I am like your greatest cheerleader, celebrating or giving out hugs when needed.

My archery? A hugely busy Saturday for me this week with my bow and some planning so let’s hope that brings something to the table to improve things for me. It’s easy to focus on what is going badly but as I looked at my notes I remembered the PB’s I set early in the outdoor season, let’s see what some physio and some help on the range can achieve.

Safeguarding has been keeping me busy and I wait to see what happens with some things there. It’s a massively important issue and we need to always keep it in mind.

Friday sees my last of the sessions at The Frank Bruno Foundation with the Blue Light Card, without a doubt I shall be staying to continue to work on me, so more planning on Friday to see what is their best plan for me going forward.

Right off to ping a few arrows before going to work, happy that the issues from yesterday and the web access have been resolved, sorry this week’s blog is a day late but very much out of my control.

Have a good week.

Week 58 – paperwork, paperwork and ….. paperwork 😂🫣

Helen Sharpe weekly update

Busy busy week. I am just about back on top of it all!

Exciting though because new projects and events being arranged on top of the preparation for September and schools returning. When I start to feel a little overwhelmed, stretch, refill the coffee and think about those bows in all of those new hands! Motivation to get back to the communications if ever there was.

Today is the anniversary of me receiving confirmation that Integr8Archery was granted CIC status and that I had wrapped everything up to protect it from anyone who may come forward in the future to try and take my projects for income.

Thank you for the messages checking that I am ok, I am, I take it one day at a time physically and mentally and I am improving but I do appreciate the time anyone takes to reach out and check.

Companies house paperwork completed and approved for the coming year so we can continue, great news, particularly with the work being offered and projects that are continuing.

My shooting? Well I am hoping things will have settled enough to allow me to pick up my bow on Wednesday 🤞🏻which will allow me to hopefully get back on plan.

I have also taken advantage of some great value time with my children, especially Rose who is always fantastic company. They both enjoy giving time to help with Integr8Archery and introducing them to our sport so it’s nice to pay them back doing other things they enjoy.

Off to work before coming home to finish off here.

Have a good week everyone.