A highly skilled local archer who has been likened to the star of popular movie The Hunger Games is getting ready to flex her bow for Australia.
Dubbed Katniss of the Coast, Jessica Lloyd is heading to Limerick, Ireland, in July to represent Australia at the World Archery Youth Championships, as a member of the Archery Australia Team.
Jessica wore the green and gold at the Trans Tasman Archery Team Challenge in early April, followed by the World Archery Oceania Target Championships that wrapped up on April 16. Both events were in Adelaide.
Competing against New Zealand, Jessica won an individual gold and four silver medals at the Trans Tasmans for women’s under-18 recurve.
This feat was closely followed by the Oceania event, where she shot against the top archers from New Zealand, the Solomon Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea, walking away with two golds and a silver.
“I was really proud and excited to represent Australia and win a gold for the individual recurve under-18 event as well as a gold in the matchplay team event,” Jessica said.
“I was so nervous but overall it has been a really good learning experience in preparation for Ireland later this year.”
Starting archery at 11 years old at Sunshine Coast Archery Club in Buderim, Jessica has been coached by Lynette Rankin for the past six years and trains three afternoons a week, excluding monthly tournaments.
She said leading up to Ireland, she will need to increase her strength and fitness training in addition to her time on the shooting range, to increase the number of arrows she shoots each week.
“It can be tricky to fit everything in with school, archery and work – it does not leave a lot of downtime, which means that I need to be super-organised and make some sacrifices,” she said.
“Archery as a sport has helped me with my mental toughness and resilience, it has taught me self-reliance and focus, patience and dedication … all things that will hopefully support me later in life.”
Jessica has been invited to join National Archery Australia’s Pathways Development Squad and will be joining a select group of aspiring high-performance youth archers from around Australia to attend four camps over the next year at the Australian Institute of Sport.
The archers will experience on-site training covering all aspects of what it takes to be the best athlete and nurturing their talent in preparation for world events like the Olympic Games.
Her favourite quote is “Each arrow is a new opportunity to improve“ and so Jessica is focusing high and hopes to inspire others to follow their dreams too.
“Archery is not a common sport, nor is it played at schools, but almost anyone can participate – it is accessible to everyone – so give it a go,” she said.
“Archery has been so rewarding for me and I appreciate the experiences it has allowed me. I am also very grateful to my family for their support, and to my coach Lynette for her dedication in making me into the best archer I can be.”
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