Archer aims for Olympics shooting from his kitchen
Youcould be forgiven for thinking archer Stephen Florence’s Olympic high performance centre is a kitchen, lounge and backyard. Because it is.
By day, the 31-year-old king of Kiwi archery is a CNC machinist for Buckley Systems, the remarkable Auckland hi-techcompanyfounded by Bill Buckley.
By afternoon, Florence is a lowtech Olympic aspirant at his rented Pakuranga home.
Practice starts by sliding open the ranchsliders to the rear of his house, and he then stands by his kitchen bench, firing through the lounge at six targets clustered 18 metresaway amongst shrubbery on his back fence.
“If I could shoot 70 metres every day, it would be agamechanger for me,” says Florence, referring to the distance Olympic recurve archers shoot over.
But travelling to one of the three archery ranges in Auckland takes toomuchtime, particularly during winterwhenthe evening light is short.
Andthe backyard routine is paying dividends, with Florence recording brilliant international results this year as he seeks to overcome Covid-19 hurdles and prove to the Olympic selectors he is Tokyogamesquality.
Thosegames— if they go ahead next year— will be full of highly funded, professional stars. Florence is at the other end of this scale.
“You can’t getmuchmorebasic than I am,” he says of his Olympic campaign.
Herepresents Olympic sport the wayit used to be, and somewould say thewayitwas meant to be.
Therewaseven a timewhen his former coachmadeflorence’s bow, although major manufacturerwin& Winnowbacks him.
Florence, whothrew everything at trying tomakethe London Olympics eight years ago, has never received a cent of Government money, and nor does he want any. If he makesnext year’s Games, it will be his first “free trip”.
“I’ve never received any high performancemoney— it probably costsmeabout $7000 per trip overseas, and I’ve probably spent $50,000 to $60,000 ontravel over the years. If I’d been able to use that to buy ahouse 10 years ago . . . But I stress, I’m not after money. Idon’t think anyone else should pay formy hobbies.”
This might be the loner in
Stephen Florence speaking, given thewayhe describes his childhood. Once he had got junior football out of the system, the Glen Eden teen and dad Johnsomehowdiscovered archery. And, boy, did it stick with a youngsterwhostruggled to belong.
Whenasked what his childhood mates thought of his unusual sporting passion, Florence says: “I had a lot of anxiety. I didn’tmake friends— itwas easier to stand in a field and just shootmybow.
“Iwas a loner . . . whenyoulive athomeuntil the age of 24 and shoot arrows every day, I think loner is a good description.”
But combined with what others describe as a freakish natural ability, all that practice took Florence to the top of his sport.
He’s had a fewsetbacks, though.
In 2010, Florencewas measured for acommonwealthgamesuniform he never got to wear. Twoyears later, hewas overlooked for the London Games. Maybehis archery bosses didn’t push his case enough. Maybethe Olympic selectors were too tough.
“I felt letdown. . . it was crushing.” But Florence’s default position is to finds fault within, saying there is nothing which cannot be solved by himshooting better, winning more.
The disappointments cut deep, however, and he took a break from archery, returning only two years ago, but with no Olympic aspirations.
“Everything had fallen to bits— therewasa relationship break-up, I waslooking for something to give mea sense of self-worth again . . . that I could be useful, even just coaching. Andwhenyouhave put somuchtime into something and stop, you feel like itwas all wasted.”
But a strange thing happened. With the pressure off, he began to shoot extremely well, hitting a personal best after just six months.
Hewas still the ambivalent Olympic prospect though, particularly as he wasbusy trying to sell a gymnasiumbusiness at the time of somekey archery dates last year.
With London 2012 lingering in the memoryandnewzealand not having had an Olympic archer since 2004, he thought efforts to qualify Kiwis for Tokyo were awaste of time. Hethought wrong.
Newzealand archery cleverly targeted themixed team— anew Olympic category— as a qualification window. Andthe Aussies opened that windowa little further, with their very bestmen skipping the qualification tournament in Samoalast year because it wasso close to the preOlympic event intokyo.
Southland’sadamkaluzny and South Canterbury’s Olivia Hodgson wonthesamoa shootout to give Newzealand twoolympic quota spots.
The archers must still prove they areupto Olympic standard, so the raceamongnewzealand’s best is on.
Thismeansit isgameonagain for Florence, whowould love to emulate Simon Fairweather, the Australian whose2000sydney Olympic win put archeryon the mapacross the ditch.
But qualification has got trickier again, with twoworldcupevents and the Oceania Championships cancelled because of the pandemic. He’s hoping earlier efforts will count, although not too confident theywill.
Florence had a brilliant start to the year, placing fourth in ahighclass tournament at America’s national training centre in California, where he shot a fabulous score of 660. Onthewayhome, hewon bronze at theaustralian Championships.
“It feels like thedominoes are falling into place, but Covid has confused things and Ihave no idea
Everything had fallen to bits . . .I was looking for something to give me a sense of selfworth again.
Stephen Florence
what I need to do any more[to qualify].
“There might be events in Europe but that will be expensive, and there are still travel restrictions. But these days, I’m motivated by wanting to shootwell, rather than just aiming for the Olympics.
“My favourite pursuit is actually rock climbing, outdoor andindoor. I’ll climb anything. I like pushing myself. It can be pretty scary.
“I want to seehowwell I can shoot with a full-time job and a life. Iwant to push others, for themto seeme as the person to beat. Iwant to be one of the legends still around the clubs helping peoplewheni’m 60, still competing if mybody can take it. I knowsomeguys like that . . . they aremysporting heroes.”
Archery helped a loner kid to socialise. It also helpedhim overcome a fear of competing, although these days itcomeswith provisos.
“I wonder if I really want to put myself through this [selection] crap again. I still have massive trust issues,” he says, recalling the 2012 Olympic heartache. “But to win the Olympics . . . shocks do happen in archery. Yes, it’s 100 per cent possible.” — Nzherald
The second game in the international T20 cricket series between the Black
Caps and West Indies was played at Mount Maunganui’s Bay Oval yesterday. After winning a rain-affected series opener in Auckland on Friday, the Black Caps were looking to secure the series before tonight’s thirdmatch, also at Bay Oval.
To read more about the outcome of yesterday’s game 2, visit nzherald.co.nz. Game 3 is back at the Bay Oval from 7pm tonight. The first test match between the two sides begins on December 3 in Hamilton.