Archery GB has supported six coaches and six disabled archers at a training camp in Morocco to grow the confidence of African coaches to work with disabled people.
Since 2018, Archery GB has led a number of coach development seminars and training camps in Africa and, to date, 68 coaches from 16 countries have been trained.
The most recent camp took place over three days in Bouznika. Four of the coaches came from different regions of Morocco, while one coach brought her athlete from Uganda and another travelled with his athlete from Ivory Coast.
Andy Rikunenko and Nat Merry led the camp, both of whom coach on the Archery GB Para pathway, from developing to elite level. In addition, Cushla Matheson, Development Agent for Oceania, attended at the request of World Archery, ahead of initiating similar camps in the Pacific Islands next year.
The first day focused on getting to know each other and identifying development opportunities for each coach/athlete pair. Coaches also learnt about periodised training plans and designing effective practice.
The next morning started with supported coach contact followed by an introduction to adaptive devices and an exercise for each coach to develop a training session for their archer. Archers then enacted this training plan in the afternoon while the coaches practiced making adaptive devices.
On the final morning, coaches took part in a series of exercises with adaptive equipment to help them gain a better understanding of the challenges facing individuals with particular disabilities, and also what individuals can do to address these. This included shooting with a blindfold, shooting from a wheelchair/a stool, and shooting sitting on a football.
Hilda Gibson, Archery GB International Relations Lead, said: "There was much amusement from the archers watching their coaches trying each exercise!"
Then it was time to work together to design a competition simulation that would enable any of the archers to have a chance of winning. This was enacted on the final afternoon, organised and led by the coaches.
Hilda said: "Everyone enjoyed the competitive atmosphere and the opportunity to shoot head-to-head matches.
"It was wonderful to see how quickly the coaches and archers became a unit, understanding different limitations and helping one another to overcome them."
The camp was made possible with funding from UK Sport, World Archery, and the Moroccan Royal Archery Federation, along with support from World Archery Africa and Archery GB, demonstrating the commitment of all these organisations to the development of para sport on the African continent.
