AVOIDING practice might seem a rather laid-back way to spend the final days before a major tournament but Bermuda's sole archer in the Island Games believes it could help her pick up a medal.

Jeane Butterfield said a week of practising before the 2003 Island Games probably did more harm than good and helped land her a lowly eighth place.

This time she will spend the lead-up to the tourney in London before heading to the Shetland Isles where the weather will be chilly but the welcome anything but.

And she is in good form having notched second in the recent postal shoot which pits the islands against each other without anyone leaving home soil.

Team Bermuda finished second in the Island Games Postal Shoot held between November 2004 and March 2005, edging out Jersey but coming a long way behind the Faroes.

Team member David Hesketh who came 12th out of nearly 60 male competitors said: "Jeane is an excellent prospect for a medal at the Shetland Games in 2005 following her second-place finish in the postal shoot." He said cost had driven away more archers from going with her. "The cost per archer would have exceeded $6,000 and we were being asked to commit to this expense by booking before it was known whether BIGA (Bermuda Island Games Association) would be able to raise any sponsorship.

"The total sponsorship raised by BIGA for each archer in Guernsey in 2003 was a grand total of $335 each which we received quite some time after returning from the Games. So it was going to be very expensive indeed unless BIGA managed to raise a great deal more money than 2003." Butterfield is in confident mood. "I can't believe how much better I am shooting. I am not over-practising but am doing exercise so I am in shape.

"When we went to Guernsey we practised every day after arriving a week early. By the time the tournament arrived we had a 'screw it' attitude.

"This week I am not going early. I will not practice much before the games. I find I am much better if I don't over-practice.

"I really want to be there but not overdoing it is really important. I am trying to understand what makes me tick. I am really looking forward to it and think I have a good chance of a medal this time." She has fond memories of her competitors she met last time in Guernsey "We were the Jamaican bobsleders of archery then."

It isn't difficult to see why.

"Our equipment wasn't set up properly ? there were all sorts of problems." Since then the former British archery coach Tony Drabble has visited and set Bermuda's archers straight ? literally - with some archers suffering from crooked equipment and dodgy sites which made hitting the target all that more difficult.

Drabble has been associated with competition archery for over 25 years and coaches two of the Great Britain squad members, one of whom is the current European and World record holder.

"He's been a tremendous ? absolutely instrumental," says Butterfield. "It was amazing how he changed the way we shot ? our sights were not straight, some of the bows were crooked. These things really affected the way we shot. No matter how good you are if the equipment wasn't up to it it was really hard."

Butterfield recently shot some of the best scores over 60 metres.

"He made us more relaxed about it," she said.

However work commitments means Butterfield still might not be able to go, despite the huge cost. As the facilities manager for the education department she has her hand full with Berkeley and the school holidays are always a busy time although she says her boss is doing everything possible to make it possible.

She believes the home side could be the biggest threat, particularly as they will be used to the chilly conditions which pass for a Shetland summer.

The temperature affects the sting flexibility of the bow ? but mostly it affects the archer.

"I like to think I have practised in a fair bit of wind but there is nothing like the North Sea. I have never been to Shetland but am looking forward to it. It looks beautiful in a rugged kind of way. We are going to be staying on a boat. I am not sure how I feel about that. But it's going to be a lot of fun. I remember the Sheltanders from Guernsey ? they were incredibly warm and friendly.

"And nobody parties like the Scots."

She remembers college tournaments where competitors would try to put her off ? by putting her last and hurrying her. But when the bottom fell out of her quiver in the Island Games her competitors rallied around to help her.

"In Guernsey the sportsmanship was absolutely stellar," she remembered.

Butterfield dropped out of the sport after college in the early 1980s when the pressure of academic life proved a distraction and the gruelling travelling and practice times took their toll.

"I set down the bow and arrow for a really, really long time."

Eventually a friend badgered her into getting back into the sport four or five years ago and she found the break had done her good. "Before I was worried about keeping my grades up. It felt like I was a much better shot this time because I enjoyed it." She said it will be strange being on her own this time out with no one to encourage or advice on technique and credits David Hesketh for a lot of help last time. However she is sure Bermuda team organisers Jon Beard and John Gazzard will do their best to help out.