Plenty of mums drive their kids to sport on weekends. Fewer end up running the club. This Mother’s Day, we’re celebrating one who did…and then some!
When Lynette Rankin-Tyack’s son needed his bow tuned and his coach was away, she borrowed a library book and figured it out. That was 19 years ago. She never really stopped. Today she is one of only two Level 3 coaches at Sunshine Coast Archery (SQAS), a national judge of 19 years standing, and the woman who once stepped in to save her entire club from closure.
From the library shelf to the coaching line
Lynette came to archery through her son, the way many parents do. But where most stay on the sideline, she kept moving toward the centre. She trained as a coach, then as a judge. She kept going.
The Level 3 coaching qualification (the highest available through Archery Australia) reflects years of formal development. But the archers who’ve trained under Lynette will tell you the more important education happened on the range, one session at a time. She watches. She listens. She adjusts her approach to the person in front of her, not a coaching template.
As a national judge, her role operates at the other end of the process: quieter, but just as necessary. Behind every archer who has competed nationally and built the results needed to chase international selection, there are accredited officials ensuring everything is run correctly. Lynette has been one of those officials for nineteen years.
The year she saved a club
In 2010, the Sunshine Coast Archery Club was on the verge of losing its grounds. The land was set to be handed back to local council, and without a solution, the club faced collapse.
Lynette put her hand up. She took on the administration of the club, reinvigorated its operations, and ensured that archers on the Sunshine Coast still had a home to train and compete in.
It’s the kind of contribution that doesn’t make headlines, but shapes a sport for a generation. Without that decision, there is no club. No home ground. No pathway for the archers who’ve come through since. Most of them probably don’t know how close it came to disappearing.
Making Archers, keeping them
What those who know Lynette describe most isn’t the credentials or the titles. It’s the way she coaches. Patient. Attentive to the individual. Genuinely invested in each person who picks up a bow.
For Archer Hannah, that investment has extended well beyond the range. Hannah’s parent describes it this way:
“Lynette has played an integral part in Hannah’s journey as an archer, but also in shaping her into the resilient young woman she is today. She has not only coached Hannah to State, National and International events, but has supported her through challenges and personal accomplishments over the past five years. Her authenticity stands out and is widely admired — equally as much as her quick wit and infectious laugh. Lynette is our loved, guiding figure and matriarch of the Sunshine Coast Archery Club.”
It’s a sentiment that runs through the club. Plenty of archers have arrived at Sunshine Coast Archery not knowing what to expect, and found under Lynette’s guidance not just a skill but a lasting passion. In a lot of cases, a mentor who sticks around long after the competition ends.
This Mother’s Day
Eighteen years of volunteering. Nineteen years of judging. A club rescued from closure. A generation of archers coached and guided. And it all started with a mum, a library book, and a broken bow.
This Mother’s Day, the archery community on the Sunshine Coast and well beyond has every reason to be grateful that Lynette Rankin-Tyack showed up that day. She never really stopped.
