Ben Horner

What got you into archery?

I first started archery just before I turned 8 years old, the whole of my family did a beginner’s course at the same time and I have been around archery ever since! I have shot for a few different clubs over the years both at home and at university as well as representing two different counties. However, now you will not see me shooting many competitions as I spend most of my time doing all sorts of other things around the sport including coaching and helping organise tournaments.

What have you done with your coaching?

I qualified as a Level 1 coach at 15 years old and then as a Level 2 coach at 17. I have coached at many levels including beginners’ courses, and 1:1 coaching both at home and at university. I will continue to support several local projects including the SCAS Junior Pathway Project and as part of the ATC project. Supporting younger athletes is a big passion of mine and I will continue to support these projects as much as I can.

What competitions do you help organise?

The main set of competitions I help organise are the BUCS (British University and College Sport) Archery events. This consists of organising one competition and then helping support the other events as field party as needed. This can mean I travel all over the country including going to Edinburgh each of the last 2 years! I also help support a number of more local competitions including the Key stage event run by Aim4Sport as well as a number of Bedfordshire County competitions as scorer so I make sure all the scoresheets, target list and results are sorted as promptly as possible!

What do you do outside of Archery?

Most of the rest of my time is taken up by my job – I am a qualified physiotherapist currently working in the NHS and so this takes up an awful lot of time! As with everything, this also comes into archery and I help support several archers through injuries as well as other advice that they might need around pre-hab and strength and conditioning.