IF GRIFFITH needed further proof that the city’s curious fascination with archery is still bearing fruit, these 12 kids are it.
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Together, they will form one of the biggest entries from a single club at the 2013 Junior National Archery Championships in Brisbane, which starts this weekend.
The hard work for them is now over, the gruelling after-school training sessions all done – now it is about putting it all together against some of the country’s best and brightest junior shooters.
Coach Ben Pawson has looked after them every step of the way – and admits even he is still stunned by their intense focus.
“Even the eight or nine-year-olds, for them to turn up six days a week and train for hours and keep that focus is just amazing,” he said.
“I can’t believe, as a coach and a parent, that they’re staying strong and are so excited to continue on and showcase their abilities.
“The big difference for them this year is that they know what they can do. They’ve seen what they can achieve now and it shows in their commitment to training.”
Competitors and their families will begin heading north today in preparation for the titles, which runs from Sunday to Friday.
The Griffith contingent represents nearly half of the 23-man squad from the ACT, for which Pawson is the head coach.
He said the Griffith City Archers’ decision to become affilliated with the ACT is starting to pay serious dividends.
“We’ll probably be the third biggest team in the country, behind Queensland and NSW,” he said.
“It’s exposed all the kids to a higher level of coaching. There’s a heap of AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) coaches that train out of the facility at Tuggeranong that we go to so there’s no end of opportunity.
“With the junior development programs we’ve been running in Canberra it’s just taken a whole heap of more juniors in.”
Maddie Salvestro, who has qualified for the world titles in China later this year, heads the group of Griffith juniors who will take part.
There are also newcomers in Ella Rowley, Marcie Biondo and Matthew Pawson, who are the youngest of the team and will compete in the barebow division – the most difficult discipline in archery.
