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- By Chickasaw Nation Media
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ADA, Okla. – World champion Chickasaw archer Shiloh Butts is pursuing a gold medal on the grounds of a centuries-old castle at the biannual World Archery 3D Championships which begins in late September and concludes Oct. 6.
Butts finished with a bronze medal shooting for the United States and Chickasaw Nation two years ago when competing in Italy at the same championship. Butts serves the Chickasaw people as a pharmacist at the Chickasaw Nation Medical Center.
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This year marks the second time he will join the USA archery team finishing in first place in the longbow division at qualifying competition in Belknap, Illinois, in June 2024.
A total of 302 archers from 32 countries – including a full 24-member USA team competing in all four championship disciplines – will descend on a medieval castle likely first constructed in the 1400s.
Mokrice Castle is southeast of Brezice, Slovenia, and was home to generational nobility until transformed into a hotel with a surrounding golf course in 1988.
“I had to look it up on the internet to see exactly where we will be competing,” Butts said laughing. “I am wondering what kind of terrain I will be facing and also how targets are arranged around the castle and golf course. It should be an interesting shoot.” The last time Mokrice Castle hosted the championship was in 2015.
According to research he conducted, the 2015 competition’s targets were located around the castle and just off the golf course surrounding it. However, if competition is conducted nearby, Butts said the terrain is very mountainous and will be physically demanding.
“Two years ago in Terni, Italy, we competed in two separate locations during competition. While both were difficult, one location was particularly demanding, so I’ve been working out and staying in shape in preparation for competition,” he said.
“I’m hoping it will be flat terrain like Oklahoma, but I am getting my mountain legs built up the best I can so it will be one less thing I have to worry about during competition,” Butts said. “I have been visiting with many friends and some of the best archers in the world about how to prepare for this type of competition, so your peak performance happens the first day of the shoot.
“I usually attempt to shoot twice to three times the arrows I think I will use in competition in the weeks heading into it, then ramp it down right before the competition so I am not sore or worn down when it really counts.”
Another weapon in his quiver is Denver, Colorado, coach Tom Clum, a certified USA Archery Level 4 trainer who uses techniques taught at the U.S. Olympic Training Center.
It was Clum who spotted an anomaly with Butts’ shooting “posture” two years ago and corrected it.
“Tom told me if I kept shooting in that stance, it was going to injure my shoulders. He corrected the stance and pull,” Butts said. “I shot terrible for three weeks after that, but now it is second nature.”
The longtime Chickasaw Nation employee said he remains in contact with Clum and “if there is something wrong, I’ll send him a video of me shooting and get his opinion. I just wish he lived a little closer to us,” he said.
Butts is one of the most formidable longbow shooters in the world. His bow has 45 pounds of pull. Competition requires longbows to be at least 64 inches in length and the bow string may only touch the notches of the weapon.
He will compete against 42 other longbow archers.
While Butts will be competing for gold in longbow, other disciplines include “instinctive” division which is a wooden recurve bow; “bare bow,” a metal recurve bow archers may modify during competition; and “compound” bow division.
The USA team is comprised of three men and three women in each of the competition categories.
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