Targeting archery

It might not be everybody’s firstchoice pursuit, but a man who recently made the move to Busselton has his sights fixed on putting archery on the local map.

Steve Kilbey said having been associated with the sport for years, he was struck by the absence of a place for people to engage in it, claiming the area used to have a club and the nearest facility in Bunbury only involved about five people.

The former Perth resident was prominent in the city’s archery club, through which he participated in various tournaments, qualified for nationals, training camps at the Australian Institute of Sport and went to Korea through the Olympic Athlete program.

Motivation came from the challenge of “shooting to achieve your personal best”, Mr Kilbey said, and setting up a club could promote it as a social and recreational activity for adults and children while tapping into the health benefits of people being active outdoors.

He believed with the upcoming Olympic Games set to give archery some exposure, the timing was perfect to highlight its potential to equip young people with discipline and create new opportunities to aspire to.

“First off kids can have a bit of fun,” he said.

“If you can get them to have fun, you find their own ambition takes over. It’s not for everyone but a lot of parents don’t realise that kids can get to the Olympics…but you have to be able to shoot as much as you can.”

Mr Kilbey said after informally approaching the City of Busselton he remained unsure how a big enough site could be secured.

Anyone interested in helping can contact Mr Kilbey on 0448 113 880.