A blistering performance at the Canada Cup in Maple Ridge last month (May 18-20) has resulted in an invitation to join Team Canada for the Quesnel River Archers’ Emerie Watson.
The 18-year-old sharpshooter will join teammates from across Canada to compete at the 2019 World Archery Junior Championships in Madrid at the end of summer (Aug. 19-25).
Watson, who will be graduating from high school in a couple of weeks, just received the call confirming her place on the team this past Thursday (June 6) but is already starting to get ready.
This will be her second time representing Canada, and she wants to take home some hardware.
Watson competed at the 2017 World Archery Youth Championships and says she was just happy to be there, but this shoot will be different.
“It’s not just for the experience any more,” she says. “It’s to see how well I can do.”
Her planning will need to be meticulous to compete with the world’s best.
“My dad — Scott Watson — is my coach, and we’re coming up with a whole new training plan. I’m on a break right now, so I’m not shooting for two weeks. I’m in the gym and weight training and doing visualization.
“Once the two weeks are up, I’ll start shooting, and I’m going to work up my arrow count to as high as I can get it, and then I’ll drop right back down before the competition.”
She even plans on changing her sleeping schedule.
“It’s a nine-hour [time] difference, so before I go, I’m going to start sleeping in the day and staying up at night,” she says. “It’ll probably only be a few days before to make sure I’m ready.”
Watson says the competition starts almost as soon as she arrives, so she does not want jet lag affecting her performance.
“You don’t have a lot of time to adjust, so I want to make sure I’m as normal as I can be, so nothing is holding me back.”
The young archer’s whole family is extremely excited.
While her father accompanied her on the Argentina trip, the two did not get to spend much time together, as she was required to be with Team Canada most of the time.
This event, he will have some company, as her mother will make the trip as well.
“They’re both going to watch, and I think my grandparents might come to, so it’s going to be a family event.”
If Watson is able to harness the focus she found at the Canada Cup, the family’s trip will be that much better.
Watson took first place in both Junior and Senior Women for her performance in one-on-one Compound Bow match play.
She says she took a break a little before the competition and then started shooting a lot with about a month to go.
“I went into the shoot feeling prepared but not necessarily prepared to win,” she modestly says. “Because it was my first year in Junior and I was moving up a category, as well as shooting against Seniors, I just went in with the mindset of ‘shoot your best and see what happens.’”
Nerves are always a factor at the level of sport she is competing at, but Watson says she is able to use them to her advantage.
“I’ve been in so many [big competitions] that it kind of feels normal now. You still get super nervous and excited for them all, but its a good nervous now.
“I know I have to calm myself down, so I’m super calm because I need to stay that way. It’s like a meditative calm.”
Her next step will be to seek out some sponsorship from local businesses, as the trip to Madrid will be costly. If anyone is interested in sponsoring Watson, she can be contacted at emeriewatson@gmail.com.
READ MORE: Young Quesnel archer wins bronze medal at nationals in Nova Scotia
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