To bridge the gap, the squad spent their first two days logging eight hours of intensive coaching with Bernardo working on posture, bow tuning, and simulated tournament ends to understand scoring.
The sessions also introduced the young archers to balance pads to refine their shooting posture under pressure. Bernardo used the pads to keep one archer’s hips anchored and to stop another from letting her shoulder creep forward through the shot.
“Because they came right before a competition that gives us that puts us in somewhat in a limited place in terms of technique work, we’re not going to reinvent their technique and risk lower scores. At the World Archery Excellence Centre, posture and balance are foundational, they are areas we can work on with almost anyone,” said Bernado.
“The balance pads we use are just a little bit unstable, so it kind of instinctively forces the archer to be more stable and to and to use their body, their core muscles a little bit more,” he added.
In the under-21 category, 12-year-old Zhonghan ‘Harry’ Chen delivered an impressive qualification score of 549, averaging 9.15 per arrow.
Ambition remains high, and Chen’s long-term goal is an Olympic gold medal – though for the trip itself, the team’s immediate priority was simply exploring the Swiss Alps.
