Stephen eyes up Olympics

Skilled archer Stephen Florence has his sights set firmly on the London Summer Olympics in 2012.

He’s also determined to complete his engineering apprenticeship.

Both are closely connected.

Stephen, who lives in Glen Eden, is one of seven machining apprentices at Buckley Systems Ltd in Mt Wellington, producing a range of steel objects that require high concentration and precision to give exact, smooth and flat finishes.

He uses the same skills to design and make his own archery equipment.

A new bow costs about $5500 but isn’t always a good fit.

Stephen, 20, started developing his own gear to overcome the problem and gain a more competitive edge.

He crafts minutely detailed valve-like pieces integral to the accurate flight of arrows and sometimes spends two weeks tuning a bow to perfection, shooting about 150 arrows a day.

"All my weights are customised to suit me so I can achieve exactly what I want within my budget constraints," he says.

Stephen got interested in archery about six years ago when hunting with his father.

He then started target shooting using a compound bow, joined a club and eventually competed during the world championships where he won the junior title and scooped up three world records.

Now he competes in the senior men’s elite division.

Stephen gets more than technical expertise from his workplace when it comes to archery.

One of his colleagues at Buckley Systems is former New Zealand men’s champion Shane "Snowy" Switzer – the head of Archery New Zealand’s high performance programme and Stephen’s personal coach.

Snowy thinks Stephen has every chance of making the Olympic team, despite it being one of the toughest sports to qualify in.

"An archer might train for six years to get to the Olympics and they might only shoot 12 arrows."

- © Fairfax NZ News