Shannon Archer made her senior Commonwealth Games debut at Gold Coast in 2018 which saw her finish 10th in the Individual All-Around event. She also achieved 5th in the Vault final and competed in the Team Event helping the team secure a 5th place finish. At the 2022 Birmingham Games, Shannon claimed Scotland’s first ever individual women’s Commonwealth Games artistic gymnastics medal by claiming bronze.
In this episode Shannon discusses:
- Her performance at the 2018 Games and her decision to retire.
- Coming out of retirement for the 2022 Games.
- The qualification process for team selection for the games.
- Relocating from Scotland to London to train with her coach.
- What it felt like to win Scotland’s 1st ever medal in Artistic Gymnastics.
- Life after gymnastics.
You can listen to the episode in full here.
You can keep up today with Shannon via Instagram here: @shannonarcher29 .
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Rob Anderson
Shannon, welcome to the podcast. It’s awesome to have you on. I hope you had a good holiday. And you’re back in the UK feeling refreshed.
Shannon Archer
Yes. Thank you very much. Yeah, it was a great holiday. It’s kind of spent the week chillin after a very busy time. So it was very much needed. Yeah.
Rob Anderson
Yeah. I imagine Yeah. Well, we’ll dig into the Commonwealth Games, both 2018 and 2022. In a bit. Take us back to when you were younger? When did gymnastics appear on the scene? Were there any other sports or activities that you were involved in before that, because obviously gymnastics that’s incredibly young, or was it always just gymnastics and nothing else?
Shannon Archer
Mainly, for me, it has just kind of just been gymnastics always there. Because when I was younger, my sister is in the sport. So we kind of go with my mom to like, pick her up and drop her off. And I’d be that annoying kid in the gym, that would just go in, waiting for my sister to finish and like running around the gym, jumping on things that wasn’t meant to be jumping on and kind of just getting in the way. So again, if that was literally from, like, small as I can remember. And then along was that right? She clearly enjoys being in gym. So put her into some sort of class and just kind of see how she gets on. And started off and just kind of let the one hour rep classes that you do and you’re like four or five. And then just from there, absolutely loved it. It kind of got picked up quite quickly from doing that in a put me into getting like development squad. And that’s kind of how it started. So that’s really all thanks to my sister.
Rob Anderson
Just has to keep going. More sad story.
Shannon Archer
Yeah, so she she kind of started when she was Negi on the doll. And then she can’t go on until she was about 1314. Then she stopped because she just kind of like wasn’t enjoying it anymore. And again, she had a few fears and things. So she kind of stopped then went into coaching off the back of that.
Rob Anderson
So it’s funny, isn’t it? Because like you think, is just the one who’s tagging along because Big Sisters doing it. And then it’s either it’s actually ended up taking on further and further, I guess it’s kind of funny. When gymnastics is a funny one, because obviously for those involved in team sports, you know, you start getting serious a lot later, it’s in gymnastics and satisfying serious a lot sooner. So what was the age when things started getting serious for you from gymnastics perspective,
Shannon Archer
I think Genesis is a very rare sport that everything happens. So early on, like a lot of pressure is put on you about a young age. Like for me, I think, the route that I went down to kind of get, like qualify for British champs and stuff. It was a very high pressure route that I went down. And that kind of started from like 910 years old, then like different levels to get yourself qualified for this and qualify for that. So you can move on to the next thing. So kind of, yeah, I’d say from like, eight 910 is when that route kind of started for me. And then kind of Yeah, just went from there. So very young.
Rob Anderson
And there’ll be a lot of people, you know, parents, coaches, physios, PE teachers, even who are listening to this who, who don’t maybe understand the level of training that’s involved in gymnastics at a very early age should eight 910. How many hours a week are we talking of gymnastics?
Shannon Archer
I was doing like, five, six days a week at that point, then, like minimum four hours as analyzation candidate skill leaves go quickly go home, get some fatigue, get changed head to the gym dealer for a session. And then when I got a lot of older when I went into high school, then like, things started like cognitive skill a little bit earlier. I did like a morning session and go to skill get and stuff like that. So yeah, like a lot of those from a very young age. Six days a week. It’s quite a lot.
Rob Anderson
So how did you go about managing the whole education piece alongside because obviously, you know, there’s some sort of dispensations you may get, you know, to come into school that were late or leave a little bit earlier, but ultimately still have to sit the same exams and all that kind of stuff. So how did you go about balancing all those kinds of different demands?
Shannon Archer
Yeah, I think it was hard. And then when I was in high school, then moved from the club that I was I was I was at were sold in them. They’ve gymnastics clubs through to Glasgow. And then off the back of that they’ve got like a school sport set up in Glasgow, that I moved through to there. So it was like, helped massively because your gymnastics is timetabled, like into your daily schedule. So you’ll have like skill swap periods, where you go off to the gym and train and then come back and then just go as well. So it’s kind of like it was good. But you don’t do as many subjects when you’re older, as like a normal skill word because you’ve got skills for today as well alongside so it’s good that you do get the balance it very well. And the skills won’t do an auction of a sentence here, because we don’t do as many subjects. So that’s take that option, then an extra year at school. And that was kind of like kind of in the time when I was qualifying for Gold Coast. So I managed to did he was skilled and gotten a couple more qualifications off the back of that alongside training. So that made a massive difference to me.
Rob Anderson
So looking back at I mean, you you obviously have had a few different coaches along the way from national team coaches, you know, the local club coaches, does anyone that stand out that really, I guess kind of transferred the love of gymnastics to you or was it always there from that little girl who was jumping all over equipment she wasn’t meant to be on.
Shannon Archer
I think it has definitely always been there. And I have had like quite a few coaches along the way soon to start in. And when I am there, I think the culture have enough I stories I had her from when I was like five years old up until I left the club when I was 1516. So I had her for like a long period of my devices career and she kind of helped me massively get from just starting out to kind of break in under the GB squad and into that kind of scene. So she was a massive part of getting me into the sport and getting me into wanting to learn new things and going off and experiencing this and doing this and like if you do this, you can achieve more things and kind of, so she was a big part of me kind of getting into the love for this work.
Rob Anderson
So you’ve obviously already touched on the 2018 game. So tell us a little bit about that. I guess, you know, casting memories back? What would it feel like that first time you found out you’ve been selected and you’re gonna go to the Gold Coast for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Shannon Archer
Yeah, that was like, it was an experience that I will never ever forget, because I was eligible for the Glasgow games, but I had an injury. So that kept me out of that. So I then was like Mega determined to make that Gold Coast team. And the way that it worked out with the amount of spots that gymnastics got given. To begin with, I never got a spot and never got on the team. They only said Well, it’d be got given six spots for remasters and then give it to five men and one woman. And I wasn’t that girl that got it. So then had to wait like an extra month between finding that out to see if they had any extra spaces. And if they were going to give him assets, any extra ones, there’s a month between getting that no phone call to then get a nice phone call. But like, I will admit, hold my hand up, I was not a very nice person to be around for that month. And they’re just like, dragging out, and I didn’t go and we’re not gonna go. Then finally getting that phone call of Yasha got into the Commonwealth Games was just like, an incredible feeling. Especially Gold Coast, like, can’t really get much better than travelling off to Australia. For a we were out there for I think it was a month until. So it was yeah, it was up there with one of the best trips.
Rob Anderson
Yeah, that’s gonna be a pretty difficult one mentally, because a month is a long time to still be able to train with the same level of motivation to think, Okay, I’m gonna go. Whereas, you know, there’s enough time in your head to go, I’m doing all this hard work, I’m probably not even gonna get a shout. Like, what’s the point? That must have been a pretty difficult month internally to still find the motivation to go and train to be ready if the phone call did come?
Shannon Archer
Yeah, I think what I found especially hard was kind of like the three people that I was training alongside. Those three got in. And I was the only one who kind of did it. So there was a, there was a good few sessions where I was just kind of like, because we got told, if you don’t get a spot to begin with the chances of you getting one is quite slim. So just kind of like that. What’s the point? Not going to make it all there’s like, why am I going to keep working if I’m not gonna end up going? And I would say like it was like that for a good like week or so. Then they can have with the help of coaches that relate right, you got to sort yourself out like it’s not a definite no, there is still a chance that you could be going so you got to make sure that you’re ready if you do get that call. Because if you get that call to say that you’re upset and you’re not ready, you’re gonna kick yourself
Rob Anderson
and look back at the performances at the 2018 games. Do you do you think that went relatively well for you personally for the team as a whole? What What was your kind of reflection on that? That particular games?
Shannon Archer
Yeah, I came away from that games feeling very happy with compete there because we kind of finished first as a team, which is kind of like equal the best that we’ve done. And then maybe all around saying Oh, with the volcano, finish intense and all around and finishing fifth vault, and that vault photo. It was like a very competitive vault final and difficulty wise, like everyone apart from two and that final was doing the exact same results. So it was literally the case of who done it better on the day. And I was like, I was point one away from my medal. So it was like that. The whole thing It was in extremely close. So that’s come away from that. Games thinking like, I have done well here. And it’s funny. I came home from those games thinking I was gonna retire at Canada told my coaches at toast costume assets, told everyone that, like, Africa will close, I’m done. So I came home from those games, like, happy and I was like, right, I’ve done well, I’ve done everything that my kids don’t clean routines came home happy as long as me retired from sporting, so yeah, that didn’t last long. Yeah,
Rob Anderson
I mean, that’s a pretty good, you know, knowing what we know now about the most recent games. I’m very glad he didn’t. But also what was it that changed your mind thinking, Okay, actually, now I’m not going to retire, I’m gonna give this another crack.
Shannon Archer
Okay, I can remember, because then came home as a Yeah, happy retirement, like didn’t miss gym until then, I was a volunteer for the Europeans that year that was in Glasgow. And I was kind of like the one on the floor, taking the gymnasts round and doing all that sort of stuff. And I remember sitting watching them compete, and watching the DB ones, that’s kind of just sitting there thinking like, thought like, I still want to do that. Like, I still feel like I can do that and still feel like I can achieve a bit more. So then kind of away from volunteering from that. It’s gonna say, Yeah, I want to, I want to get back and I want to try again.
Rob Anderson
So what did the qualification for the more recent games look like? For you personally, you know, we obviously see, when you see the opening ceremony, or you see the athletes competing, you know, you see teams Scotland, but you don’t necessarily see the background of what it took those athletes to get to the point where they’re even eligible for selection and then getting selected. So what did that journey look like
Shannon Archer
for you? Yeah, it was kind of a real qualifying process started, like, right at the beginning of this year. And we had, it was for trials that we had to get certain scores out. And then, for me, the end of last year, picked up an injury, and a great one tear in my cache. So that happened in November. And Scott’s challenge with the first trial was end of February. So I didn’t have a huge amount of time to recover from that injury and get ready for the Scottish. But we were I can said when like, taking some stuff out of their routines to just make it to the competition. But kind of the closer I was getting to it, I did like, I mean, just managed to get everything back in time for that comp. And to be fair, I ended up having like, probably one of the best competitions of my life at that Scottish champs came away with all around title, got the boys title came second on being a kind of hit quite a lot of the scores that I needed to get. Then the kind of that was the start. And we had a trial every two weeks, between end of February and April. So it was quite a heavy sheduled to try and maintain. We had like, done a Scottish, then we were guessing the English, then we then the British champs. And then two weeks after that we had a large, like, close child. So it was intense. And by the end of it, we were all like, right. I’m done though. Like, I need a bit of a rest. So it was it was tough to get there. But yeah,
Rob Anderson
yeah, that’s you gotta be incredibly consistent repeatedly there that you like, it’s because you know, people often think I guess this guy’s championship tennis, okay, but we’re gonna go again in two weeks, and then we’re gonna do it again again. And, you know, if you if you kind of take your foot off the gas, you’re gonna end up really kicking yourself because you’ve given someone else an advantage to get to get a spot. So what did we get after that final close trial? And it’s like looking okay, I think I think I mean, the team what what did the training like camp process look like in the lead up to 2002?
Shannon Archer
Yes, if you kind of got got the phone call. It was two weeks after that last trial. You got the call. And again, for this games, the number of sports or gymnastics got was like, barely anything we started off with originally, we had four. Then they upped it to six. So then, when you first got the phone call, it was the six and again, they meant five men and one woman and I was the one that got the spot this time. I kind of gone into waiting for the phone call. And well people were telling me like oh, like you’re like you’re gonna get that spot like I was consistently like the highest of these trial. Being that I was just like, I’m not confident until I get like that phone call has happened and they’ve told me that I’m going to get it was funny I got I got the phone call to find out that I was going at my first GB squad of this year. So the first day of GB squad, and I had to have a phone on me all day, waiting for this phone call. I didn’t get it until like five o’clock at night. Because they knew that I was actually viscose. They wanted to wait until I was done. But they didn’t tell me this. So I was waiting all day for this phone call. They got it. And kind of after that, it was kind of like, had a couple of training camps up in Scotland, then kind of our technical lead, as he’s called the National Coach is from South Essex. So we then done the majority of our training camps for the games down in Essex, which was very handy for me, because I didn’t have to travel by them. So you can have had three weeks leave the into the games. So we would do a camp Monday to Friday, then they would go home for the weekend, come back Monday to Friday again, then the last count, we can have done. They came. And they were here, then we went straight from the village from Essex. So it was quite a few last few weeks before the into the village.
Rob Anderson
So what did it feel like for you? I mean, obviously, you’re coming into your second Commonwealth Games, your first, your first kind of Commonwealth Games route, you know, in terms of Glasgow, which would have been home games, you know, you miss out on injury, you go to the Commonwealth as this person who’s you know, hanging on the fringes waiting for a phone call this time? It’s kind of like a perfect scenario, you know, right. I can’t be in the team. What was the difference in the experience, like coming into? I mean, not quite home games, but Birmingham, it’s in the UK? What did that feel different to Australia? What what did it feel like for you as an athlete?
Shannon Archer
Yeah, it does. If you can pay it to go coach that did feel very different. Because like for Gold Coast, we travelled out two weeks before the games even started in Denver, like a holding camp and then moved into the village there. Whereas this time around, we were training ISIS, which is my home gym, up until the week before, then went into the village. So it was very different in that we can have, the team skills were a lot different compared to gold cost. So that did feel different. And I kind of knew that I was going and right from the get go. So that was kind of a big pressure off me, I could literally just focus on the gymnastics to get there. Whereas we then for these games got given originally, we didn’t get given any more spots. So then Scottish ambassadors were appealing it with Team Scotland, or appealing it with other people to try and get more spots. We then ended up getting one resume and last three artistic spots. So we then had four of us, we had a full team. But they only found that they would go in like two three weeks before. So it was very hectic for them. But I kind of don’t have that, because I knew I was going the whole way. So it was very different for me this time, kind of not having that stress, and just being able to focus on the actual gymnastics.
Rob Anderson
And going into the competition. I mean, you know, some athletes are quite open about what they you know, right? I’m coming for a medal in your, in your head. Had you had you kind of those words being spoken? Did you allow yourself to think I can, I can do something here this time.
Shannon Archer
As is like, kind of when I came back from retiring, and especially moving into ASICs that did kind of not openly but again, I said like I was very close to a medal, the last games, but I want to go to this medal, and I want to challenge for a medal. But I didn’t kind of openly say that to everyone like me. And my coaching team knew that that was kind of the loose aim. But we didn’t like put too much pressure on that we just kind of the aim was to make the finals. And whatever happened in the Finals was a bonus kind of thing. So it kind of it was a loose goal, but not like a dead set and so on.
Rob Anderson
So at what point during that performance during the performances either did you realise I’ve got a medal here.
Shannon Archer
Okay, that’s funny on that about final, there’s sort of eight that make the final and I was the last person to compete in that final. So I mean, normally about Final goes quite quickly. But when I was sitting there waiting to go up as an eighth person, it felt like the longest away of my wife and I felt I was nagging nervous for that final because I was qualified and forced for it. So kind of outside pressures. I was feeling it. And like I knew if I liked him I was like I was capable of it. But I didn’t like them on and off. We like didn’t talk about the final didn’t talk about Meadows at all we just kind of I want it to be distracted from what I was about to do. So like the moral of the thing or like playing games and doing stupid stuff to kind of distract me from it. And then so yeah, I was the last one up. So kind of as soon as my score came up, to be fair, I didn’t even check the score that is going to sell the three next to my name. And I was like, like have you just done it? It’s
Rob Anderson
amazing. And for those who maybe haven’t followed, I mean, winning a bronze medal is obviously a huge achievement in itself. But actually, there’s a huge record that that you’ve effectively broken in, in winning that, isn’t it?
Shannon Archer
Yeah, cuz no. Women’s artistic generalise from Scotland has ever made a dozen Commonwealth Games. So I think it’s been a big thing that nobody can a thought. And it’s possible today. So kind of that was a big thing. Me getting that because it’s kind of like we’ve broken that barrier now.
Rob Anderson
Yeah, I mean, when I was researching for this thing, 44 years since the last medal, but that was written in gymnastics as well. So you kind of got a double double record there that you’ve broken a 44 year drought, but you’re also the very first person to win, you know, in a women’s artistic, which is obviously amazing. So you come back from the games, you do what every athlete is, which is kind of decompress, go away, you know, let the body heal up a bit. Take this take a bit of a mental break. So what’s what’s the situation for you now coming back to you know, normal life back to post Commonwealth Games life? What does it look like for you? And what’s the normal day to day for sheriff?
Shannon Archer
Yeah, so I kind of come back from the games a little bit strange, because it was like, off the back of it. And that made though there was so many media things and like, even just walking around the village, and like different teams, Scotland, people coming up and saying congrats to under a bit for. So it was very surreal feeling going through all of that. And then all of a sudden, just kind of like that one day, you’re back to normal life. So that was hard. They kind of had this holiday planned, that Lego came back from then games go straight off and holiday, which I think is definitely what I need. He’s kind of never came back from the holiday, I’m slowly starting to get back into my normal routine. So kind of like, day to day for me is kind of traded during the day. And I’ll try to get it done. And then sometimes in a little bit of coaching at night, which is an honest thing, like I’ve, I’ve not coached because of all the game stuff for like, a good two months now. So kind of getting back into that, again, has been indicative of getting used to it again, because I’ve just kind of solely been doing the trading. So kind of it’s been nice getting back into normal things that I was doing before that I’ve not done for ages.
Rob Anderson
And you mentioned the village chatting to a few different athletes, they had different experiences, because actually not every athlete was staying in the same place. So what was the village experience? Like for you? Where was that based? What were some of the teams that you were interacting with?
Shannon Archer
Yes, I think the Genesis ones we were quite lucky because we were in the kind of the biggest village you could say, because we were kind of in the uni one. So we had to be fair, it was a very good kind of village life that we had. And Tim Scotland got a very good block of where we were very close to where the food was entertainment hub, kind of rehab everything very close to us. And then Yeah, cuz other athletes are in different villages, literally. And we’re staying in a hotel, whereas everyone very much felt like a village. And we had like loads of different sports from Scotland was a different countries there that you can mix in with and the Commonwealth Games like they did like they call it the friendly games and you can really feel that even just walking around people from different countries that just you know that walking past and saying hi and stop and pin badges and Canada’s didn’t like those little things. So that’s very much feel like a real proper village experience for us which I was very grateful for because I didn’t really know how it was going to be coming into this with everyone can be in different places. Believe I think we were lucky with the village that we got given
Rob Anderson
so you’re back to normal life back to the the normal routine of training and coaching etc. What’s What’s your biggest takeaway from the games as an athlete and you know, from your performance for you personally? What was your biggest take home from from them? Yeah,
Shannon Archer
I think like, for me, we had an training for the games, I was trying to train to like compete consistently day after day after day, which historically I have found very hard like making finals days and not producing and finals. So I can count away from that. I have a very more like a more confident athlete knowing that I can produce day after day and like just knowing that it is possible for a Scottish athlete to but not mando that we’ve always kind of been like the bottom of the pack and then work their way up and then go close was just outside the meadows. I think for me but for everyone in the sport and Scotland to know that this for those medals. I think like taken away from Not knowing is possible and can evolve, kind of want to make everyone else know that kind of we are out there and we can’t it is not just oh, it is there to compete with or to have a good time like we can fish for those medals now.
Rob Anderson
And you see that a lot of sports that you’d like once one person kind of breaks the four minute mile suddenly there’s people in behind or once is the first person to do it. It’s kind of like you open the door for the for the next next lot of athletes behind you to achieve a similar thing, which is obviously what we hope with the Scottish gymnastics will happen. So it’s great to be a pioneer, and you know, sweet to be the first person to do it. So it’s pretty, pretty cool.