Sport-by-sport - Disability Archery
Danielle Brown
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| Chairman | Dave Harrison | |
|---|---|---|
| Chief Executive | David Sherratt | |
| Performance Director | Sara Symington |
Sport Profile
| Funding Award (2009-2013) | £2,147,700 |
| London 2012 Performance | 1 Gold, 1 Silver |
| Athletes on World Class Performance Programme: | 16 |
| Past Performances | Paralympic Games, Beijing, 2008: Gold (2); Silver (1); Bronze (1) |
| Press Officer | Peter Jones |
| Press Officer tel | 02086 249 467 / 07870 687 992 |
| Website | http://www.archerygb.org |
| National governing body | Archery GB |
“I am extremely grateful to UK Sport for their investment and support in developing a personalised frame for me. My shooting has improved so much since getting my new stool.”
Danielle Brown, Paralympic Archery gold medallist
Paralympic Archery received an increase of more than £900,000 in its funding for London 2012 to reflect the significant medal potential and previous success in the sport.
There are five ‘Podium’ level funded athletes on the World Class Performance Programme, including Beijing gold medallists John Stubbs and Danielle Brown, plus Athens gold medallist John Cavannagh who has received funding to support his training and preparation since 2001.
Danielle Brown competes with the aid of the ergonomic shooting stool developed through Innovation partner Loughborough University which enables her to stand comfortably while taking aim. She was using it when, as the youngest member of the Archery team in Beijing, she won a gold medal in the compound event.
UK Sport’s Major Events team supported the Paralympic Qualification event being staged at Stoke Mandeville in 2011. This was one of 118 major sporting events supported by the £3.5million a year Major Events Programme aimed at helping our athletes prepare for London 2012 by competing on home soil.
UK Sport has also helped Disability Archery create a heated and covered outdoor range at their Lilleshall base. This allows athletes to practice all year round regardless of the vagaries of the British weather.
The Research and Innovation team have been busy too, in partnership with Sheffield Hallam Universities' Centre for Sports Engineering and Research they have devised a number of clever tools to support the journey to London 2012.
The first of these is a simple feedback for athletes training at their local facilities away from the full support of the World Class Program. Project Videplay is a video feedback device that uses cameras and a laptop to record training activity and simply replay each shot. This allows Archers to review their stance and arrow flight before making the next shot, without having to move from their position or put down their bow.
In addition, GB Archery has been supplied with a bespoke device that enables archers to test their arrows for uniformity, by analysing the change to each arrow under a certain load. This machine is accurately calibrated in order to ensure that the arrows can be grouped with others of similar characteristics. The idea is that this enables the archer to achieve a higher consistency of shot accuracy and therefore reduce the chances of dropping points from irregular arrow flight.
Neil Horsfall and Tim Hazell have been through UK Sport’s Paralympic Coach Development Initiative which was launched in April 2011. The Paralympic-specific programme came about following a period of consultation with the sports who had requested assistance in the development of the coaching workforce through Mission 2012.
Selected athletes:
Danielle Brown
John Stubbs
Richard Hennahane
Pippa Britton
John Cavanagh
Melanie Clarke
Sharon Vennard
Leigh Walmsley
Kate Murray
Paul Browne
Kenny Allen
Phil Bottomley
Murray Elliot
