Ever since seeing the movie Brave, Phoebe Newcombe thought archery was “super cool”, but didn’t really consider it a real sport.
Then, in her first year of high school in 2021, saw an ad for a beginners’ archery course and thought she’d “give it a shot – pun intended!”
“I tried it and loved it right away!” Phobe tells Verve. “After the course ended, I went out and bought my own equipment and started regularly competing in tournaments in 2022.”
What are your proudest accomplishments?
Making it into the NZ Youth Team in 2023 was pretty amazing, and I had an absolutely fantastic time in Australia with my teammates. In August, I competed in the 2025 World Archery Youth Champs in Canada and am now ranked 57th in the world, meaning I now have a profile on the World Archery website alongside the best archers in the world, which is so exciting!
Can you tell us a little about the training involved?
I usually shoot between three and five days a week, whether that’s at the outdoor range at 60 meters, the indoor range at 18 meters, or close range at the target I have in my back garden. I will shoot anywhere between 70 and 150 arrows a day, depending on how I’m feeling and what I’m working on. On the days I’m not shooting, I go to the gym to build strength in my upper body.
What’s the hardest skill to master?
I think the hardest skill for me is not getting worked up and stressed when things don’t go well. I’m a naturally worrisome person, so when I picked up archery, I brought those habits along too. When I first started competing with goals for international competitions, I found myself spiralling into worries and stressed myself out. Because archery is as much a mental game as it is a physical one, this spiralling didn’t help my performance, and I tanked at competitions when I should’ve been peaking. Fortunately, I was lucky to find a mental coach who specialises in archery, so I reached out to her and together we worked in finding strategies and techniques to deal with it.
Do you have a method for dealing with setbacks?
You absolutely need to have a strategy for when things don’t go to plan, because that happens all the time. Because archery is an individual sport, if you mess up, it’s solely on you, which can get emotionally taxing. I find that if I’m facing a challenge and I’m struggling to get through it, it helps to step back and take a look at the overall situation. Just taking a breath and remembering that even though I may be going through something difficult right now, it won’t last forever.
I believe that before a competition, having a positive mindset is everything.
Do you have any pre-competition rituals?
I believe that before a competition, having a positive mindset is everything. For me, that looks like listening to my favourite music, saying hi to people, and laughing with my friends. These are all things that make me happy and relaxed, which is exactly the attitude I want to bring to competitions. If you’re not feeling good before a competition, you’re not going to have a good time during the competition, so at that point why are you shooting if not to have fun?
Do you have an inspirational personal mentor?
I look up to a lot of the world’s top archers, one of them is my hero, Penny Healey! She’s from Britain and became the world number one when she was only 18, which is insane. She’s so cool and is such a big inspiration for me, and I finally got to meet her this year. There’s also so many talented archers in New Zealand who I’m friends with and I look up to, and who are inspiring me to follow in their footsteps to compete internationally.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received about archery?
Just keep going. I know it sounds cliche, but if you’re going through a rough patch and feel like everything’s gone to custard, you just need to push through it, keep working hard, and trust in the process
Find out more about Phoebe at worldarcherysport.com
