Local archer not bowing down

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This article was published 17/07/2017 (3236 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Charleswood archer is hoping to hit the bullseye at junior worlds in Argentina this fall.

Bryanne Lameg, 17, has qualified for the Canadian national team by securing a top three spot for herself in her age category. Lameg has only been shooting since she was 15, but even without lessons, the sport of archery came naturally to her.

She was introduced to archery while training in martial arts, which was her focus for 10 years. A martial arts classmate asked Lameg if she would be interested in trying archery, and she decided to give it a shot — since then, it’s become a passion.

“In martial arts it was something that was full-contact and super adrenaline rush and everything was very quick and fast, to something with zero contact,” Lameg said. “I do have issues with my joints and subluxate a lot of things and have hyper flexibility… dislocating my shoulders was very common.”

Once archery became more serious, Lameg decided to move away from martial arts and its potential for injury. She’s been to nationals for the past three years, placing fourth, and then second twice, respectively.

“I’ve never had a lesson. I do, of course, take all the information I can get because I’ve gone to training camps, once of which is the George Ryals camp and I’m going to that again this year, I was invited back. And I’m excited to go back because George is a world-renowned coach, he’s very, very good at archery.”

For the past few years, Lameg has also been shooting for the provincial team. However, most of her training is solitary. She shoots as often as she can at local ranges, between school, work and volunteering.

Lameg has completed an advanced high school stream and is looking ahead to university. She’s been accepted in the  bachelor of commerce program at the Asper School of Business at University of Manitoba, where she will focus on actuarial science.

“I like numbers, more than my other subjects so far,” Lameg said. “That’s probably why I got more into archery, because it’s very meticulous and straightforward. Especially with this sport, the bow shoots perfect. It’s always user error, so you have to have the exact same form.”

Lameg said she’s looking forward to representing her country at junior worlds.

“I am very excited to do so, and I think it’s a good choice because I’m bilingual, multiracial, I did advanced high school and an assortment of things like volunteer work, and I feel like I’m very happy to be a representative,” she said.

Not only is Lameg No. 1 in her own age group, she also made it to No. 1 in all women’s categories — for 24 hours, anyway. Her level of skill has prompted others to suggest competing in senior worlds as well, which take place shortly after juniors.

“You can’t ever do better than you can,” Lameg said of her personal goals. “Shooting for outdoors is 72 arrows times 10 — that’s 720… the record for my age category is 686, and I’d love to shoot 690 or 700. I feel like it’s just very possible, and just because that’s the record, I feel that shouldn’t be the boundary.”