New Stars

Interview with an Archer
Tai Po 08 Archery Club
Chan Wai Yin

Chan Wai Yin, who is currently a secondary 5 student, is skilled with a composite bow and has plenty of experience with it as he has participated in many archery competitions and has achieved good results time and time again. Wai Yin first encounter with archery was purely incidental and happened when his uncle, who was a coach at Tai Po 08 Archery Club, started asking him to learn archery a few years ago. Driven by his curiosity, Wai Yin started to learn more about this sport that was still foreign to him at that time.

Becoming more proactive and greater self-cultivation

Archery is a relatively static and individual sport that doesn’t place much emphasis on teamwork. Despite this, Wai Yin’s personality has changed unexpectedly since starting this sport. He was originally silent and introverted, and had no love for outdoor activities; however, since starting this sport, he has become mature and well-rounded – like a self-confident athlete. After each competition, Wai Yin gets together with his coach and team and actively shares his experiences and reviews both the things that went well and the things that didn’t go so well. Wai Yin loved playing games in the past but enjoys archery immensely and has become fully devoted to the sport. “I feel such a strong sense of achievement when I hit the mark.” said Wai Yin laughingly.

Wai Yin really did have to earn this sense of achievement as his brilliant results were the fruits of his dedication and practice. He trains for at least 4 hours every Sunday and often takes time to practice after school on weekdays or on Saturdays. His archery training hasn’t had any adverse impact on his studies. On the contrary, it has improved his focus and judgment. In addition to this, Wai Yin also does some fitness exercises in his spare time, and this has been beneficial to both his physical and mental health. Due to all of the above, his family fully supports his involvement in archery and does their best to help him focus on archery without any other concerns.

Competing and achieving excellent results

Wai Yin didn’t like competitions at first. Approximately one year after he started learning archery, with the encouragement of his uncle and the other members of the archery club, he half-heartedly entered the first archery competition of his life. Now he proactively keeps an eye out for news on archery competitions and actively participates in various competitions to compete with other athletes. He placed second in Group B of the Asia Youth Indoor Archery Open for two consecutive years (2014 and 2015), and also placed second for the Hong Kong Youth Indoor Target Archery Open Competition. He said: “I never thought I would win any prizes in a competition, so I was absolutely delighted when I found out that I had won an award!” Wai Yin doesn’t seem to feel any pressure from the competitions because he treats them like normal and tries to thoroughly enjoy the excitement and joys of archery.

In September 2015, Wai Yin was selected to be a part of the Hong Kong Archery Association’s youth team. We believe that this one year training will provide him with various seminars and practical training to enrich his archery knowledge and skills. When asked about the future, Wai Yin said that he wanted to keep practicing archery. He set himself the goals of being selected for the Hong Kong archery team and representing Hong Kong in the Olympics. He also hoped that archery would become more popular in Hong Kong as he wanted more youths to learn about this physically and mentally beneficial sport.