Olympics 2021: Ryan Tyack on how Age of Empires inspired his archery career
Ryan Tyack was told he was wasting his time when he first took up archery. Now the kid with ‘no talent’ is a man with an Olympic medal.
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It was the computer game that stirred a champion.
From the office chair to the range, Ryan Tyack’s rise to a recurve star and Olympic medallist has been overseen by none other than his mum, Lynette Rankin-Tyack, with Tokyo the next stop.
Age of Empires was his weapon of choice back then, aged 10 and complaining – like many kids – that he was “bored”, playing the strategy game that is set from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.
Bullied at primary school, Tyack admits he was “completely ignorant” to his detractors, before he picked up the bow for anything but a seamless start to his sporting life.
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“(Mum) wanted me to choose a sport that I had an interest in so that I would get out and meet more kids, and spend less time on my computer,” he said.
“Because of the game I enjoyed playing – Age of Empires – I wanted to do archery or fencing.
“I was a typical 10-year-old complaining that I was bored, and she rang up the archery club and they happened to have an open day that very same day.”
It wasn’t the best beginning.
“I had tried other sports, like swimming … I successfully learned not to drown,” he laughed.
“When we went to archery, we discovered that I was terrible at that as well, but I really enjoyed it and wanted to go back immediately. I was so bad, that the first coach I had told her that I should never go back, it was a waste of time.
“She didn’t care, because I loved it. And to be honest, they were right – I was terrible, and we haven’t seen anyone worse than me on their first day.”
The pair work closely with national coaches these days, but Rankin-Tyack, a former powerlifting and bodybuilding coach, has been on hand since the very beginning.
And it was a library book that got her cracking on coaching her son, who had progressed to youth national events, broke his bow while his coach was on holiday.
“There was no one around that could help, so she borrowed a book from the library and from there she went on to become a coach,” Tyack said.
Like any pairing – and mother and son – they have their moments.
“Of course you do,” he said.
“But then you also have the other dynamic of you hear something from your parents and you don’t often take it on board, but then more often than not, it turns around to me going ‘you were right’.”
THE DREAM
It wasn’t even in Tyack’s consciousness.
Within six months, he’d earned a silver medal at the state championships and shot a gold-medal performance at the youth world championships by the time he was 15, although “still completely oblivious to the gravitas of the whole situation”.
It wasn’t until they rediscovered a letter he had written to the Australian Institute of Sport at the age of 12 that he realised the enormity of his ambitions as a youngster.
“If we had thought about the trips I’d have to go on or what things I’d have to buy, in the next couple of years, we would possible have not even done it,” Tyack said.
“The whole journey is surreal, almost. People don’t really think about what might happen, and sometimes that makes it feel more magical.”
THE QUARANTINE QUANDARY
It was in Thailand that it dawned on Tyack and his long-time teammate Taylor Worth that the coronavirus might hit home – literally.
The pair was shooting in the first leg of the Asia Cup in Bangkok when the Australian government announced that all returning travellers – from the day they arrived home, no less – would have to serve a 14-day mandatory home quarantine.
Shut off from the rest of the house, Tyack was “blocked off”, unable to interact with anyone as he served every hour of the requirement, emerging a fortnight later to a quickly-escalating COVID-19 crisis across Australia.
But he admits while the year has been all but a write-off for competitions, with the Tokyo Olympics postponed to 2021, the Rio bronze medallist has found the opportunity for change.
“I don’t think people realise that 99 per cent of athletes go into every event with at least something not being where it should be,” he said, having enjoyed the luxury of time to iron out a few issues in his style and approach.
“They may have been sick, or busy, or their equipment’s not in check. Having that bit more time just allows you to try and knock over a few more of those things to have a better preparation.
“In Thailand, my form wasn’t where I wanted it to be but I was just making do with what I had. I was able to set up a brand new bow over COVID – it’s a new model so I was able to get familiar with that.”
TOKYO CALLING
It will be an extra-long wait for Tyack, Worth and teammate David Barnes, all of whom were locked in to represent Australia in March.
Tyack and Worth claimed bronze in Rio alongside Alec Potts, while Barnes returns to Olympic action after a lengthy hiatus, having represented Australia in Athens in 2004.
The Queenslander, from Mapleton, has a long history with Worth with the pair having first shared accommodation at the AIS as young teenagers.
And it’s a camaraderie he believes will serve the trio well when the rescheduled Tokyo Games finally take place next July.
“We’ve travelled together since 2007,” Tyack said.
“My very first overseas trip, Dave was a teammate, I was 13 and he was 19, in around 2006.
“It does make things better when you know each other that well.”
THE NEXT GENERATION
It’s funny how life brings you full-circle.
Almost 20 years after Tyack, now 29, sees a bit of himself coming through the ranks.
“(I don’t play Age of Empires) as much, but there’s a new junior at my club who’s 12 and he talks about it almost every single time that he comes along to our group training for our kids,” he said.
“We’ve got a few juniors where it’s been enjoyable and rewarding watching them progress and get better and it’ll be great to see what’s coming for them over the next few years.”
MORE ARCHERY NEWS
Archery Australia hopeful that national competitions could be back by the end of November
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Originally published as Olympics 2021: Ryan Tyack on how Age of Empires inspired his archery career