Inspired by Michael Jordan, the American created an entire training method and is dreaming of an ‘armless 1-2-3’ in Paris
Matt Stutzman believes that controlling adrenaline is crucial if you want to be a successful archer. So he used to have a quick parachute jump before training. “I literally would shoot my bow, get on a plane and jump out,” he says. “Then I would land close by, shoot my bow until the adrenaline wore off and then go back up and jump out again.”
This may not be the kind of training approach that works for every athlete, but Stutzman is a bit different from the norm. For a start the American from Iowa is a world champion archer, and recreational parachutist, who was born with no arms. He is also someone who, since childhood, has been in determined pursuit of what he calls a “Michael Jordan moment”, the point where one person not only changes their sport but the perception of it. And come the Paralympics in Paris in a year’s time, it seems likely he will have achieved his ambition.
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