Barbados has only one archer who could possibly make the grade for the World Archery Championships (WAC) in Berlin from July 31 to August 6.
President of the Barbados Archery Association, Veronica Laurie, says local archers have to first hit the qualifying standards consistently.
“Each archer has to, in a sense, reach a minimum standard. The way that we look at it, there’s no point in going to a World Championships unless you can make the cut score. So that’s basically how we set our qualifying standards. We have different standards for different levels of tournaments. Currently, we only have one person who is shooting qualifying standards, and that is Charlene Goddard.”
Goddard consistently shot over 86 per cent throughout last year’s qualifying rounds up until the final competition in November.
When asked why Goddard is the only one performing at the required standard, Laurie who competed in the WAC herself, explained a lot of it came down to endeavour.
“Charlene puts in the work, she puts in the practice. When she’s having a problem, she calls a coach, and they work on it, you know. She puts in the work necessary to be at the level she’s at,” she said.
Laurie was quick to mention there are some talented archers coming through the ranks with lots of promise but stressed the need for hard work on their part to fully develop.
“We have Javier Jordan who shot a new event record at our National Championships in November, and he’s very self motivated, and puts in the work,” she said.
“Until he shoots qualifying standard, he can’t qualify but we’re hoping he will be ready to go to the Pan American Games final qualifier because we feel like he’s moving in that direction very quickly. So, we have people coming up, but they have to put in the work.”
At the National Outdoor Championship in November 2022, Goddard won gold in the Compound Women Senior category shooting at 93.33 per cent.
Kirk Smith and Roger Gall won gold and silver, respectively in the Compound Men Senior category with scores of 79.33 per cent and 76.66per cent. Despite shooting with a higher qualifier score in October, Javier Jordan finished second in the Recurve Men Senior category to Brandon Field. Alwyn Kirk rounded out the top three with a bronze medal. (JC)