McDonald is an Australian archer who has trained at the Australian Institute of Sport[1][3] since 2003 after beating 36 other aspiring archers to earn a scholarship.[2] One of his archery related goals is to win an Olympic medal.[1] In national competitions, he has represented the Australian Capital Territory and South Queensland Archery Society (SQAS).[4][5]
In 2003, he trained for the 2004 Junior World Championships in England.[2] In 2004, he was a member of Mount Petrie Archery in the Belmont area. He participated in the 2004 Australian National Junior Championships.[6] At the 2006 Junior National Championships shooting for SQAS, McDonald finished first in the Junior Boys Recurve Freestyle event with a score of 2384. In match play, he started off ranked eighth.[5] He competed in the Italian Grand Prix.[1] In 2010, he finished third at the Australian archery championships with a total of 2528 points.[3] In May 2011, he was ranked seventh nationally in the men's recurve.[4] In September 2011, he was named to the Australian archery shadow Olympic squad,[7] from which the selectors choose the Olympic team. At the September 2011 Australian Olympic Test event, he was ranked sixth with a score of 1311.[8] He attended national team training camps in Canberra in September 2011 and March 2012.[7] He was dropped from the shadow squad after the 2012 National Championships.[9]
