Hard work pays off and can be rewarding – with the right support.

Published 25th June 2021

I guess I was always going to be a volunteer being raised in a family full of them! 

But I can’t actually think why I wouldn’t have anyway. 

Mostly it’s about finding something that you enjoy and then looking into how you can give time for that. Certainly helps to love the thing you are doing because nothing is perfect so it keeps you going when things don’t go to plan. 

For me it’s archery – obviously. 

I started shooting in 2017, but I had been hanging around the range watching my brother and dad shooting as I waited to grow enough to draw a bow alone! 

I am mostly shy and quite and find meeting new people quite intimidating. However my previous sport of Tae kwondo and now archery has given me the confidence, with the support of some amazing coaches within them both to stand in front of strangers. 

So I wanted to see how I could share that especially with other juniors. There is a lot of pressure to go out and achieve things to make ourselves stand out in some way. 

I started helping at tournaments, booking people in when they arrived and walking around selling raffle tickets. Then moving on to try new things. Talking to children at have a gos and beginners courses.

Now I am county junior representative for Northamptonshire and the first Aim4sport ambassador. 

I have attended an AGB webinar that was mostly adults and had the confidence to put over my thoughts and opinions. 

I am currently working on some ideas to encourage juniors to come out and regain the confidence they had before the pandemic and to have some fun too. So I will keep you up to date with those and what happens. I am excited to try and get the Aim4sport and WOAC juniors together.

But today I received my certificate for my youth sports award that I have completed. This was based on work I completed in my own archery but also as a volunteer within my sport. 

I have also been thanked by Archery GB for my work within my sport and received one of the first volunteer workforce pin badges that have been sent out.

Thank you to my family and Dave and Gaynor for helping me believe in myself and supporting me to find the confidence that has helped me to do the things I have so far.

Hope to see you all soon 

Rose Sharpe 

Aim4sport ambassador 

Author Archives: Rose Sharpe

I started archery in the summer of 2017 and I have never stopped enjoying it!
 
I love the challenge of working on my own sport and competition but that I have made some great friends on the range too.
 
I was proud to become the first ambassador for Aim4sport and this gave me the confidence to also become my county’s junior rep. I want to use these roles to help juniors already in the sport and to encourage new juniors to try the sport too.
 
I have recently started secondary school and the confidence gained in my sport has helped me make that change in school environment.