Grade 9 horseback archer hits the mark every time
Young archer Anushka Sharma says resilience, and focusing on improving, rather than listening to the ‘You can’t do it’ sayers, is what has kept her growing in the sport.
What started as curiosity while watching a friend ride horses, has grown into a promising sporting journey for Summerhill College Grade 9 (Pre IGCSE) learner Anushka Sharma.
Anushka, began horseback archery in 2023, when she and her friend were just in Grade 6. Anushka says she was inspired to take up the sport after accompanying her friend to horse-riding sessions. Since then, she has slowly developed her skills.
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Training under her current coach, Deirdré Janse Van Rensburg, for the past three months, Anushka has shown remarkable improvement, progressing from competing on level 0 with a lead rein, where she had competed for the past two years, to confidently competing on level 1 without assistance.
Van Rensburg praised Anushka’s dedication and impressive progress. “To help improve her performance, several technical adjustments were made to her shooting style. I changed her shooting technique from the Mediterranean style to the Slavic style, changed her nocking technique, and changed her quiver from a back quiver to a side quiver.
“She’s nocking and shooting much faster as a result of these changes.”
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These changes helped Anushka at the South African National Equestrian Schools Association (Sanesa) qualifier 3 competition, where she performed well.
Competing in the Tower90 league, Anushka secured second place in her class. She then took on the Raid233 event entirely at a trot for the first time in competition, and came out first place in her class.
Her coach said the achievements reflect the hard work Anushka has put into mastering the sport. “I’m very proud of her and very pleased with her progress.”
With her confidence continuing to grow and her skills improving, together with the willingness to embrace new techniques, the young horseback archer is headed to success.
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