COLESHILL SCHOOL ARCHERY STAR: A sharp-shooting young archer is aiming for international success after being selected to join the England squad.
Terri-Ann Firth, who is in Year 13 at The Coleshill School, competed in the Senior and National Indoor Archery GB competition this month, shooting for England – making it into the podium after coming second in her under-18s Ladies category.
The seventeen year old Coleshill School archery star first picked up a bow six years ago, and hones her skills with the Meriden Archery Club, training three to four times per week.
Staff and classmates at the Coleshill school, which is part of the respected Arthur Terry Learning Partnership, are fully behind the talented archer’s exploits.
Terri-Ann said her performance at the recent two-day event, at Stoneleigh Park in Lilleshall, had been among her best ever.
She said: “I manged to get all my physical and mental nerves out on the Saturday, which meant that on the Sunday I was a lot calmer and shooting better than I’ve ever shot.
“Archery is 90 per cent mental strength and 10 per cent physical strength. There’s a phrase ‘take one shot at a time’, because you can be shooting for up to six hours at a competition.
“Archery has helped me a lot as a person, especially doing since I was 11 – I think it’s helped progress me with planning and organisation, and also with my confidence and concentration. It’s definitely a mental toughness game.”
Terri-Ann’s potential has been spotted, and she is on a national development squad run by Archery Great Britain.
“It’s about building up the different skills and strengths you need,” she said. “You need aerobic endurance to be able to stand there and control your breathing, and the physical strength to shoot twelve dozen rounds, week after week in the summer.
“But it’s also about building that mental toughness, that means you concentrate on your own performance.”
Coleshill School archery star has international dreams
Terri-Ann recently changed the type of bow she uses, from the Olympic-style Recurve to the more technical Compound bow, so at the moment she would be ineligible to compete in any future Olympic Games.
However, international competition remains her ambition.
She said: “At the moment I’m not on the Great Britain squad but it’s definitely a goal for next year and being selected for England is a great step forward.
“I want to shoot in the World Archery Series, going out to places like Paris to represent my country.”
Coleshill’s Head of Sixth Form Glyn Owen said: “We are all so proud of Terri-Ann’s achievements – representing England in a major sporting competition is a huge honour, which she worked very hard to earn through training and dedication.”