When I think of the exceptional Women in the IFAA, the first name that comes to mind is Linda, Linda Lainchbury of the Black Arrows, New Zealand.
I met Linda at the 2010 World Field Archery Championships in Dahn, Germany. At the time, being my first time attending a World Championship, I was in awe of this exceptional, inspirational female archer from New Zealand. The way she carried herself on and off the range made an impact on me and my daughter Anja to such an extent that in 2011 Anja insisted to travel with me to Australia for the 2011 WBHC because Linda will be competing. Ten years later, and even though Anja does not participate in archery anymore she still remembers Linda as the best all round female archer in the IFAA! Being it 3D, indoor, field or target!
I contacted Linda for the article and asked her a few questions about her career in archery and how the IFAA can develop female participation in archery.
“Grab a glass of wine” she said, “because this is long… 😊”. Well, I did grab a cup of tea on a cold winter’s morning in South Africa and got inspired all over again and with a sense of pride acknowledging – She is one of ours, one of our IFAA World Family of Archers!
Enjoy this reading as much as I did!
Marietjie Fryer
Secretary IFAA / Member of the Women in the IFAA Workgroup
What or who influenced you to take up the sport of Archery?
Myself .
During the worst times of my young years – School. Daughter of a Police Officer, bullying was rife in the school yards back in the 70’s and 80’s. With physical fights during most of my school life with both males and females, my confidence was constantly zero. I was good at any sport I tried and super competitive, but it did not bring me confidence until the day I shot an arrow from a bow at a school sports day when I was 13. It was not that fact that my arrow landed DC (dead center) but the feeling of the arrow leaving the bow. I remember my thoughts then… “such a random sport but I have to do this one day”.
I did not shoot another arrow again until I was in my late 30s with kids. I tried many sports and did very well, Gymnastics, Trampoline, Swimming/Lifesaving, A grade badminton, A grade netball, Indoor Cricket Super league and was even asked to try out for the NZ Women’s Cricket Team Reserves, I always had this feeling there was something else for me. I lost someone very close to me from cancer in 1999 and decided to stop wasting time and fulfil some of my dreams. I still remembered and spoke about often, the arrow I shot at school, so I took some lessons and bought a bow. Turned up at a local archery club scared with no confidence, not knowing what to do or how to join up. I found archery to be a male orientated sport and I was not taken seriously at all, so I thought “here we go again”! I worked in a male orientated business, hand tools, fishing equipment and motorcycle safety products so I was familiar with the drill of having to prove oneself to (not all) but most of the guys to get any help, encouragement, or respect.
I wanted to do really well in Archery, so I ‘observed’ for a couple of months the behavior of the best shooters at the club and found they were men, rough around the edges and unapproachable – the boys club. My closed off, stay low, keeping head down behavior, brought on by my past experiences, did not help me ‘fit in’. I fell in love with my archery and knew if I wanted to learn anything, I needed to talk to them and of course shoot with them.
So, I got brave one day, rocked up to them and asked to join their table for a chat. I think they all were in so much shock as ‘girls’ never did this to them. I could feel the resistance and their uncomfortableness about it – I did not care as my archery was more important. I asked about my equipment and how to make it better and away they went, as crude and rough as they were, they loved helping me and chatting about archery and shooting good. I never looked back, after a while they became my shooting mates.
Once I started getting really good (club level) one of them helped me with my form and said, “you have the ability to be a world champion one day” and then introduced me to a top-level coach Bruce Johnson. I had never even thought I would be a national champion, let alone a World Champion. I was just a mum with kids, loving my archery, my days of being good at anything else were over – I was coming up 40 for goodness sake! My coach Bruce unleashed my nerve, my willingness to see my other self, my eagerness to work hard for my goals, and bring out the discipline in me I knew was laying dormant all these years.
I am now a multiple (8) world champion with my first title being in 2009 aged 46 and the last title being won in 2019 aged 56 World IFAA Indoor Champs with a score of 900/900 over 3 days – age is no barrier.
My Other Self… their other self – this is what I teach all the ladies I coach. You are not just a Mum, business owner, employee, wife, daughter, sister, aunty or partner, you have the right to be great at whatever level that is. Any level of greatness is achievable and not everyone will be at extremely high levels so to maintain greatness, you must accept your own greatness whatever that is, as long as you are still working at it and never give up.
What other hobbies/sport do you do other than archery?
Archery 😊 No time to fit in anything else, if I have spare time, I will practice shooting because when I am not practicing my opponents are.
Why are there so few females in the management structures of the IFAA and what can be done, in your opinion, to increase the ratio?
I think it is simply a numbers game. If more women were staying in the sport longer than 5 years then their confidence has grown enough for them to feel comfortable offering advice and ideas and be heard. Most women will not feel knowledgeable enough to get involved at management level, even though they are more than capable. 7 years ago I started a ladies shooting group offering support, coaching and tech advice. This was very successful in building their confidence. The idea was to get ladies talking about their archery and seeing that they were not the only ones struggling. I was also encouraging them to attend tournaments, not just ‘club shoots’ on a Sunday. A lot of these ladies became competitive and landed on the podium at many events – the same ladies that were too scared to turn up at the club in case they were criticised or judged.
I organized trips away to local, and some international events as a “fun” trip and found every one of them were REALLY competitive. The Ladies shoot came to a sudden stop with the lockdowns. Mike and I have built an amazing indoor range of our own at our retail store and I have now got a Private Facebook group of 45 women (and growing) who all want to shoot at my ladies day indoor event once a month. I sent out an invite to many ladies I have got into archery, some who are club members, some who just shoot at home and new archers. I explained that we would learn how to shoot IFAA indoor rounds, ASA 3D indoor and World Archery indoor rounds. Teach them all the rules, how to score and coach them. Then when a tournament comes up, they will be comfortable enough to attend it, with the idea of then getting them to some Field rounds around the country. Let’s hope they can then want to be more involved in IFAA events and running them.
There is a “come and go” tendency when it comes to female archers. They participate in a few events but then disappear, never to be seen at an archery event again. In your opinion, what can be the reason for this tendency and what can we as IFAA do to get them back to archery?
This is definitely a trend. I would like to see more field clubs put in place ladies shooting groups as an option for “new women archers”. They would be put with a group of ladies for the first 2 months using a shared buddy system within the clubs. Volunteer women archers sharing their time with new women archers to help them build up confidence and shooting form. I believe a lot of new archers (ladies) are out of their comfort zone with meeting different people each week in mixed groups. The initial few months will set the tone for them, and I am positive they will mix well after that with any group.
Another initiative I have in place which is working, is that after a lady has purchased a bow, they have full use of our indoor range for 4 weeks free of charge before they join a club so I can help them get confident with their equipment, teach them how to move sights, build bow fitness and form. These ladies, after a month, are champing at the bit to join a club and shoot outside. They are not like turning up to the club alone and with a bow they do not know how to shoot properly. Not all retail archery stores will do this so maybe IFAA clubs can hold weekly indoor evening shoots for new archers teaching basic form and equipment knowledge.
I have also thought IFAA can run and hold women’s shooting camps within their regions and maybe a World Camp when the borders open. Held at a nice lodge, archery club, indoor event centre where they can organize speakers, tech sessions, distance judging events, mental management, time management (fitting archery into their busy lives) spa and massage days etc. Also there, running mini tournaments with prizes from sponsors for women’s sports clothing, archery manufacturers, women’s health products, fitness products and beauty products. Women will more than likely want to organize events like this and maybe get involved more? Who knows?
What lifestyle changes have you made to compete at the highest level of archery while still managing your business and personal life?
When I said I wanted to be a world champion, my coach asked me “what are you prepared to give up?” “Go away and think about it and let me know at our next session”. I sat my family around the table and said to them these are my goals, I might miss the odd birthday, special event, need dedicated uninterrupted training time (so wait or ask someone else), the odd late dinners and me away attending events – are you all ok with this? They said yes. I went back to my coach and said I would do exactly what he said, no arguing, give up rubbish food, get fit, train hard, give up TV and spare unproductive time. Bed early, up early, learn more about my equipment, run a training logbook, set reachable goals and be accountable and take responsibility for my shooting and training.
I did this for 3 years before I shot at the next world champs, and I got 4th! I could not believe it, I was so gutted, all that training for 4th place. I brushed it off, got up and decided to work harder and 3 years after that I won my first World Title. #workingworks
Your advice to young female archers who want to be the best in the sport of archery.
Get a good coach! Build a trusting relationship with that coach and discuss long term goals. Ask your coach to be a long-term part of your archery career. Seek out a good mentor and above all, surround yourself with champions (sport or business), successful people and shoot and train with the best archers you can find. Purchase and read Al Henderson’s book “Understanding and Winning Archery” and surround yourself with positive affirmations. Get involved in your local archery club at committee level. (I have just resigned from our Archery Club after being on the committee for 20 years).
Your advice to IFAA and our member associations on how to increase female participation in all levels being it coaching, management and taking up the sport of archery.
IFAA is only really known to existing archers /members. Don’ t just leave it to the clubs to find new archers.
IFAA could offer corporate “have-a-go” events to women in the corporate sector. These ladies are already leaders, mentors and teachers. I do not think it would be hard to talk them into trying out archery as their Mental Health Day sport for themselves. In today’s day and age it needs to be marketed as a Mental Health Day sport away from their jobs – then it becomes important.
Also, it has always been a ‘family’ sport which is so much needed in today’s environment – so market it that way as well. IFAA needs to get onboard a social media expert (Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok etc) to pump it out there, boosting itself and the links to all the clubs and national bodies worldwide. Social Media is the fastest way to spread the word. Getting people interested is the easy part, backing it up with the correct Website info for newbies is the hard part. Get the infrastructure done there first and then sell it!
I also feel that where possible, World and Regional events be it field or indoor, could allow the general public into a “viewing area” so those interested can view archers shooting. This would only attract those truly interested in joining. IFAA Rules may need to be changed for this to happen. We have done this for an event here in NZ and had a safe track in and out for people to access the course with an area where they can observe 6 groups of archers shooting at once. Food and drink were sold in this viewing area and archers were there to help answer any questions.
Linda provided us with a few photos from her archery career:
Practice from basement – stuck at home with no access to clubs at that time.
I can still practice uphill shots 😊 no excuses
Couple of pics from extreme field shooting
2013 Fort Van Lier Belgium 
2018 European Pro Series 
Field Archery 2016 
NZ 2021 IFAA 
Pro Series 2011
Couple of pics with medals from the Worlds
Two podium finishes at the European Pro Series – invite only events
USA NFAA marked round – I have won this event about 5 times in the Armature Division approx. 70+ women in that division
NZ Black Arrows Team – this pic is the first original Black Arrows team – yes – 3 of us went to Namibia.
Something I am very proud of and not many archers know this – I personally began the NZ Black Arrows back in 2007. I wanted to form this team to give us a real identity on the world stage and for the youth archers to strive for something special – Like our All Blacks Rugby Team.
To be a Black Arrow, you would have to shoot particular scores to be selected for the team – high level of course.
I offered to organize it for Archery NZ (Target) and they turned it down saying it was not a good idea – Ha! Narrow minds at that time. We were training for the Commonwealth Games back then.
I then offered it to the NZFAA and they (mostly Cheryl Irvine and James Williams) were very keen to adopt it to IFAA NZ. I was ecstatic! Mike Lainchbury designed the silver fern for the logo, and we gave the ‘rights’ to the NZFAA who applied for a copyright which they got and still have. Many countries within the archery fraternity recognize the “Black Arrows” as a formidable team and I am very proud it is still in full force today.
I hope the existing and future NZFAA continue to nurture it and keep the selection standards high.
Linda Lainchbury
Auckland, New Zealand
What an inspiritional archer…. publication that is worth a re read when you have a bad archery day…..