Trans-Tasman team management & Team captains 2023 : Peter McLean (Asst Manager), Robbie Anderson (Coach), Ben Trim (Capt), Lily Brislen (Capt), Sarah Newcombe (Manager).
Earlier in April, Robbie Anderson (one of Randwick's coaching team) travelled with the New Zealand Trans-Tasman and World Archery Oceania teams to Adelaide as team coach. Robbie has provided us with a summary of his experience, and details the fantastic results achieved by the NZ team.
Just recently, I attended the Trans-Tasman and World Archery Oceania tournaments as the Archery NZ Team Coach. The tournaments were held at Ashton Oval in the beautiful Adelaide Hills in Australia. With cool conditions and local wildlife such as Koalas, Kookaburras, Kangaroos & the famous Adelaide Crows. These tournaments ran back-to-back from April 7-11 & 12-16 respectively. For the Trans-Tasman competition, the NZ team were trying to retain the trophy that we won in 2019 which I was also a part of, so it meant a lot to the team.
Day 1.
This was a 720 ranking round in the morning followed by the start of the individual match play in the afternoon and continuing into day 2. After the ranking round we found ourselves 9-5 down on points due to the age categories and divisions of archers competing.
Day 2.
After the completion of the individual match play - a long day for the archers - we won the event 35-30 on points. Adding this to the Day 1 points it gave us a total 40-39 points, a 1 point lead going into Day 3.
Day 3.
This was the mixed teams competition and there were 20 points available for this event. Another long day in the field but the team performed well and we won the event 12-8 on points. Adding these points to our total we now had a lead of 5 points 52-47 and all to shoot for on our final day.
Day 4.
On our final day of competition was the teams’ event, with teams of three archers competing, and this was probably our best day. We had 21 points available so this was the day to decide the winners. It was another long day in the field but our team shot exceptionally and we took out the points by a score of 18-3. Every one of our divisions picked up points so we were very happy.
Adding these points to our tally we finished with a total of 70 - 50, a 20 point winning margin. We did not tell the team the scores throughout the competition so they only learned the scores when the trophy was presented at the banquet on our final night of April 11th.
New Zealand had just won back-to-back Trans-Tasman trophies and we are only the second team to have done this since the early 2000s. This trophy is not an easy trophy to win, especially when competing for it in Australia. We are very proud to have achieved this and retain it for NZ.
WA Oceania Tournament
The World Archery Oceania tournament included teams from Australia, NZ, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea & the Solomon Islands. It was pleasing to see and meet our Oceania neighbours, and make new friendships. The teams compete as individuals and mixed teams over three days with the finals televised by World Archery Oceania on finals day.
Day 1 was comprised of a double 720. The morning session was for competition ranking for medals, and the afternoon session’s scores were added to the morning scores for championship medal matches on the final day. The NZ team competed very well, picking up a number of medals in the ranking round and making it into gold medal matches for the final day.
Day 2 was not a WAO tournament day - instead it was the Archery South Australia Grand Prix event. I got a day off to tour the beautiful city of Adelaide. Some of the NZ team did compete in this event, and many of them claimed medals, so by all accounts they did quite well.
Day 3 - back to WAO duty. This was the mixed teams’ event. Teams were selected by division top male/top female and the NZ Team was well represented in all divisions and made a number of finals for the next days event. All our archers performed outstandingly and did NZ proud.
Day 4 - Finals Day, and this is where the NZ team really flourished. This was going to be a long day not only for the NZ Team but also for myself as a coach. Starting at 10.00am and continuing until 4.30pm, it was non-stop action.
Most of the team asked me if I would stand in the coach’s box to scope for them while they were shooting their finals in the Gold Medal matches. I was very humbled to be asked, and I got a front row seat to see up close and personal how well these archers performed. Each and every one performed outstandingly, and I witnessed some of the best shooting under pressure you could ever wish to see as a coach.
In the end, after a long day the NZ Team medal tally was 7 Gold, 7 Silver, and 7 Bronze medals, not including the medals won during the ranking rounds. We had a team of 25 Archers shooting Recurve, Compound and for the first time ever a Barebow team, and they all contributed to the medal tally.
I could not have been any prouder than to have been selected as the coach for both the NZ Trans-Tasman and the World Archery NZ Oceania teams 2023. We have done Archery NZ, the ANZ Board, our sport and our Clubs - for me Randwick Archery Club - proud.
It has been both an honour and a privilege to represent NZ at these two international events.
Robbie Anderson (TT & WA NZ Oceania Team Coach)
World Archery Oceania tournament - New Zealand team.