Archery welcomes every generation to the line—because precision and passion never grow old. You can start practicing the sport as a young child and compete throughout every stage of adulthood. Because of archery’s wide reach, it’s exciting to see how the younger generation is engaging with the sport. We connected with several leading archery organizations to hear how the next generation defines what archery means to them.

USA Archery

Name: Savannah O’Donohue – World Archery Youth Champion
Age: 16
Home State: Louisiana
Bow: 37″ Hoyt Concept X Compound Bow
Years Practicing Archery: 7

Goals: I just really enjoy the sport. It would be nice to be able to make this a full-time career in the future, but I also know that is hard to do so. If I can travel the world and shoot archery, compete for my country and make some podiums, I would call that a success.

Lessons Learned: I’ve learned there are no short cuts. You have to put in the work, on your own, sometimes by yourself, if you want to achieve your goals. Not everyone in your JOAD is going to have the same goals, but if you work hard enough, you can achieve anything. You have to hate losing more than you like winning to have the drive to put in the work. Another life lesson in archery would be, it’s never over until the last arrow is shot.

Inspiration to Try Archery: I started in ALAS, which is Archery in Louisiana Schools, the NASP program for the State of Louisiana.  When I started, I just enjoyed shooting a bow. I hoped to one day maybe win a tournament or take home a medal.  After my 4th grade year, I joined Hoot and Holler’s JOAD Training Academy where I started shooting a compound bow, and I thought that was the coolest thing ever.  I started competing locally, and then within 6 months, we started branching out to National Tournaments.

What the Sport Means to Me: It’s really a part of who I am. Not a day goes by that I don’t refer back to archery when dealing with a school project or personal issue.  It’s funny how so many things in life relates back to the sport you love.  It teaches you adversity and can humble you, but it teaches you that hard work pays off when you are standing on top of the podium.

 

Name: Donya Fournier – Published Author
Age: 16
Home State: Arizona
Bow: Olympic Recurve
Years Practicing Archery: I have been practicing archery about 12 years. I started when I was 4 in Arizona while I still lived in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and shot on and off until I moved to Arizona at age 9, and started competing at 11.

Goals: I am striving to make the U21 USAT Team and make my way to the Olympics representing the USA.

Lessons Learned: Archery has taught me how to let go and to stay disciplined. When I learned to relax in order to let the string slip through my fingers, I also learned to let go in the same way of pain and struggles in my life. In addition, knowing to trust myself, my abilities, and my hard work in training has helped me understand that —whether it is letting go or trying something new—everything will work out one way or another: either it will be a learning experience, a win, or both. Another important concept I am able to apply in both of my worlds is self-talk. With the help of mental training and experience through tournaments, I have been able to learn the best strategies to talk to myself in a way that I stay disciplined, focused, and still have fun.

Inspiration to Try Archery: My cousins were the ones that first brought me into shooting. As an eldest daughter who was the first of a new generation in the family, my (second) cousins were the closest people I had to my age to look up to. In some sense, I thought that if they did it, then it was cool (which obviously this is!) so I wanted to try it and immediately fell in love with the sport.

What the Sport Means to Me: Archery means so much to me, even more so since I have started to travel for the sport. There is such a profoundly connected and kind community that no matter where you are in the world, an archer will be there for you and is willing to be your new friend with curiosity, through fun, and good sportsmanship. The Zen that this sport brings is also incomparable to any other sport. The inner peace and quiet that one has inside when shooting is, in itself, a way of meditating.

 

S3DA

Name: Carson Vroegindewey
Age: 15
Home State: South Carolina
Bow: Olympic Recurve
Years Practicing Archery: 4-6 years

Goals: Since I was 10 and saw it on TV, my goal is to go to the Olympics and help the HOH (hard-of-hearing) archers.

Lessons Learned: Archery taught me so much more than how to shoot a bow. It takes time and patience to learn good form. Things like my stance, grip, anchor, aim and release all have work together for every shot. One of the hardest things to do is to stay calm under pressure on the line. After 6 years of shooting with a purpose, I have built a pretty trusting process. Resilience one of the most important lesson to learn. If an arrow doesn’t go where you wanted it to, you need to reset and move on. LOL I call it a “phantom arrow.” Archery has also given me confidence, taught me to set big goals, and shown me how far I can go when I put in the work. Most importantly, archery isn’t just about me—it’s about helping others too. That’s why I’ve started creating tools to make archery more accessible for deaf and hard-of-hearing athletes. I want to use what I’ve learned to make the sport open to everyone.

Inspiration to Try Archery: Watching it on TV. I first got inspired to do archery because I wanted to try something different—something that challenged me both physically and mentally. When I picked up a bow for the first time, I realized it wasn’t just about hitting the target, it was about focus, patience, and trusting myself. Hearing my coach say that I could go real far. I was his “Diamond in a Rough.” I got my very first Robin Hood when I was 10 years old (shooting barebow) at an S3DA SC Regional. There’s a video of it somewhere… pretty cool!

What the Sport Means to Me: Archery means a lot to me because it has become more than just a sport—it’s part of who I am. It gives me a place where I can set big goals, like working toward the Olympics, and reminds me every day that hard work pays off. Archery has also given me confidence, taught me resilience, and opened doors to connect with others. Most importantly, it’s shown me how I can use my passion to make a difference, like creating tools to support deaf and hard-of-hearing archers. It’s about growing as a person, overcoming challenges, and inspiring others to believe in themselves too.

Click here to watch a video Carson made featuring ASL.

 

Name: Noah Sulter
Age: 17
Home State: Pennsylvania
Bow: Compound Bow
Years Practicing Archery: 7-9 years

Goals: To shoot at a collegiate level with a team, maybe coach one day

Lessons Learned: Focus and determination.

Inspiration to Try Archery: I have ADHD, and typical youth sports weren’t for me. My parents decided to have me try archery when I was in third grade. I started out in the JOAD program. It wasn’t until my high school years that we formed a team and my teammates convinced me to join S3DA. Now I enjoy going to shoots and having fun with my archery family.

What the Sport Means to Me: Archery and the friendships I’ve made through this sport, have gotten me through some really difficult times. My teammates helped me overcome some pretty serious social anxiety. I don’t know where I’d be today without my archery family.

 

Name: Carter Conlon
Age: 15
Home State: Wisconsin
Bow: Compound Bow
Years Practicing Archery: 1-3 years

Goals: My current goals with archery competition-wise are to make the Lancaster Classic main stage, and one of my future competition goals with archery is to compete at the professional level.  My main goals with archery non-competition wise are to always share my passion and knowledge for the sport with others and to continue to inspire young archers to get involved and stay involved.  Archery is more than a sport—it is a community and I want to share that with others.  Recently, over the summer, I got the opportunity to help mentor youth in a summer program at the shop I shoot at.  This really changed my perception on archery because it’s about how you show up  , and it’s important to be yourself, no matter what.  I show up as myself—no matter what—and that helps me maintain confidence I didn’t have before I started shooting my bow.

Lessons Learned: I have learned patience, commitment, and friendship.  Archery has taught me that it goes beyond just shooting arrows—it is about building and maintaining friendships, being part of a team.  I have also learned how to have confidence.  Archery has taught me how to have motivation to do well in school, as it gives me something to work towards.

Inspiration to Try Archery: Watching people bowhunt in shows and my dad.  My dad got me a bow for Christmas in 2023 so we could start to hunt together, and I started shooting competitively in Jan of 2024. I haven’t put my bow down since then, and it’s been the best experience yet.

What the Sport Means to Me: Simple—everything.  I’d like to say more, but everything says it all. If you could take my heart and place it with something, it would be with archery.  It has sparked a fire in me like no other, and I continue to shoot to feed that fire, that passion!

 

Name: Sydney Clardy
Age: 17
Home State: Tennessee
Bow: Barebow Recurve
Years Practicing Archery: 4-6 years

Goals: My current goals with archery include getting back to a place where I feel confident with at least 95% of my shots, beating my old personal bests from before I had physical therapy, and potentially shooting collegiately.

Lessons Learned: Archery has taught me many things, some of which include perseverance, discipline, and that sometimes it’s okay to put in all of your effort and not get the result you wanted immediately. Archery takes patience and extreme mental strength. Not every tournament will set your new personal best.

Inspiration to Try Archery: Truthfully I was looking for a change in scenery. I had been swimming competitively for about 5 years and was burnt out. My school had a NASP program, and I thought I’d give it a shot. I started shooting with a team outside of school and fell in love with the sport. Everything has grown from there.

What the Sport Means to Me: Everything. I’m sure that’s not the most original answer, but truly it does. Between all of the highs and lows in my life, archery has been one of the only things to stick. It’s given me the opportunity to meet so many amazing people that I don’t know where I’d be without it. It gives me an outlet where I can turn my mind off and only think about my shots.

 

Name: Alex Cimino
Age: 10
Home State: Missouri
Bow: Olympic Recurve
Years Practicing Archery: 1-3 years

Goals: I want to get more consistent and work on finding my anchor spot every shot.

Lessons Learned: I’ve learned that patience and practice really do pay off. When I rush and don’t go through all of my steps, I always end up with a bad shot.

Inspiration to Try Archery: I saw my older sister competing on our schools NASP team, and I really wanted to try when I was old enough. Once I completed my first season of NASP, I knew I wanted to try different styles of archery so I tried out and fell in love with Olympic recurve and joined my local club team.

What the Sport Means to Me: Archery is my happy place where I can go through the steps I’ve been taught, clear my mind of everything else, and feel successful. Unlike other sports, I don’t have to worry about what my teammates or the other team are doing. It’s just me, my bow and arrows, and the target.

 

Name: Leigha Tucker
Age: 14
Home State; North Carolina
Bow: Compound Bow
Years Practicing Archery: 4-6 years

Goals: My goals in archery are to pursue it through college and in hopes of becoming a professional archer one day.

Lessons Learned: Participating in archery has taught me that safety is the utmost priority and demonstrating consistency and focus is paramount. Archery has also taught me dedication and good sportsmanship. All of these are now practices that I use in my everyday life.

Lessons Learned: I was inspired to start archery when I joined my local hunters’ safety team with a group of friends. That encouraged me to do archery as an individual sport while still participating on the hunters’ safety team.

What Archery Means to Me: Archery has brought my family and friends together whether we are shooting competitively or just for fun. It is always a fun and memorable experience to shoot with some of my best friends; that is what archery means to me.

To view all responses from S3DA archers, click here.

 

NFAA

Name: Baylee Kalscheuer
Home State: South Dakota
Age: 10
Bow: Compound Fixed Pin
Years Practicing Archery: 4 years

Goals: Trying to score 288 or better for my bronze pin. I want to be the best!

Lessons Learned: That it’s really challenging but also it is fun

Inspiration to Try Archery: The movie “Brave.”

What the Sport Means to You: When I’m shooting, it is like therapy. If school is annoying, archery sets me free from that.

 

Name: Liam C. Claybaugh
Home State: California
Age: 12
Bow: Bowhunter Compound
Years Practicing Archery: 5

Goals: My ultimate goal with archery is to compete in the Olympics for Team USA. Before that, I’d like to get a college scholarship and be able to compete at the college level. I’d also like to become a professional archer and follow in the footsteps of my coaches.

Lessons Learned: Archery has taught me to become a better team player and even when I don’t place in a competition to be thankful that I was able to compete and support others who did place on my team. It has also taught me to understand what self-discipline means and how important that is in order to reach my goals.

Inspiration to Try Archery: When I was 7 years old after watching the Marvel movie, “Age of Ultron”, I wanted to be just like Hawkeye and shoot a bow and arrow.

What the Sport Means to You: Archery has taught me patience and focus. It has also shown me what it means to never give up. There have been really hard tournaments where I felt I gave it my all and have walked away empty handed, but I kept going and even though I may still face hard tournaments, it pushes me to keep going. Archery is fun and challenging. I like being able to look back at when I was 7 and see how far I’ve come.

 

Name: Miranda Allison Meighen
Home State: Connecticut
Age: 12
Bow: Compound
Years Practicing Archery: 8

Goals: My long-term archery goals are to shoot a tournament in every state and win a world championship. My short-term archery goals are to get my JOAD sliver pin and to practice every day.

Lessons Learned: Archery has taught me so many things like focus, goal-setting, confidence, and that practice makes perfect!

Inspiration to Try Archery: My dad inspired me to start shooting archery at the young age of 4. He would take me out to the backyard to teach me how to shoot my first bow. We would attend local 3D shoots for fun and practice.  I wouldn’t be where I am today without him!

What the Sport Means to Me: To me archery means new opportunities at every shoot. I always challenge myself to beat my personal record, earn a new JOAD pin, or both!

 

Name: Kenta Kwong Hin Sang
Home State: California
Age: 17
Bow: Olympic Recurve
Years Practicing Archery: 2

Goals: I want to keep improving my technique and mindset, get more consistent in competition, and eventually grow into a coach who can help others enjoy the sport. Right now, I’m focused on learning as much as I can so I’m prepared to support others in the future.

Lessons Learned: Archery has taught me the value of dedicated self-improvement. I’ve learned that I may not hit the bull’s-eye every time, but I can use mistakes as opportunities to grow and focus on being a bit better than I was yesterday, both as an athlete and as a person.

Inspiration to Try Archery: I was drawn to how it feels like a form of meditation. Getting good groups requires checking in on my mental state, letting go of stress, and focusing on what’s directly in front of me.

What the Sport Means to You: Archery is a steady practice that builds focus, patience, and self-awareness. It’s taught me how to reset after mistakes, and the habits I develop on the range carry over into school and other parts of my life. Above all, it’s a place where I keep working to improve, and I hope others will join as well, discovering more about themselves and learning to grow one arrow at a time, one day at a time.

 

Name: Madeline Pals
Home State: Illinois
Age: 12
Bow: Barebow Recurve
Years Practicing Archery: 5

Goals: My goals with archery are to make the USA U-15 National team this coming year and have a barebow make it into the Olympics. So that I can compete in the Olympics without changing bow-type.

Lessons Learned: One of the lessons that I have learned is perseverance and joy in the sport. Even if you are having a bad day, bad practice, bad arrow as long as you continue trying your best, you can still find joy in the sport.

Inspiration to Try Archery: The Disney movie “Brave” inspired me to try archery after COVID restrictions were starting to lift, as it was one of the first sports to restart in the area that I live in. Though my inspirations started with a Disney princess, my coach, my club, and my family have really fanned the flames of passion that I have for the sport.

What the Sport Means to You: Archery means opportunity for me. An opportunity to meet new people and travel to new places. An opportunity to excel. It also means that I have the opportunity to escape the pressures of school and peers, and the negativity of bad days.

 

Name: Gracia Husman
Home State: South Dakota
Age: 12
Bow: Bowhunter Freestyle
Years Practicing Archery: 3 years

Goals: My goals are to get at least a bronze in JOAD. My next pin will be a bronze. I’m a few points away! Also, I want to join more national tournaments—they were so fun to make new friends, learn archery, and travel across the country.

Lessons Learned: I have learned that you don’t get a perfect shot every time. You only get a perfect shot if you practice, believe, and trust yourself.  Also, I learned the hard way to listen to your coach, especially your DAD!

Inspiration to Try Archery: The thing that inspired me in archery is my sister, brother, and my dad. They have been doing archery for a long time, especially my dad!  My mom has also been my biggest cheerleader, but what inspired me the most is just being out there and also being with friends!

What the Sport Means to You: This sport means a lot to me. It has taught me to concentrate, participate and just have fun.

 

Name: Christopher Fong
Home State: Idaho
Age: 16
Bow: Compound
Years Practicing Archery: 11

Goals: My goal is to be the best archer in my age class. I hope to shoot in college and maybe shoot as a Pro. I hope to be NFAA’s first Junior Shooter of the Year in 2025.

Lessons Learned: I’m always learning every time I shoot. I’ve learned many aspects of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) from shooting archery. I apply this knowledge to my shooting and tournament strategy. I’ve learned that you need to learn how to lose first before you can begin to win.

Inspiration to Try Archery: As a duel sport athlete, shotgun sports came naturally, but the “learning curve” for me was too flat. I saw that archery was more challenging and kept my interest longer as the learning curve was much more challenging than shotgun. Knowing that shotgun shooting sports had a high demand for scholarships in the college ranks, I felt there would be a stronger possibility of a scholarship.

What the Sport Means to You: The sport of archery right now is my life. Currently I’m a junior in high school; this is my time to evaluate colleges and perform well enough for college scouts to evaluate me. My goals are to graduate from high school, attend college, shoot archery for a college team, win a national college archery championship, graduate with my BS degree and get a job in my profession, Fish & Wildlife Management. I plan to shoot archery for the rest of my life and maybe shoot a little pro on the side.

 

The Power of Archery

As you can see, archery means so many things to so many archers, but their answers all have something in common. These youth value the sense of community, the focus and Zen qualities of the shooting process, and the opportunity to make a difference. If these responses are any indication of what we can expect of the next generation of archers, I’d say we’re doing alright.

If you’re interested in getting started in archery, visit the Store Locator to find a range near you.