Archer Maja Jager Shares Her Successful Journey

Namita Nayyar (WF Team)

5 years ago

Maja Jager is a Danish female archer. At the 2012 Summer Olympics she competed for her country in the Women’s team event as well as the individual event. She took part in the 2013 World Archery Championships and became world champion in the women’s individual recurve and won bronze in the women’s team event.

Women Fitness President, Namita Nayyar talks to the spectacular archer, about her sport and what drives her to it.

Namita Nayyar:

You have made a mark for yourself in the field of archery, what motivated you towards this sport?

Maja Jager:

I tried archery by a coincidence at a local club when I was young. I thought it was a lot of fun and started shortly after.

Namita Nayyar:

You took part in the 2013 World Archery Championships and became world champion in the women’s individual recurve and won bronze in the women’s team event. Being a world champion and olympian, were your eyes always set on this goal? What are your 5 tips for beginners who aspire to be like you?

Maja Jager:

When I had just started archery I was only 8 years of age and was just having a lot of fun shooting with my bow and arrows. As I grew older I started competing nationally and rather fast internationally in junior tournaments, and started to get a taste of the competition and the thrill of wining. It slowly became something I really wanted to achieve, competing at the olympics. I can’t say there was a certain date I set the goal but as I started competing I started practising harder and became more determined on what I wanted to achieve with my sport.

In 8th grade I told my teacher I wanted to compete at the 2012 olympics in London, and 6 years later I was.

5 tips for beginners:

Be patient – It takes a lot of time and sometimes things are not going to move as fast as you like them to, but it will get there you just have to be patient.
Have fun – you need to enjoy practising as this is the majority of any sport. You need to enjoy most aspects of the sport, if you do not enjoy practising or competing it is not going to last.
Be determined – even though you enjoy the aspects of the sport there is going to be days or periods where you don’t feel like training but just stay in bed under a warm blanket. Then you need to be determined and do it anyways. Work is only hard when you do not want to do it, and hard work pays off so much more.
Be organised – As an athlete you are going to spent a lot of time practising and often combined with study or a job, so you need to be able to organise your time very well and it will help you be more efficient. It is also important to balance your life so you have time to see your family and friends.
Be humble – Be nice to people around you. No sport is a one person sport. You will need a great support system if you want to succeed, including family, coaches, team mates or training partners. If you work hard and are humble, people will be more willing to help you out, and the more help the better.

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Namita Nayyar:

How do you go out to start your day? Every sportsperson has to have a disciplined routine to succeed what do you say on that?

Maja Jager:

I have a rather small morning routine, normally get up around 7:00, take a shower and eat breakfast in form of Yoghurt and muesli. Then I drive for practice starting at 9:00.

It can be very helpful to have routines in your daily life making it possible to spent energy on important things and not on what to eat or wear. As well as saving time on a busy day, by having routines to keep the schedule and stay organised.

Namita Nayyar:

Before taking up archery as a sport, what are the key points to keep in mind?

Maja Jager:

Doing archery you want to hit the middle, but it is actually even more about the movements and repetition of these movements until they become habits to maximise your grouping of the arrows. So before you take up archery you should make sure to find a good coach who can teach you the basics so you don’t start with acquiring bad habits that you will need to change later on.

Namita Nayyar:

Three components that are a must in your fitness regime? Cardio, flexibility & strength training rate them in the order you prefer?

Maja Jager:

I mostly do strength training as it is important for archers to have a strong core and shoulders, but it is also a big part of keeping free of injuries and balancing out the effects the monotome movement patterns have on the body.

Cardio is also important especially leading up to the competition season. It helps keeping the heart rate down during stressed situations and can ensure a mental surplus in general.

In archery flexibility is not necessary to a great extend but it should not be a limiting factor. For me in particular this is not a problem as I am quite flexible around the shoulders, but some might find that they can not get their shoulder as high up as the optimal position and here stretching might be beneficial.

Namita Nayyar:

What diet do you follow? Are there any foods that you avoid or keep to a minimum?

Maja Jager:

I do not follow any particular diet, but I try to stay away from too much sugar. During competition I strive to keep a constant blood sugar level by eating snacks during the day, in form of nuts, fruit, and energy bars.

Namita Nayyar:

Social media has grown really big. How has it helped athletes and sportspersons?

Maja Jager:

Social media have made it possible for athletes to have a platform where they can promote them selves and reach a broader audience making them more valuable to sponsors. This is a great possibility for athletes to enhance awareness on their sport and achievements. I myself is not so good at taking advantage of this new media but have seen a lot of athletes have great success with it.

Namita Nayyar:

Resolutions or goals for 2019? How do you like to go about giving back to the society which has been an integral part of your success?

Maja Jager:

The biggest goal in 2019 is to qualify for the 2020 Olympic games which can be achieved at the World championships next week 10-26th of June as well as a few tournaments next year.

I am still a member of the same club as I started in even though I practice in the other end of the country, and I try to give back as much as possible to the club, I have donated some of my equipment and try to help out when I am back in the area or when we meet at competitions around the country.

Namita Nayyar:

Message for your fans and followers?

Maja Jager:

I would like to thank all my fans and followers for the wonderful support and encouragement. It is so wonderful to have people cheering you on and someone to share your experiences with.

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