Aya's Life Off The Range
Indeed, it may
appear that all I do is shoot a bow and arrow. Many people have never seen me
without a bow in hand… even when I sleep! But there is life beyond the archery
range... And while I initially knew that I needed to focus 150% on archery to
reach the highest levels, I realized after some time that I was missing other
hobbies I had before dedicating my life to competitive archery. By stepping
away from archery, I feel this has given me a much better perspective of
myself. I recognize that I had become so serious that I was no fun to be around
for others and for myself.
For a few years,
I fell into a slump because I was plagued with an onslaught of health issues...
one thing after another… If someone got sick, injured, or run over by a golf
cart at Nationals, it was almost certain to be me. As one judge commented, “If
Aya had no bad luck; she’d have no luck at all!” Well, the harder I tried, the
worse I got... physically and mentally. But then I realized… that was
my problem… I was trying too hard. And by doing so, I started falling out of
love with the sport… the glue that kept me together to win numerous gold medals
was getting brittle and crumbling under the strain.
So I woke up and
realized that I could be an archer and be myself…
I absolutely love
long distance running, cycling (road and mountain) and hiking old railway lines.
Also, my study and deep interest in civil engineering takes me twice a year to
the Bochum-Dahlhausen Eisenbahn RR Museum in Essen, Germany to help rebuild rail track. This
also fires my passion for Railroad Bridges which I avidly photograph around the
world.
I love to read
and you often see my nose buried in a historical book between shooting at
tourneys. I am a longtime student of Cold War history and its iconic symbol:
the Berlin Wall. For years I have travelled to Berlin to document the
Berliner Mauer. From my research, I scratch build scale models of various
generations of the Berlin Wall… and yes, you may have
noticed a model or two accompanying me to events… serving to remind me that I do
not need to fear failure when I have other things in life to enjoy.
My models of the
Berlin Wall caught the attention of the Checkpoint Charlie Mauer Museum in
Berlin. Last year I was commissioned to build six scale 1:20 Berlin Wall
models for permanent display. This year I will be expanding my Berliner
Mauer exhibition and will continue my documentation of the Berlin Wall at Steinstücken.
Allowing
my brain to do something other than archery has been very rewarding, both as a
person and an athlete. Please see my galleries and enjoy Aya – “Off the Range”
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