Stalybridge Archery Club president welcomes major funding boost

Archery fanatics across the nation have ended this bleak year with some terrific news after £4.7 million has been awarded to Archery GB for the next four years. 

UK Sport has granted funding ahead of crucial training for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The money will go towards supporting performance archery athletes and support programmes for the Olympic games. 

This has come as welcome news to Terry Gregory, President of Stalybridge Archery Club. He’s spoken on how Archery has been neglected over the past as it is seen as a ‘niche sport’. 

“Archery funding for the Tokyo Olympics’ was seriously reduced as they invested in sports and athletes most likely to win medals. This time there seems to have been a greater emphasis on developing sports with wider participation, with an eye towards greater diversity.” 

Trevor believes investing more funding into the sport is a great way of ‘developing young athletes’. He says, “with the work of our governing body, the sport’s profile has been improved in all parts”. 

Stalybridge Archery Club was founded in the mid 1950’s and has gone on to produce many fine archers and Olympic competitors. Upon speaking of the importance of getting young athletes involved within sport, Trevor boasts of how much the club have on offer. 

“We fully embrace a policy of developing young and adult archers whether able or disabled. We have a team of trainers who supervise and coach our growing junior club and our new adult archers, in all aspects of archery”. 

With the covid pandemic taking its toll on many sports and competitors, clubs like this welcome any help they can receive. Across the board sports have recognised that, ‘sport is not just for the fit and healthy but is for all, irrespective of ability or disability.”