JUST A BALL GAME? introduce our latest PATRON addition, KAREN HULTZER.
Hi folks here is a Q & A with World Outgames 2013 Gold Medal Winning South African Archer, and our new patron Karen Hultzer.
Have you
had an interest from an early age?
No not at all. There is not enough adrenalin in it for me to
have been interested at an earlier age. I was a bit of a hell raiser and
standing in one place in a field for hours and hours would not have appealed to
me
Why Archery?
Well it was one of the few sports I can do and with my back
injury and still be competitive ie Archery can be enjoyed
by virtually anyone regardless of physical ability.
How much does it cost for equipment?
Well how long is a piece of string? It’s a bit like buying a
car. It just depends on what you want to do with it. .
Entry level basic kit can cost about R2000 (£125)and a top
competition kit R40 000 (£2,450) depending what bits and bobs you add on.
Competitions etc. are they regular where you come
from, do you have to travel?
We have an outdoor competition once a month in summer and the
odd one in winter,but Cape Town is notorious for the wind , so if I am needing
a decent score I need to travel up country (+- 1500km), where the wind is not a
factor, for tournament.
Is it
mainly outdoor archery you play?
I prefer shooting outdoors generally, so luckily we can shoot
outdoors all year round in SA, I tend to train indoors in the winter when it
gets too wet outside
What's the difference from playing indoor?
In South Africa indoor competitions tend to be limited to 18m
whereas outdoors women shoot up to 70m and the men go back to a maximum of 90m.
And the lack of wind and rain indoors is of course an attraction.
Q.Is it true you were a late starter in life to
the sport? We think you were the oldest competitor in the Archery competition
in London 2012, do you see yourself as an inspiration to others, that it’s
never too late to do something you have gift for, or can work hard at if you have
an interest in?
Yes. I picked up my first bow in the middle of 2007 and at
the age of 47 I was 30 years older than the youngest archer at the 2012
Olympics. I do believe that amazing things are possible if you put your mind to
it. I remember being completely bewildered at a reaction from a friend, I
hadn’t seen in a while, when in 2010 I told her I had started archery and I was
hoping to go to the Olympics. She laughed in my face thinking I was joking.
What hit me was that not everyone thinks like me. I truly believed it was
possible and even if everyone else thought it was ridiculous, I was going to
give it a go. Nothing tried nothing gained. Who cares what they think
Q. What is it that excites you about archery?
I think it’s the tranquility of it. If you get it right there
is moment in time where it is just you, and where the arrow falls is of no
consequence, only the process of shooting it.
Q. How much do you train, day/week?
If I am building up to a big tournament I try to shoot at
least 5 days a week for up to 4hrs a day if possible. This has to trickle down
to 2-3times a week for the rest of the time due to work commitments.
Q. Do you have a professional career outside of
Archery still? If not what was your full time occupation be fore this? Did you
have to take a big step to change your life to be more competitive when you
started winning things?
I am a
Horticulturist by training and run a small landscaping business that I started
12 years ago.To enable me to get my archery up to international standards.
Considering we are competing against archers that are paid to shoot for 10years
under the top coaches in the world, I had to cut back my working hours quite
radically which had obvious impact on my income and my workers income.
Q. How do you fund your competition work
appearances etc, we have seen many less popular sports here in UK having there
funding cut or taken away altogether since Olympics, is there funding locally/
nationally for someone like yourself as an elite athlete, or do you have to
search for funds or fund yourself?
The Lotto has helped my federation to get teams to
international shoots every year, but these funds do not cover income loss while
training and while away. This also is not enough against countries that can
catch a train once a month to shoot in another country. Africa is far away from
everywhere. This certainly limits the number of archers that are able to train
up to a standard that is competitive internationally. Sponsorships are
non-existent. I personally am lucky that I own my own business so to a certain
degree can shift my work load to accommodate my shooting. And my partner,
family and friends helped keep me afloat in the 2 years leading up to London,
as I could not survive on the two day working week I was reduced to.
Q. A big well done as we understand you earlier
this year were crowned as a national archery champion again making a record 6
in a row. How does this feel?
Thanks! Yes 6 national titles in 6 years of shooting is
something I am quite proud of.
Q. If you stay injury free will we see you
compete in RIO 2016?
I am certainly tempted by the idea. Quite a challenge, which
is something I thrive on. I will be 51 J and even if I don’t make it will be fun trying
Q You seem to have had a couple of
injuries/accidents in your life and got through these, are you naturally a
strong willed person?
I guess that must be true although it never feels like it at
the time. There is a goal, you decide what realistically needs to be done to
attain it and you go for it. There is always a way around a problem, you just
have to keep at it till the path opens up.
Q. what sort of qualities do you think make a
good archer? we see you have to have strength, concentration, discipline,
mental strength, control and be injury free, any other qualities?
I think patience…..lots of patience, and maybe a sense of humor.
That has always helped me through as well.
Q. Is archery something a young person could take
up and enjoy and become very good at?
Absolutely! I would say from the age of 8-80years. But some
of the benefits of archery are that children that would not necessarily be
drawn to the traditional sports like rugby, cricket or soccer can excel at
archery, which builds their confidence. Another spin off is that archery seems
to help build skills like concentration and discipline which in turn leads to
an improvement in school grades.
Q. Do you still coach others?
Yes I am coaching privately. From this I get immense
pleasure,
and recently started a test run for Recurve archery at one of
the schools in Cape Town. Getting archery into the schools is critical for the survival of the sport and
I’m hoping my input can help with this.
Q. Do you see yourself as someone who can inspire
a younger generation and make this sport more accessible?
I do believe that archery is a fantastic sport and certainly
hope that my passion for it can be of use to others, especially women
Q. What was your experience of London as a city,
and the UK crowds, was it your first time here?
I have been to London before, but this was something quite
different. It was amazing and the most notable were the volunteers. They made
it happen and they made it happen well. I felt so welcome and so safe, it was
incredible!
Q. What of the experience of playing in an iconic
stadium in Lords? I have been there for the cricket, it’s a great place if you
love a sporting environment even if you don't care for cricket hope the feeling
of sporting history there inspired you on.
All the sacrifice was worth it, just to stand on that lawn.
I’m not sure if you saw my shoot out, but I was smiling from ear to ear even
though I got eliminated. The smile says it all. It was a moment in time…
Q. What other sports have you played in younger
days?
Well where do I start…….?
At the age of 5 I was crewing for my dad on his on weekends,
and following him around the hockey field with a sawed off hockey stick bigger
than me during the week while he coached his school team.
I went on to try most sports, but limited myself
competitively to hockey, squash, sailing and softball. All of which I played at
a provincial level. I also did show jumping, cycling and canoeing just for fun.
Q. Do you still play any other sports/ or watch
at events?
Not really. My injuries limit me and archery has consumed my
life somewhat but I quite like watching the odd game of cricket
Q. How do you chill? Do you read / travel /bake
or like listening music?
Well I am a wood sculptor and if I do have the
time it is one of my favorite things to do. Second to that I am embarrassed to
say that I am a bit of an Xbox addict and can get trapped in a game a little
longer than I should in the name of “Chilling out”
Q. Can we ask why you decided it was the right
time to be 'out' publicly at the Olympics please? Thank you for doing so.
Well technically I was never really in the closet. The issue
of my sexuality had not been on my agenda at all. But when asked about it I saw no point in avoiding the truth that yes
I am a lesbian.
My focus however was on shooting arrows at the biggest
competition in the world and felt that the media hype was not something I
needed so told them that I would chat about it after I was finished shooting.Which
I did.
I did this for several reasons:
I felt that 22 out homosexual Olympians (most after their
sporting careers were over) was a statistic that reflected a sad state of
affairs in the world and best we start changing that.
I feel that hate crimes go on because, as the saying goes “Good
people stand back, and say nothing” This gives the haters the false impression
that their behavior is acceptable. Not!!
As a South African I cannot turn my back on the atrocities
happening and the war being waged on black lesbian’s day in and day out while I
as a privileged white South African can freely walk in the streets holding
hands with my lover.If me speaking out helps in anyway then it is worth it.
Q. How much freedom do you have personally around
your sexual orientation from family and friends, we hope you have their full
acceptance and support?
Absolutely! I am in a lucky position to have fabulous family
and friends who are fully supportive of me in all I do (although they do shake
their heads in despair sometimes when I tell them my crazy plans
sometimes…..like go to the Olympics) That said I think possibly my mom would
prefer if I had chosen a simpler path, purely because it would have been easier
for me.
Q. What about in your sport, do you feel
accepted?
Hmmmm….a difficult one. On a one to one level there is
apparent “total acceptance”, but I am aware of an underlying bigotry in the
structures. There were rumors of secret meetings about my “coming out” in
London, and there has been not one word of congratulations sent my way for my
achievements at the World Outgames in Belgium this year. Quite hurtful really
considering the positive publicity I have brought to the sport here in SA.
Q. Many LGBT people don't want special treatment
or that horrid word to be tolerated, they just want respect, first of all
for being a human being, have things been easy or shall we say comfortable for
you since you acknowledged yourself who you are, or have there been times you
struggled, or had hang ups about who you really are?
Another hard one to answer, of course I have had hang ups.
More about my weight actually than my sexuality, but yes I really struggled
with peoples tainted impression of me. I would go out of my way to try please
everyone, and not offend people I suspected did not approve of same sex relationships,
until I realized that actually I was offended by their fear riddled hateful
attitude. That is was not my job to help them feel better about their bigotry
and in fact hiding was just making things worse for everyone. This was a
critical shift and it got easier after that. I find that bullies and bigots
tend, for the most, to be cowards and if you are quite open and unashamed about
who you are they keep their drivel to themselves.This spoken of course as a
white South African, protected by a very progressive constitution. I know that
black South African LGBT people live a very different reality
Q. How important do you think an organisation
like JBG? ( although very basic as we are unfunded) is to an LGBT community, in
that we raise awareness around LGBT issues and inclusion, and challenge
homophobia and gender identity, build on gay/straight alliance?
I think critical. Having just attended the World OutGames
Human rights conference in Belgium, I was made uncomfortably aware of my own
privilege and it is even more apparent that where one can make a statement, one
must. I think we (the average Joe Soap) live in a bit of a bubble in our own
worlds and forget that people are dying all around the world not just for their
actions but also for just looking gay, and that kids commit suicide because of ignorance and
fear. Even if JBG? made one statement that was read by one person (suicidal
teenager or murderous hater) that changed their mind, that is worth it.
Q. How important do you think it is that young
LGBT people have visible role models to aspire too?
I’m not sure about aspiring to, but certainly to see that
actually going out there with no fear can be done and the consequences are not
so terrible and for youngsters to see that happening will always help. Will
always give them courage to step out and live the life they want to.
Q. Who are your heroes/ role models in life in
general, and from a sporting arena?
Many and varied. On the sporting arena it would be icons like
Billy-Jean King and Martina Navratilova but often heroes are ones that have
everything to lose but still standup. It can be a kid in the school ground that
doesn’t walk away in silence when a bully is tormenting someone. Or it can be a
guy walking down the road in Soweto, South Africa in a dress because he wants
to. The black lesbian who walks into a South African police station filled with
sexist, homophobic officers and demands that they open a case against her
assailants. That is bravery and it inspires me. m me want to strive harder
Thank you Karen for this amazing interview.- Team JBG?
