Archers Talkin' Archery - An Interview with Lea Chadwell

1 – What is your favourite dinosaur?

Dracorex

2 – What club are you a member of?

Neuse River

3 – What is your preferred shooting style?

Trad, ELB, and Olympic recurve

4 – How did you get into archery?

A back injury took me away from horseback riding and I wanted to find another competitive sport. The fact that it’s an actual weapon…huge plus.

5 – Who is your favourite fictional archer? Nesryn Faliq (Throne of Glass series)

6 – What is your favourite competition type?

3D

7 – What is your favourite shooting venue?

Sage Creek

8 – What is your favourite weather to shoot in?

Pre tick season in the spring.

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

Unicorn

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

An arrow with a broken nock explode in a compound bow. Quite shocking.

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

I inadvertently made it onto Team USA and competed in the World 3D Championships. I came in last. I'm literally the Last in the World.

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

Any one that doesn’t result in a lost arrow, really.

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

I guess Hawkeye. He has good trick arrows.

14 – What are your goals in archery?

Fun. Competition. Get more women involved in trad (not many in my area).

15 – What is your proudest achievement in the sport?

Did I mention I’m Last in the World?

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

Get your elbow back.

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

Last in the Stone Age

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

It keeps me humble.

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

When people feel like they have to make excuses for missing. We all miss. Embrace it.

20 – What would you like to see in terms of improvement within archery as a sport? Less snobbery. All archery is good.

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

Aardvark

22 – Who is your most fervent supporter?

My husband.

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

Horse bow

24 – Any advice for girls/women in archery?

Just get into it. Try it. Show up. Yes, it’s a bunch of dudes, but we have our place in this sport, too.

You can find Lea Chadwell on Instagram as @st.fatty.lambhands and I do recommend subscribing to her YouTube channel, @bowsanderrors4017, too!

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Photo, Lego cover photo, credit - Matt Latimer

Photos of Lea Chadwell credit - Lea Chadwell