Selwyn Times: July 31, 2019
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16 Wednesday <strong>July</strong> <strong>31</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />
SELWYN TIMES<br />
Young archer targets world champs<br />
• By Jacob Page<br />
ROLLESTON College student<br />
Ryley Griffiths is set to become<br />
the youngest known competitor<br />
to take part in the World<br />
Archery Youth Championships<br />
in Spain next month.<br />
The 13-year-old has been<br />
competing in the sport for more<br />
than four years after seeing a<br />
classified advertisement in the<br />
<strong>Selwyn</strong> <strong>Times</strong> promoting a havea-go<br />
day.<br />
Ryley has been breaking<br />
records and winning medals ever<br />
since.<br />
He will shoot in the cadet<br />
under-17 grade 60m competition<br />
and will earn his first world<br />
ranking as a result.<br />
“Near the end of 2018, we<br />
were shooting 60m for fun and<br />
then I started shooting some<br />
high scores and at the North<br />
Island champs where I shot a<br />
new personal best when I shot<br />
620 (out of 720 or 72 arrows),”<br />
he said.<br />
“I don’t think I fully<br />
understand what I’ve been able<br />
to accomplish yet, but it is a cool<br />
feeling since most of the people<br />
I’ll be competing against will be<br />
16 or 17.<br />
“It all comes down to muscle<br />
memory.”<br />
Ryley said it wasn’t necessarily<br />
love at first sight for him with the<br />
new sport.<br />
“I’d say my younger brother<br />
TALENTED: Rolleston’s Ryley Griffith trains up to 15 hours a week to improve his accuracy.<br />
PHOTO: JANE GRIFFITHS <br />
Charlie enjoyed it more than I<br />
did initially.”<br />
Four months later at a South<br />
Island tournament, he beat the<br />
national record for an under<br />
10-year-old.<br />
“I started to enjoy it more and<br />
more once I started breaking<br />
records and really got into it,”<br />
Ryley said.<br />
“Most of it is mental, and all<br />
the pressure you put on yourself<br />
when you shoot.<br />
“Some days you shoot national<br />
records, and then other days you<br />
don’t go quite as well and you<br />
have to be able to deal with that,”<br />
he said.<br />
Ryley said winning a bronze<br />
medal at the Australian national<br />
competition in March was a<br />
personal highlight.<br />
“The competition was tight so<br />
to get that medal was great.”<br />
He normally trains between<br />
10 to 15 hours a week, and he<br />
also swims to help build the core<br />
muscles which he uses to shoot.<br />
“It’s a pretty action-packed<br />
week and there isn’t much time<br />
SPORT<br />
for anything else. Sometimes you<br />
know when your shot is going<br />
well, you can feel it in warmups.”<br />
Ryley is now coached by<br />
Petra Baker under the Archery<br />
Coaching Institute of NZ,<br />
based at Aimtru Archery on<br />
Mandeville Rd, Kaiapoi. She will<br />
also be joining Ryley in Madrid<br />
as coach of the New Zealand<br />
team.<br />
On his return home, training<br />
will begin again immediately at<br />
70m, as he prepares for both the<br />
senior World Cup and Oceania<br />
selection next year. His ultimate<br />
dream is to make the Olympics.<br />
•The world youth champs<br />
start on August 19.<br />
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