Kiera Busch ’23 recently competed in an archery competition to show her developing skills. She was able to beat her personal best while competing during spring break. I was able to interview Kiera to discuss everything archery.

Kiera started archery in August of last year. When asked about her schedule she said, “It really depends on the workload I have for school, but I am always there on Saturdays. Whenever I don’t have school, I come as often as possible. I practice at a shooting range called Hi Tech Archery in Fullerton.”

In addition, I asked Kiera how she learned archery, and she said she owes it all to her coach: “My coach is pretty funny and super good at his job. He coached someone who went to the Olympics last summer, so he really knows what he is doing. One of the funniest things he does is trying to distract you in any way possible when you’re trying to aim–it really teaches you how to focus.”

Kiera said she’s no stranger to challenges: “At my last competition almost everything that could go wrong went wrong. I didn’t have some of the things I needed, so I had to borrow from my coach, which is not good.

Everything in archery is fine-tuned to the specific person using it (even my arrows were cut specifically for me), so it’s not ideal to borrow something from someone else.”

She went on to say, “I was only really missing my bow stand (which, as the name implies, holds the bow when you’re not using it), so it wasn’t that big of a deal. Not having it was more distracting than anything. I unfortunately did not place, but I still scored my personal best for the time!”

If anyone wants to join, she helps with beginner’s classes on Saturdays. The class starts at 11:00 a.m. every Saturday morning and cost $20 at the door. Anyone can come, and first-timers are encouraged to give it a shot.