Taking Aim with Paralympian, John Marshall

Anchor Point. Nocking Point. Finger Tab. Draw Weight. Recurve Bow. Compound Bow. Long Bow.

All new terminology for Know The Game as we took to the grassy paddock at Northern Archers of Sydney at West Pennant Hills to have our first archery lesson.

This came about after we attended a fundraising event for the Australian Paralympic Committee last year which was hosted by 360HR at Paddington Lawn Bowls Club. We successfully bid at silent auction for a once in a lifetime opportunity to have an archery lesson with Paralympian John Marshall and his coach Rob de Bondt. This weekend we fulfilled the dream!

Know The Game Director, Paula Ward, and three friends took to the archery field with the hope of shooting an arrow that hit and stayed in the target. To our surprise we all achieved this with our first shot. Although, this may have had something to do with us standing only 10 meters from our target (Olympians and Paralympians have distances of 70 meters for women and up to 90 meters for men). Under the tutelage of John and Rob, we thoroughly enjoyed a few hours of archery. We moved quickly from some of the fundamental learning techniques to utilising sights and the correct gripping techniques for archers, and relished in our ability to hit the targets with some degree of accuracy. Our competitive natures took hold as we had a six round competition which resulted in a handful of shots hitting the centre of the target and scoring the maximum 10 points. We boldly moved back to 20 meters....and discovered how much of a change this represented. Our accuracy dropped off and the laughter increased.

At our request, John kindly showed us his style. The fluidity, steadiness and accuracy of his shooting was incredible. The methodical nature of the sport and the calmness required is addictive. We are all now enthusiastically looking at how we can incorporate a regular archery outing into our schedules. It truly was great fun and a sport that is well worth giving a go.

We are extremely grateful to John and Rob for giving up a few hours of their precious time to coach us, and give us some insight into this amazing sport. While the 2016 Olympics may be an ambitious aim for us, we can dream. And, we will be sure to look out for the archery at the London Games next year.


Note: John has retired from archery at the elite level. Today, he is the President of the Northern Archers of Sydney Inc and a policeman with the NSW Police Dive Unit. John represented Australia in archery at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, and also competed in the able-bodied National Archery Championships winning gold as part of the NSW team. Rob was the Head Coach for the Archery team at the 2000 Paralympics (and therefore John's coach) and is an authority on archery having written the world's best selling archery book, Total Archery, with Kisik Lee. Rob was also awarded NSW Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2004 and won a gold medal at the World Masters Games. The World Archery Championships are on from 3-10 July 2011 in Turin, Italy.