Archery: Teasdale's compound interest gets him on target for Games

Shaun Teasdale is ranked overall world number 14, and thinks NZ has a good chance of winning at the Games. Photo / Greg Bowker

A trip to a Big Boys Toys show eight years ago had an unexpected spin-off for Shaun Teasdale.

The West Auckland teenager went with cars and computers on his mind but a turn at an archery stand - $3 for three shots - had a substantial effect on his sporting life.

Teasdale is off to the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in October as part of a New Zealand team which has solid hopes of winning medals.

He is ranked overall world No14 in the compound discipline. Teammate Stephen Clifton, also of Auckland, is No7 and took bronze at last year's world championships.

Take out those archers ranked ahead of them from non-Commonwealth nations and the prospects get even brighter.

But to back track a moment, Teasdale took a shine to this sport he'd never given a thought to. Nagging his father, Colin, resulted in a bow being bought shortly after and from there it became apparent Teasdale, now 21, had a knack for the sport.

His coach, John Dearling, entered Teasdale in a tournament in 2005 at the Mountain Green Archery Club in Mt Albert.

"I got first in the under 18s," Teasdale recalled. "I shot a score and didn't know much about it. I asked a few people if the score was good and they said 'Yeah, pretty good for your first time.'

His main sporting activity until then had been soccer but "I got bored with that. I found that team sports were not usually for me. I prefer to be measured on an individual rather than a team basis."

If there was a point which marked Teasdale out as a distinct talent it was a World Cup event in 2007 in Boe, France. Up against the then-world champion, Dietmar Trillus of Canada, in the second elimination round, Teasdale beat the Canadian.

Had he surprised himself with that? "Yes and no. It is archery so it does happen quite a lot that a higher-ranked archer gets knocked out by lower-ranked one.

"But that was more for me than anyone else. I thought, 'Oh yeah, maybe I'll keep going with this."'

The Commonwealth Games hove into view around that time. This is only the second time archery has been on the programme, after Brisbane in 1982, when Christchurch paraplegic Neroli Fairhall won gold in the recurve discipline.

Recurve is used at the Olympics, and with archery not listed on the Glasgow Commonwealth Games programme in 2014, this is an important time for the sport.

The qualifying mark for New Delhi was 1360 out of a possible 1440. It had to be achieved four times within three years, plus attend five international tournaments, including at least one outside Australia, and contest the last three national championships.

Trips to World Cup events had shown Teasdale that 1360 was more than possible. Clifton, the third team member, Invercargill's Tony Waddick and he now regularly eclipse 1360.

Government funding agency Sparc put $100,000 into Archery New Zealand's kitty this year, which helped the team of six prepare at World Cups in Croatia and Turkey earlier in the year, and again at Utah and Shanghai shortly before the Games.

Both Teasdale and 23-year-old Clifton, who trains at the Auckland Archery Club at Cornwall Park, went straight to the compound discipline. There is rivalry between traditionalists who favour the recurve and the compounders.

There are several differences. Without getting too mired in the nitty-gritty, compound archery utilises technology, is physically less demanding and it is easier to achieve good marks quicker; recurve is the traditionalists' preference, but is harder to master.

"You get recurvers who look at compounders and say we're cheating, using training wheels and those sort of things. But you don't drive a Model T Ford now," as Teasdale put it.

"To get to a higher level it's easier with a compound, but to stay there it's a lot harder. You get to see the results quicker, so it keeps the kids interested. They want to hit the middle (bullseye) every time. You shoot higher scores, but everyone else is shooting those scores too."

A recurve competition could have a 10-point winning margin; compounders might be split by a solitary point.

So what of New Zealand's Games prospects? "We've got a huge chance.

"A couple of years ago we'd be looking at people thinking it's hard to beat them. Now we're on the same playing field, not behind everyone else. We're right up there."

EYE ON NEW DELHI
* New Zealand are sending a team of six to the Commonwealth Games - Auckland's Shaun Teasdale and Stephen Clifton; Invercargill's Tony Waddick; Gisborne's Stephanie Croskery; Mandy McGregor of New Plymouth and Anne Mitchell of Balclutha.

* It is the second time archery has been held at the Commonwealth Games, after Brisbane in 1982 when Christchurch's Neroli Fairhall won a gold medal.

* The compound discipline uses pulleys, wheels and other devices, making it a physically less demanding version of the sport than recurve, which is the Olympic discipline.

* Archers have a ranking round of 72 arrows fired at a target 70m away. The No1 qualifier then shoots off against the bottom-ranked archer, No2 against second-bottom and so on, with 12 shots each. A bullseye is worth 10 points.