Archers Talkin' Archery - An Interview with Anette Fredsdatter Heidal

1 – What is your favourite dinosaur?

Triceratops

2 – What club are you a member of?

None in particular as there are no clubs where I live now.

3 – What is your preferred shooting style?

Traditional

4 – How did you get into archery?

I had the pleasure of trying a Kassai bow at an Archery club that had an open Sunday where people could come and try it out. It was love at first shot. I did not rest until I had my own custom Kassai bow a few months later.

5 – Who is your favourite fictional archer?

Ooh, I'm not sure I have any particular ones, but I guess Robin Hood has been there all my life.

6 – What is your favourite competition type?

3D shooting in the woods are absolutely my favourite.

7 – What is your favourite shooting venue?

Outside on my own range in the back garden/woods.

8 – What is your favourite weather to shoot in?

I think it's more seasonal than weather related. A crisp autumn day or a frosty clear winter morning.

9 – Would you rather do archery whilst riding a unicorn or a pegasus?

A pegasus of course!

10 – What is the oddest thing you have seen during a competition?

I don't think I've seen anything odd.

11 – What is the highest level of competition you have shot in?

The national competition in historic archery here in Norway.

12 – What is the best shot you have made in a competition?

I can't remember a single shot, but I became the female champion of the above mentioned competition in 2017, which was also the last time I competed. It was the sum of three different elements. Normal range (can't remember the exact distances), long range (50 meters) and a 3D course.

13 – Which fictious archers would you want on your side for a team match?

I'm not that well versed in fictional archers - so Robin Hood, hehe...

14 – What are your goals in archery?

My goals are just to keep the joy of being outside with my bow. The competing part killed that a little bit. It made me too focused on honing skill and to shoot for accuracy and though it's fine, some of the magic sort of disappeared for me. It has taken me a while to get back and sometimes I fall back into just focusing on technique and not the whole experience.

15 – What is your proudest achievement in the sport?

Winning the nationals and also - perhaps more so - a local 3D competition when I was quite fresh against seasoned 3D hunters. We were all shooting traditional bows, but theirs were carbon fibre and much more fancy than mine, with little arrow shelves and such and there I was shooting off my hand on a 26 pound kassai bow and I got first place. I don’t think it was all skill though, definitely some luck on my part because it makes no sense to me.

16 – What is the best advice you have been given in archery?

It's a cliché, but you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't make. Consistency is key, but more than anything: Keep the joy. And the latter one is the one I keep coming back to and the one that keeps me coming back.

17 – How do you think you would have fared in the stone age with a bow and arrows?

I think I'd be alright. I'd have to kill something which I am happy I don't have to in this day and age, but if it came down to it and I was hungry enough...

18 – What is the one thing you really enjoy in the sport?

Just that feeling, sometimes, of holding this simple beautiful weapon that's followed mankind for so long and feeling a kinship through history - and a kinship with my bow as well. For me my bows are very much alive. They have different personalities. Sounds odd perhaps. I enjoy being out in nature with my them revelling in all the sensory elements that come with the whole experience, from nocking the arrow, the sound of the arrow-flight, the weight of the bow in my hands, the sound of birds and wind or rain. Seeing snow fall. The scents of everything. But sometimes the joy is having that really good shooting day where you feel you master it well and you get that flow-experience.

19 – What one thing in the sport irritates you the most?

When people nag to get me to do competitions. I don't really enjoy them. I get super stressed.

20 – What would you like to see in terms of improvement within archery as a sport?

I don't really know. I am mostly a solitary archer, so I don't have much to contribute.

21 – What do you think would make a great mascot for the sport of archery?

Again: No idea.

22 – Who is your most fervent supporter?

My husband. He also shoots bows, but his weapon of choice is guns. He is very proud of me which is lovely and never got jealous when we competed together.

23 – If you could shoot another bow style, what would it be?

I have a longbow, a recurve and hybrid, so I guess I would love to add a flatbow to my collection. My heart belongs within the tradbow realm.

24 – Any advice for girls/women in archery?

Do what makes you happy and comparison is the thief of joy.

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Photo credit, Lego cover photo - Matt Latimer

Photo credit, photos of Anette - Anette Fredsdatter Heidal