In that time, she became entirely hooked on the sport and has worked her way through the ranks to become the best in the country at her age level – now knocking on the door of the senior classes. In between times, she has even found time to fall prey to an archer's greatest fear – target panic – and beat it.

Leigh – a 19-year-old admin assistant at Forbes in Kelso – told TheSouthern how she caught the bug.

"I first tried archery when my uncle Ian, who used to work in an archery shop, introduced me to it on holiday," she said.

"But I really became hooked two years later, when I found out there was a club near Hawick (Eastcote House].

"My mum and dad gave me a course of introductory lessons as a Christmas present. I've just been hooked ever since."

Since that time, Leigh, who lives in Ancrum with her dad John, mum Susan and elder brother Neil, has won numerous national titles with her treasured compound bow.

She currently holds the Scottish Under-21 Ladies Compound Championship titles – for both outdoor and indoor events.

It is always a mark of someone at the top of their game if they can win even though they are not actually playing that well.

That was the case at the end of last month as she toed the line at Montrose to try to retain her indoor title.

She said: "It was kind of iffy. I didn't feel I had shot particularly well – certainly not as well as I should have as I had been doing well in practice up to that, but I shot a good enough score to win, so I was very pleased.

"The outdoor competition at the end of August in Penicuik was better. I did really quite well, despite the weather. Up there it is kind of windy and wet most of the time. The wind is the worst – that can send your arrows all over the place, but you have just got to put up with it, it's the same for everyone."

Her two national titles are testament to the amount of work she puts in – she trains four times a week for two hours a time – and the expertise of her coach, Gwyn Jones, owner of Eastcote, who also trains Paralympian Kate Murray.

It was Gwyn who guided her through the horrors of target panic last year. It is the last thing any archer wants to happen to them – a psychological condition that can be caused by many factors, but usually ends up with the archer releasing the arrow too quickly, affecting the aim and the speed of the shot.

Leigh told us: "I had it really badly last year. I wasn't getting the string back properly, I was only pulling it back so far and it was away. The arrows were just going everywhere. That really set me back and I missed a few competitions because of that.

"But Gwyn helped me through that and this year, with my new bow, scores are beginning to go up again.

"Gwyn's great. He's ever-present at Eastcote.