Quote:
Originally Posted by Littlest Furface  I always told myself that I could be one of the best in the country, that I could get to the Olympics and make my Dad proud.
However
Since talking to my friends (one world-class, the other longbow) I have started to realise that I'm not likely to reach those goals, and i'm not having as much goodness with friends since a personal issue last year. I'm not sure whether archery is for me anymore...
Any thoughts?
x |
Oh dear, oh dear!
let's look at these two separate issues one at a time.
The Olympic thing - you're not the only one to have that dream. I could tell you a thing or two about trying for the Olympics. Many years ago, when my legs came in short pants instead of my breath, I had the Olympic bug. I was in the Army and very good at athletics, and if you are good at sport in the services you probably get more support than anywhere else I can think of. I was Army champion at 5,000 and 10,000 metres, and Combined Services champion in the 3,000 metres steeplechase ( that's where my knees went!)
I was picked for international meets and ran against some of the best in the world. I was almost knocking on the door of the Olympic squad - but never quite got there.
Did I believe I would make it? In the latter stages of my athletics career the answer was probably 'yes', but before that it was just a dream, not a defined goal. My goal was always to be one step further than my current position, and I didn't consider the possibility of selection for the olympic squad until it was close enough to be a possibility. Ask yourself - if everyone in the mainstream of a particular sport gave up because they thought they wouldn't get to the Olympics, how much real sport would there be? Not much!
My advice is - put the Olympics to the back of your mind. Concentrate on being the best archer you can be. Do it to satisfy yourself, not to make Dad proud. Believe it or not, he's already proud of you - that goes with being a Dad. If you concentrate on getting better all the time you will eventually reach the absolute limit of your ability, and if that level is high enough you will go to the Olympics. If it isn't, you will at least have the satisfaction of being a very good archer and knowing that there was nothing more you could have done to get yourself selected. And there
is life to be lived even if you haven't won an Olympic gold!
As to your friends and you - well that's something different altogether. Do you practice archery to be with your friends or for your own satisfaction? Your doubts about Olympic selection would seem to indicate that you do it for yourself, and if that's the case then the state of your relationships with others is a side issue - isn't it? I do know what you mean though - whatever we do is so much more enjoyable if we get on with others (I'm assuming that the friends you refer to are also in archery - forgive me if I've misunderstood). Also, there is the very strong possibility that they know that
they will never be good enough, and project that outcome on to you. There is only one person who truly knows what you are capable of. That's right - it's you!
In summary: Your chances of getting to the Olympics if you continue to shoot - fairly slim, based on the number of competitive archers in the right age group divided by the number of places available. But the more you train, the better you get, the shorter the odds become!
Your chances of getting to the Olympics if you give up now - zip, zero, nothing. And the prospect of spending the rest of your life wondering if you could have got there if you had stuck at it.
I'd say a slim chance is a lot better than none at all!
