Archery: Barber aims to be a cut above the rest
Parents' intuition may prove to be the crucial first step in creating a London 2012 gold medallist.
Although it was not the present on top of their ten-year-old son Tom's Christmas list, Tim and Heather Barber decided to buy him an archery bow.
Seven years later, Tom is an international archer for Great Britain, was a reserve for last year's Beijing Olympics and has been tipped to star in the next games in London.
"I can remember getting the bow and thinking 'that's good' but there was something else I got that I was enthusing over, probably a PC computer game," recalls Tom, 17, at his parents' home in Middle Road, Denton.
"I used to go out and have a go with it but I didn't instantly start doing it. It probably took a month going out with it, until I started really enjoying it."
Tom's first taste of archery had been a few months before that monumental Christmas, when he had taken part in an activities evening with Earsham Scout Group.
But it was when he started shooting arrows at home, along with his father who took the sport up at the same time, that his interest flourished.
Tom soon joined Taverham Archers, in Norwich, and although he claims he did not display an instant Olympian-in waiting aptitude for the sport, in his first year he became Norfolk U12s champion.
It was when he walked off with the U12s national title at Skelmersdale, near Liverpool, that he realised he may have a burgeoning talent for archery.
In 2005 he was called up to national squad's training camp for his age group but failed to qualify for the European Junior Championships and Grands Prix that season.
But this still proved an important year for him, as he met the new GB head coach, South Korean Peter Suk, for the first time.
By Tom's own admission, the meeting started a revolution in his game, not only technically but in his whole approach to the sport.
"The first time I met him I was taken aback by just how far from correct everything I did was," said the A-level student.
"He explained to me what needed to be done and if I wanted to achieve my goals what I needed to do.
"It just blew me away. I thought I was working relatively hard before that.
"I was shooting 120 arrows a day and I was one of the more hard-working juniors in our squad. Then he came up with the figure that I had to be shooting at least 300 arrows a day.
“I was stunned.”
Tom now fires 300 to 350 arrows a day in the spacious garden at his parents’ home, where he can fire from his longest competition distance of 90 metres.
He also built up his strength with a programme of weights, pull-ups and push ups.
His breakthrough year was 2007 where his long list of tournament success on the international stage, included being ranked the top junior archer in Europe and coming fourth in the UK Senior Masters.
This success fuelled the hope that he could be a surprise late inclusion in the Team GB squad for the Beijing Olympics.
The expectations grew further when he claimed a first and third in the first Olympic selection shoot.
But a disappointing performance in the second shoot saw him finish fifth overall.
A late revival saw him selected as the team’s reserve ahead of his good friend Michael Peart, of Ipswich, who had pipped him to fourth.
Tom said: “I was disappointed not to qualify for the Olympic team, as I felt, after such a good start, I really did have a chance.
“And I had been shooting well nationally – at one point I was probably the best in the country in that period of time. Everything was going well until that second selection shoot.
“Just the occasion got to me a bit.”
As their reserve he followed the team to their pre-Olympic holding camp in Macau but with no last-minute injuries cropping up, they moved on to Beijing without him.
Tom did not miss out on the games all together though, because as part of the British Olympic Association’s (BOA) 2012 Olympic Ambition programme, for athletes selected as potential competitors in the London Games, he visited the Olympic village in the Chinese capital and attended archery events during the games.
Tom believes the experience could prove invaluable if he qualifies for the biggest sporting in the world in three years time.
He said: “It looks really big on the television but being there made me realise it’s just the same people and format of the event. Obviously it is a lot bigger but it’s not completely alien. It’s made me feel more comfortable that I won’t be completely out of my depth, if I qualify for London 2012.”
A mark of how highly he is regarded, at the end of last year, Archery UK awarded him the BOA Athlete of the Year award for archery, which saw the other sports name Olympic gold medallists Chris Hoy, Rebecca Adlington and Christine Ohuruogu as their recipients.
But Tom is taking nothing for granted and has three years of hard work ahead of him before the all-important Olympic selection shoots, which will decide whether he will compete on the biggest sporting event to ever come to these shores.
In a sport where millimetres can be the difference between success and failure, the level-headed teenager is making sure he has more than one string to his bow.
He is taking A-levels in all three sciences at Bungay High School and in the future foresees a career in the field of biology, possibly as a vet, rather than among the elite few who can make a living as a professional archer. Degree studies at university will be on hold though until after 2012 and he has a big year ahead of him in 2009. The recurve specialist has the World Junior Outdoor Championships in the US in July and, as long as he makes it through the selection shoots, the senior World Outdoor Championships in South Korea in September. Good performances in these tournaments would put him on track for his goal.
He said: “To qualify for London 2012, would be absolutely fantastic. It would mean everything to me and make it all worth it.”
n Tom Barber receives funding support from the Norfolk Sports and Cultural Foundation.
The Foundation is part of Norfolk Celebrating Talent, the countywide partnership programme drawing together Norfolk County Council, Active Norfolk, Norfolk Arts Forum and all district councils and local businesses to maximise the benefits from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
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Weather for Diss
Thursday 02 September 2010
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 19 C
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Wind direction: South east
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Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 18 C
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