Marty turned to coaching following complications from a car accident and believes current Great Britain recurve archers Conor Hall and Patrick Huston are perfect examples of the untapped, huge potential at junior level with the pair first starting archery at Campbell College in Belfast.
“We’ve had a lot of kids shoot for Great Britain and go all over the world and they’ve come from a very small pool of kids that went to archery clubs.”
“If we can spread the net a bit wider at the bottom, the grass roots, get kids shooting bows the same as kicking the ball, there has to be an awful lot of talent out there that we can tap into because we’ve already had a lot of talent.”
Above all the project’s aims of setting up school clubs and training school instructors, it is the pure satisfaction and joy of teaching youngsters a sport that holds dear to McCullough’s heart that makes it a fun as well as rewarding job.
“I just love it,” said McCullough, the person responsible for first teaching Tony Barclay MBE, a visually impaired archer that sits as one of the elected directors for Archery GB. “I love working with the kids, helping them get better and chase their dreams. I’ve had to get better as well to help them.”
“There’s no politics or anything like that to worry about, you’re just starting off with a blank canvas.”
“You’re introducing lots of kids to archery that would otherwise not get the chance. We did sessions in a primary school one day, within three sessions 70 kids got to shoot with a bow and arrow, and they all loved it.”
