The rise in the number of barebow archers – very much including Great Britain – worldwide is parallel with the higher profile status of field competitions, with an increased focus on the discipline around its ‘majors’.
“Previously, the only discipline that barebow was natively recognised by World Archery is field and 3D, so that’s where a lot of barebow archers focus their attention. Hopefully it will keep growing, because field’s some of the best archery and the most fun. And it challenges you in so many ways that a target range can’t,” said Hicks.
The rise in barebow archery has gone, of course, hand in hand with the rise of the internet and social media, with information shared worldwide and a culture of helping and sharing technique from the elite level down. But it remains a discipline that demands both self-reliance and a problem-solving mentality.
One of the biggest differences between barebow and elite recurve competition is the lack of formal coaching input. There are almost no barebow-specific coaches in Great Britain and precious few worldwide.
Hicks does not, and never has had, a coach.
“I do a lot of video delay, looking at what my form looks like and then watching other people shoot and picking up the bits that I like from their shooting and trying to put them into my form – and the bits that I don’t like I can skip out.”
