At 18 years old, Holly Linfield is one of the country’s most promising young archers
The Guildford Archery Club athlete has dominated national junior circuits with multiple championship wins at under-18 and under-21 level, and in 2023 she was selected to represent Team GB at the 2023 World Archery Youth Championships. It’s been some rise for the Maths and PE student, who has been shooting competitively since the age of ten. To find out more about her career and ambitions, she tackles our quick-fire Q&A…
What was the name of your first sports club?
I started archery at Alton and Four Marks Archery Club, but I moved to Guildford AC, both were really supportive in the different stages of shooting I was at.
Which sportspeople do you admire and why?
I’ve always been inspired by stories of people who’ve balanced doing amazing things in their sport with being successful outside of sport. I think people don’t appreciate the hours you have to put into sport to be at a high level in it, and then to come away from training, switch to “normal life” mode and thrive in both motivates me that keeping up the effort in both is worth it.
How often do you train?
Technically six days a week, but fitting that around exams and work means compromises and being flexible, just fitting what I can in and prioritising.
Describe a typical training session
On a full day, I get to training at 8.30am and prepare myself for the day, setting out what I want to work on and warming up. We all train as a group, starting with some technique work at short distance, before training at 70m for the rest of the day, working on whatever I am focusing on at the time. On a good day I get about 300 arrows done. In the afternoon it’s either bow drills or gym.
What’s your favourite training session?
I’ve always really enjoyed the gym; I would definitely still do this if I didn’t do archery. It gives me time to process things or to turn my brain off.
Best piece of advice from your coach?
Go with the flow. Life rarely goes to plan, so your best bet is just to go with it and keep the faith in yourself. It came from her telling me not to force my shot and relax, but it’s definitely good advice for more than just the shot.
How do you keep going mentally when things get tough?
Realistically, the reason behind doing the sport is because I enjoy it. When things get tough outside of archery, I come to training to get out of my head, so I try to tap into this when things get hard in archery. If it’s not going well it can be frustrating but sometimes the best thing to do is just laugh, accept not every day is my day, and still take what I can from it.
What is your greatest sporting moment so far?
I would say seeing my name on a GB shirt for the first time was one of the biggest breakthroughs. Confidence has a huge effect on my shooting, and this was one of the first times where I started believing in myself. I definitely go through periods of feeling like I don’t deserve my spot, so it’s nice to go back to moments like this where I really started to feel at home in the sport.
What performance foods do you enjoy the most and why?
I love strawberries because they’re easy to snack on when I’m shooting.
What are your go to feel good treats?
There’s a Lidl down the road from training and honestly anything from their bakery really hits the spot. Especially the chocolate doughnut.
Go-to fitness tips?
I think going on a run is always a good option because you can pretty much do it whenever and wherever.
Hardest skill to master in your sport?
It’s basically just the art of repetition, so most of the difficulty is in learning to adapt to different situations like wind or new locations.
How do you unwind away from the sport?
I like to go out and spend time with my friends, I enjoy music, and running in my free time.
What’s the strangest thing that’s happened during a competition?
The night before competing in a team round at the Worlds my teammate dislocated her knee in the gym, and ended up in a knee brace on crutches. We managed to adapt our rotation to work around it last minute on the practice field. I also remember, not at a comp but in training, a bunch of horses just ran across the field while we were shooting. We don’t even shoot anywhere near any horses, so I have no idea where they came from.
What are your plans going forward?
I’m planning on making the most out of my junior career as I’ve only got two more years left, but I also want to make headway in the seniors too. Outside of archery I want to get my PT qualification and eventually have my own business.
Keep up to date on Holly’s progress on Instagram
