Interview: Archer extraordinaire Tom Hall

Every year, thousands of people attend sports fair aiming to attempt a completely new sport. Not all of them achieve this aim, even fewer take up the sport for more than a few weeks. In 2010, Warwick student Tom Hall was wandering around Desso Hall and was tempted by the University of Warwick Archery Club’s (UWAC) stall. This year he reached the second round of Team GB’s selection event for Rio 2016 and represented Great Britain at the World University Championships. Despite his rapid rise, Hall tells the Boar Sport that he is setting his sights even higher.

When did you take up archery and what attracted you to the sport?

I started in my second year of undergrad, so 2010. I had done a little rifle shooting in cadets before coming to uni and wanted to try something similar; archery caught my eye at the sports fair and I decided to give it a go as it looked easy to try!

Were you naturally good at the sport right away?

Absolutely not! I ranked around 29th out of 40 in our first beginners’ club competition in term one and it took me until the very end of term two to make the scoring team at a league competition. Though one of the first things I do remember is my coach telling me during the beginners’ course that “with a bit of practice you could be pretty good at this.” It was the first time I had ever had the idea that I could be good at a sport, and I’m still trying to find out how far that will take me…

Image: Tom Hall

Since coming to university, how has being part of UWAC helped your development as an archer?

UWAC is one of the most competitive yet welcoming clubs in the country. The standard required to make the team is so high that it forces anyone who wants to shoot competitively to improve themselves constantly. As well as that we have had a great regional league; again the most competitive in the UK and with a lot of opportunities to compete. In 2015 when I was preparing for the selection shoot for the World University Games I was doing so alongside two other archers from UWAC, so once again we were able to push each other to higher standards. We have a great ethos, which is that anyone who wants to can be good at archery, so long as they put in the effort.

Archery requires immense composure – how do you ensure you hold your nerve at critical moments?

I actually find that I need the pressure of competition to bring out my best shooting – it really helps me to focus on the moment and think only about the next shot. The critical moments are actually the easiest; I especially enjoy shooting in a team round and taking the last shot as the clock counts down, or shooting a tie-breaker arrow where the closest to the centre wins. The hardest thing is maintaining that level of concentration over the length of a whole competition; BUCS outdoors 2015 lasted 12 and a half hours and every time I step onto the line I have to try and forget about everything that’s happened before and all the arrows still to come, and just focus on executing the next shot.

If I had told you 12 months ago that you would be in contention for a place on Team GB in Rio, what would your reaction have been?

I think I would have played it down; it’s something I might have dared to dream about 12 months ago, but it sounded crazy even to me so I just focused on training. But in principle the concept isn’t scary at all, it’s easy. If I train harder and smarter, I improve. And with constant improvement the big things can only get closer!

What experiences from the Olympic selection trials will help you in the future?

The selection trials were really intense, the organisers did everything they could to increase the pressure. For example, on the second day 16 men had to go down to eight, and they arranged the targets based on our current ranking order and put scoreboards up underneath so everyone could see after every set of arrows exactly where the people around them were and who was currently making the cut! But the main thing I took was from shooting in the head to head matches. Although I was behind on total score I always made ground in the matches and scored some good wins against some established names. Now I’m confident that when I step out in national tournaments I can take on anyone in matchplay.

Finally, what advice would you give people who want to get into the sport?

Go for it! It’s the easiest sport in the world to try, but remember it’s not about hitting the target straight away. Just try to improve your technique a little at a time and you could surprise yourself with where it takes you.