Archery GB's Community Archery Coach Apprentice, Lauren Fell, supported an archery challenge on children's TV show Blue Peter.
Lauren is a member of Archery GB's Sport Development Team, working closely with the Northern Counties Regional Development Officer and Project Rimaya Partnerships in the Manchester and Lancashire areas.
In her day-to-day role she activates archery coaching sessions for beginners, delivering community sessions and assisting in running have-a-go events and competitions in various settings, including archery clubs, schools, madrassah's, holiday camps, and other community environments.
Aimed at tackling inequality and leading to an increase in the number of people taking up archery across the Manchester and Lancashire area, especially from ethnically diverse communities, her role is funded externally to support and grow Project Rimaya.
In her spare time she is an avid horse back archer.
Here she talks us through her experience on Blue Peter.
"Archery GB was delighted to be invited along to Blue Peter, who wanted to have our incredible Olympic athlete Megan Havers on the show to promote the sport. Megan's success at only 16 years old made her the perfect choice to showcase the sport on national television to inspire the children watching to have a go. So with a car full of archery equipment we headed over to the BBC Studio in Manchester for the recording.
"When we arrived we were met by a team of show runners who helped us unload the archery equipment in record time and managed to guide us through what seemed like a maze of corridors to the Blue Peter studio. After being given our visitor passes, we were taken into the green room – where we would wait to be called into the recording studio. We got the chance to see behind the scenes for more of the show as they had screens showing what was going on in the recording studio, which included the presenters showing off more amazing sports.
"The green room turned out to be the perfect place to meet some of the Blue Peter cast, including presenter Abby Cook and guest presenter Max Whitlock who would be onscreen alongside Megan for the archery segment. Both were very welcoming and very excited to have a go at archery. We even got to say hello to the lovely Blue Peter dog Henry!
"Once we were in the recording room, we worked to quickly set up the archery equipment whilst Megan had chance to talk through the archery section with the director and presenters. Finally it was time, the lights were on, cameras rolling and silence from the crew as they started. Megan took it all in her stride, answering questions about her archery journey before helping the presenters to shoot their first arrows.
"Our experience with the Blue Peter team was an incredibly exciting one, and they made sure that we came away with our very own shiny Blue Peter badges! The episode aired on 22 November and we are delighted so many children got the opportunity to see Megan in action showcasing our wonderful sport. If you haven't seen it yet, make sure to catch it on iPlayer!"
