Meet Adam Kenyon: The unsung hero who makes a difference
Whether it be in the grassroots level or at the very top, it would be unusual to not sense the companionship archery brings.
Even during competitions, you will sometimes see archers chatting, helping their competitors whether it be giving advice or mending equipment, as did para pioneer Matt Stutzman for compound women open world record holder and fellow armless archer Sheetal Devi.
Therefore, trying to find the ‘nicest person’ in archery would be riddled with arguments for a variety of people but if it were, hypothetically speaking, a competition of some sort, Adam Kenyon would certainly give anyone a run for their money.
Whilst Great Britain’s New Year’s honours list stole the spotlight over the holiday season – which saw Paris gold medallists Jodie Grinham and Nathan MacQueen awarded for their services to archery – the BBC’s unsung heroes awards were also given out, the country’s state broadcasting cooperation rewarding those in sport for helping others away from the public eye in smaller communities.
Sittingbourne Community College archers head coach and founder Kenyon was the southeast region’s unsung hero of 2024, nominated by colleagues and students not for his contributions in the year alone but 15 years of work to coach and help aspiring archers.
“I think it ended up where it got to because I was enjoying it,” said Kenyon, formerly a science technician, now caretaker at the school in Kent. “Once my daughters got involved and my son got involved, the emphasis shifted from what I was doing more towards how they were doing and how they were progressing.”
“It’s the adage that you do what you can as an archer and then become a coach because once you become a coach, you never get that free time again to truly concentrate on yourself and you’re always listening to what’s going on in the shooting line.”
The idea behind Kenyon’s conception of the club was part of his original mandate as a staff member to give Sittingbourne something to “polish the badge” with in a low income, single parent demographic area and a rising transient population.
The former prison service officer currently coaches 45 junior archers that include one visually impaired and one para.
Kenyon’s finest example of making a difference though is not through aiding a school student but a parent.
Hayley Hudson’s daughter and husband were first taught by Kenyon at Maidstone Crown Archers, his first club, before eventually following him to Sittingbourne Community College where the children’s parents are just as welcome.
Noticing she sat on the sidelines consistently, Kenyon offered Hudson a chance to join her family in shooting, but she declined, citing her missing digits on her left arm as a reason she could not participate.
“I chatted to a friend, a chap by the name of Paul Smith. He was an archer from Maidstone but he’s an engineer by trade and we came up with the idea of the prosthetic.”
“We used his engineering skills and a contact he got at Warwick University, from my access to stuff at the school and we created an alginate mould of Hayley’s arm which we then scanned.”
“He went to Warwick printed it, and that was it, she was shooting, and she’s never looked back since.”
Thanks to Kenyon’s generosity, Hudson went on to be evaluated by Archery GB at their performance centre in Lilleshall ahead of the Rio 2016 Paralympics and was invited to be a part of their camp for the Games.
She declined due to caring for her young family at the time, but to even be given an opportunity like trialling for the Paralympic Games from originally not thinking archery was possible, pays heavy dividends to Kenyon’s unwavering encouragement.
Why he is so willing to go out of his way for others isn’t from a past experience or being helped tremendously from somebody else though.
“I don’t like people not able to do and that’s just me,” said Kenyon. “Having seen Hayley when she first started to shoot, the huge beam on her face was beautiful."
"Another young archer, who has a prosthetic leg and a false hip, we built a stool for her to sit on because you can’t buy shooting stools."
“Just the idea of her being able to shoot, the grin that she has when she shoots it, it lights the world and that’s the thing, you can’t beat a smile.”
“It’s that idea that if I can help her break one wall down there’s no other rule that will stand,” he added.
The Sittingbourne Community College archery club has and continues to be a successful project established by Kenyon for all ages, impairments and abilities.
He has guided his juniors to Great Britain’s national championships every year since 2009 including compound women’s Mia Mcguane and recurve men’s Matthew May both of whom are in the country’s pathway group, boosted the self-esteem and created life changing opportunities for paras such as Hayley Hudson as well as creating a familial ethos centric environment where parents can shoot with their children after school.
Other than the school’s budget and external sponsorships, Kenyon has been largely a one man band in running the ship at Sittingbourne, being a self-proclaimed “nutter” which he feels every well ran club needs.
However, Kenyon believes more partnerships can be made between traditional archery clubs and schools to increase popularity in the sport in addition to sustaining their own facilities.
“Society’s changed, the processes have changed. If an archery club were to go to any school now and say, ‘Would you like an archery club? We’ll provide you a free coach every Friday, we’ll develop your kids, we’ll give you everything you want,’ which will give the school value added and they’ll get money.”
“The club slowly peters it in and then starts using the school facilities, so they start using the halls, start using the ground because they build a partnership rather than the expectation of ‘We’re an archery club.’”
“Both sides want to take, no one wants to give, and the thing is, the archery clubs now have to give or else they’ll lose grounds.”
Kenyon called Hayley Hudson a “shiny example” of Sittingbourne Community College Archers but it’s safe to say he is exactly that for archery in Great Britain and the world.
No one can say they value the importance of archery and its ability to build up people from the bottom athletically and mentally more so than him.
If someone wants to know how to exhibit the archery community at its purest, ask Adam Kenyon.
Images courtesy of Adam Kenyon.
