Reuben Dodunski’s incentive for taking up archery was to improve on his hunting skills.
The Hauraki archer certainly didn’t plan on breaking any national records, but that is exactly what he did when he shot his way to the top in a competition at Whitford Forest Archers.
The Hauraki Plains College year 11 student competed at a New Zealand Field Archery Association event earlier in the year and came away with a triumphant result.
Reuben broke the previous record for his division: Youth Male Compound Unlimited, and now holds it with his new record of 278 out of 294. Not only does he hold the record, he is also the current New Zealand champion for his division.
Reuben, who is a member of the Lakeview Archers Club near Lake Karapiro, told The Profile the achievement was “a bit of a rush” because he wasn’t expecting it.
“I haven’t been shooting for records and stuff like that,” he said. “I’ve just been shooting for the joy of it.”
Reuben was drawn to the sport for the hunting side of it, he said.
He used to hunt with a rifle but “it was too easy” so he got drawn into archery with the “thrill of the chase”, he said.
“I try to get out every weekend for a hunt.”
One thing Reuben liked to do prior to a competition was go out and get a couple hours’ practice in, he said, and he’d do this over three days leading up to the competition.
He preferred to go out on his own and “put a little bit of music on and just relax”.
He didn’t get nervous when he competed, rather just “kind of try and keep it cool”, he said.
There’s not much going through his mind when he’s competing, “I’m just trying to get the shoot right”, he said.
The most challenging part of archery was “target panic”, where as soon as the archer gets the pin in their sight on the target, they “snap the shot off”, he said.
The best thing to do is hold the pin where you want it, Reuben said. “You’ve just got to relax and just let the shot go by itself.”
Practicing it over and over again and “just feeling the shot” were things that helped him, he said.
Reuben found himself in good company in the world of archery.
He said his technique had improved drastically since he had been shooting with many knowledgeable archers who had been doing it for a lot longer than him.
Reuben said he would listen to them, watch how they did it and “try to replicate that”.
For other students interested in taking up the sport, Reuben’s advice was “never think that you’ve learnt it all”.
“Every time you do archery, you learn something new. Just don’t think that you know it all.”
