Al-Qalam 
By Nabeelah Shaikh
Durban archery coach Zaid Kajee is shooting his way to the top: Kajee was ranked second in Africa at the sport when he recently competed in the South African National Archery Championships held in Johannesburg from 15-17 March.
Kajee, who has been participating in archery since 2008, is a full-time archery coach. He has dedicated his time to training young people from schools around Durban and to encourage them to learn and love the sport.
Archery is the practice of using a bow to shoot arrows and is considered a Sunnah sport, as Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was a keen archer. Aside from being a Sunnah, Kajee said there are so many wonderful benefits of archery that impact an individual physically and mentally.
His journey with archery began at the Kingspark Archery Club when he joined for the first time back in 2008.
“Then, in 2011, I was ranked third in South Africa. It was a white-dominated sport back then and there was no diversity. There were 220 whites, one Korean, one Chinese, and myself in archery at the time. So, I decided I’d start coaching the schools with the hope of changing that, and we did that. We started with Al Falaah College, then Orient Islamic School and it was a huge success. It was good to see how the students started to take an interest in archery,” said Kajee.
After much success in his coaching, in 2016, Kajee took his first team of archers to participate nationally at a competition in Pretoria.
“We had nine archers participating and they ranked in the top three in South Africa. It was a proud moment for me,” said Kajee. Aside from his dedication to coaching, Kajee’s archery skills only strengthened as the years progressed, leading him to participate in many national and international competitions.
One of the highlights of his archery journey was being selected to participate internationally last year. He participated in the International World Archery Championships held in Kent, London.
“I was selected to shoot at the international world championships with eight of my students. Six students were ranked among the first, second, and third in world rankings and this was a highlight for me,” said Kajee.
Kajee said competing internationally has allowed him to learn and have an even deeper understanding of the sport by observing people from different backgrounds.
“It was a very nice experience. You’re shooting against people from different backgrounds. I shot against people from Russia, Ireland, and Spain. It was great to see their backgrounds and experience how they do things. We finished third at that World Championship,” said Kajee.
Training
He’s also ranked first in the indoor category nationally in South Africa and second in the outdoor category. He is now ranked second in Africa amongst all archers. Kajee runs a club in Durban called the Archers Archery Club, which is currently the biggest club in KZN.
At his club, he concentrates mostly on coaching students – and 80% of the club’s membership are Muslims.
Kajee encourages more young people to learn and practice archery through his club.
“It teaches you to be focused and disciplined which is very important. It strengthens you mentally and physically. You have to be focused at all times. We get youngsters from just eight years old and once they take up the sport, you see the change in their attitude when they join. You see the discipline in them,” said Kajee.
Kajee said it was pleasing to see how archery has taken off in Durban, with more youngsters recently getting involved and joining the sport.
“Through the club, we try to promote it and try to get many students to try it out. It has been a white-dominated sport and we’ve managed to change that whole dynamic. We are now trying to get more youngsters to get out there instead of sitting behind a laptop or phone all day. We encourage them to get out there and shoot. We have an indoor and outdoor range. I take the students to Kingspark and we train them there also,” said Kajee.
Kajee said that, as a coach, he looks forward to watching the support for the sport grow and he looks forward to training many more young people to take up archery.
