Jordan White booked his ticket to his first Paralympic Games with USA Archery at just 15 years old! He is now the youngest U.S. archer to qualify for the Paralympics. We recently spoke to Jordan about the upcoming Paralympic Games, which opens in Paris on Aug. 29. He discussed how he got into archery, what he looks for when choosing a bow, his practice routine, his favorite advice from Casey Kaufhold, and the benefits of practicing with a light bow and shooting blank bale. The full interview will be released in two parts. Check out Part 1 below!
A360: How did you get started in archery?
JW: I began archery when COVID hit. I was searching for an individual sport where I could stay social-distanced and my little brother Parker really wanted to try archery. I was a little bit hesitant because I I’d never shot before, and I didn’t really understand archery. After I tried the sport, I fell in love with it.
A360: What do you look for when you’re choosing a bow?
JW: I’m looking a lot at how the bow feels when my shot breaks. I just got a new Hoyt XD riser with foam core Axia limbs and that’s been feeling so great. It’s probably one of the best bows I’ve shot.
A360: Do you practice any other types of archery like NFAA or 3D archery?
JW: I’ve been focusing more on target archery with the Paralympics approaching and having shot the Paralympic Trials, but competition experience is very important. I’ve been trying to shoot whatever competitions were available, so I’ve been shooting a lot of SYWATs. It stands for Shoot Your Way Across Texas. It’s an archery series run by TFAA. So, I’ve been doing a lot of those competitions over the last few years to really prepare for other competitions.
A360: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
JW: Having confidence is very important in archery. Knowing that, every shot, I am capable of hitting that 10-ring is very important when I’m in a very high-pressure situation. I was just talking to Casey Kaufhold at SoCal and she told me that knowing I deserve going to the Paralympics and I deserve to be where I am is very important. As I’ve been preparing for my upcoming tournament in the Czech Republic, which will be my first international competition, I’ve been telling myself that I deserve this anytime that I’ve been really nervous. So, I think that piece of advice of being confident and knowing that I totally deserve all these great things is very important and has been really beneficial for me.
A360: What is your practice routine like during a normal week and does it change leading up to a tournament?
JW: My schedule varies every week based off of what goals I have for practice. I try to shoot about six days a week. I’ll take a day or two off to recover and rest. If I’m trying to work on my form or equipment, I’ll shoot blank bale in order to really solidify whatever I’m working on. If I’m preparing for a competition, then I like to be shooting whatever format I’ll be shooting in that competition so that I’m prepared for the event.
A360: What do you think is the ideal practice routine for a beginner archer?
JW: A specific regimen will change for each archer, but when I was starting out, I tried to shoot at least once a week and then I used my stretch band on the other days so that I could keep up my shot and maintain everything so that my shot process could remain natural from week to week. For more intermediate archers, I recommend using a light bow. When I was preparing for the Paralympic trials, I was having some problems with my release. When I used my light bow, I was really able to solve some of my form problems. So, if you’re an intermediate archer and you have a blank bale at home, I’d really recommend borrowing a light bow from your local shop or range, if they’re OK with it, and working through some of your form problems that way.
Stay Tuned
Stay tuned for Part 2, where Jordan will discuss the importance of finding a coach that believes in you, how he improves his form, how he balances preparing mentally and physically, and how he’s hoping to bring home a bit of Paris. He also shares what steps he took to get to the highest level and gives advice for other archers.
Watch Jordan White and the rest of Team USA go for gold at the Paralympics starting Aug. 29.
