By Naomi Selvaratham and Emma Sun
ALLY Reid is not a typical 10-year-old.
While most of her peers are busy playing, Ally is already on her way to achieving her dream of being a professional archer.
Having placed second in the state archery championships in June, the Year 5 student at Cockatoo Primary School is ranked as one of the leading young archers in Australia, and is determined to keep working on her goal of someday becoming world-class.
Part of her success could be credited to her hectic training schedule – she trains five hours a week.
Ally has been practising archery for seven years and began her career by chance after her father drove past an archery range and signed up Ally and her two siblings for archery lessons.
Since then, Ally has competed in archery events throughout Victoria.
“Some of them are just little competitions at my club and I’ve gone to Morwell and Frankston for the bigger meets,” she said.
Ally described the process of competing in archery as nerve-wracking but a great opportunity to meet other young archers.
“It can be really scary because I don’t always know who I’m competing against, and especially at the state championships, the target was very small,” she said.
“But I love competing because I get to meet a lot of other people my age and do something I really love.
“I also love the feeling of relief when you win those competitions and the happiness at the fact we won.”
While she hopes to continue competing in archery on a state and maybe even international level when she gets older, Ally wants to pursue another passion as well.
“I also want to be a zookeeper,” she said.
