Riding on the Bus, Becoming a Champion

 About 11 years ago, I sat quietly in a chair behind the line at my indoor range. It was the beginning of the indoor archery season, and I was out of commission. I was rehabbing my shoulder after having reconstructive shoulder surgery, so I went to the range that evening with my father to catch up with my archery family and share some stories about hunting season. 

  Every year, new people join our league. Some stay but most fall by the wayside and we never see them after a few weeks. They think they are superstars, look at the target and exclaim, "That looks pretty easy." After their first scoring round, they realize they're not that good and the obsession begins. 

  Well that evening, a group of guys pulled into the parking lot and hopped out of a vehicle to try their hand at indoor archery. They would all become some of my closest friends and share some incredible highs and lows with me. We all celebrated each other's victories' and we all consoled each other when a pick- me- up was necessary. We still do the same today. We have all learned a great deal from each other, and I'll never be able to thank these guys enough for encouraging me to get back into archery and pushing me to the next level when I thought I would never be able to shoot a bow again -- or at least be competitive with one. This group of guys is the reason why I've accomplished many of the things I'm the most proud about in archery. They are the Green Mountain Boys and they hop into the big ol brown bus and head to all the events across the region. The driver is none other than George Connors. George has gone out of his way to help everyone with their equipment to be the best shooters they can be. He spends more time trying to make others better than he spends on himself. It's just George's nature. 

  The other members of the team are Chuck Weeden and Todd Sargent. There have been others that have come and gone, but these guys are the core group who have stayed together throughout the journey. A lot of people think Todd and Chuck are brothers, but they are actually brother-in-laws. Todd is always the quietest competitor in the bus, but he does come out with some good ones from time to time. Whenever traveling east in the bus, Todd must always point out the bear in the river. The big bear was fishing in the river one summer day when Chuck spotted it on the fly. He told George to turn around so everyone else could see the black bruin. I'll just leave the story there because it's something that we all laugh about today. We're pretty sure that bear still fishes there regularly, but it must've headed into town and got itself some waders and a fishing pole along the way. It probably get sick of trying to catch the slippery little trout with its hands. 

  It took quite a few years before convincing Todd to head to the Lancaster Classic every winter, but after he got a taste of it, he goes every year. He never complains and he just goes and shoots his bow. I often wish I had his composure on the line. He appears as the most relaxed person out there and never shows any emotion. I commend his ability at keeping it all under the collar. Todd is the kind of guy who would do anything for someone else. He has offered me free Yankee tickets on more than one occasion, and I'm always thankful to take them since I'm a die-hard Yankee fan. I'm currently borrowing his bow case because I lent mine to my father to travel. If I ask Todd for anything, he never bats an eyelash, he just produces. Chuck and George are the same. That's why they always fit so nicely together in the brown bus. 

  Recently, Todd found his way to the top step of the podium in the New Hampshire Bowmen Grand Slam. This series of events has been running for a number of years and consists of three shoots. The first is a 600 round Vegas tournament; the second is a 300 round 5-spot; the third is a 600 round 25-meter shoot. Well, Todd and Chuck found themselves neck and neck going into the last shoot of the series this year. They battled back and forth on every end, with neither of them creating any separation. Then, it came down to the last end to see who would be the Grand Slam Champion in the Bowhunter class and Todd focused and shot three good shots. Those three shots gave him the win, and Chuck finished in a close second. George put the pedal to the floor in the series and crushed the competition in the Silver Senior class. 

  The bus pulled out of the parking lot in Keene, N.H., and headed back to Manchester, Vt. with a load full of podium finishers. I'd like to celebrate the victories of all of my friends. Too often we forget the people who support all of the shoots and never seem to get a lot of recognition. These three guys put a lot into archery for themselves and others. Congratulations Todd on your win. I was glad to see you finally get what we all work for. Great job, buddy, and thanks for everything. It doesn't go unnoticed or unappreciated. Too bad the bear was hibernating and not fishing for you guys to see it on th way home after your victory. 

  

 

Passing Time, Idols, and Giving Back

 

    Pulling into the parking lot, my breathing became shallow and the clammy feeling in my hands made me acutely aware of the nervousness that I hadn’t expected. A few minutes later, with my camouflage bow holding my arrows in the quiver on its side, I walked into the range for my first attempt ever at shooting in an indoor archery league.

  Timidly opening the door and walking inside, I wanted to crawl into the wallpaper and disappear as the door closed behind me. There, in front of me, was archery gear I had never seen in my life. Guys had long poles sticking out of the front of colored bows, and their sights had scopes on them. I felt out of place – lost.

  An older guy who had a moustache pulled me aside and asked my name and wanted to know what I was doing. However, he didn’t seem to have any of the fancy stuff dangling off his bow. I estimated he was probably about 15-20 years older than me. He quickly filled me in on how things worked.

  A few hours later, I was as proud as a peacock as I carried my single-spot target to the truck. I had scored 226 points. Nobody shot a 300 that night, but there were a few guys in the mid to high 290s – the guys with the red, teal, midnight blue, and white bows.

 The guy who helped me when I walked in yelled over to me, “Hope to see you next week.”

  I responded, “I’ll be back.”

  Driving down the driveway that Friday night, I never imagined I would go on to become good friends with that guy who helped me the first night -- and even share many elk hunts with him over the years. His name is Dave Russell. He’s one of the few who never converted to a release aid, and he still uses a finger tab to shoot. He has amassed a long list of awards over the years and has always given back to the sport of archery and is still doing so at 70 years old.

 Dave still at it in his 70s

   I’m thankful there are people like Dave in the archery world, and one of my friends, Braden Gellenthien, sent me a text a few weeks ago that reminded me how crucial it is to give back to the sport that so many of us love. We are all immersed in loosing arrows from our bowstrings, and our passion for the flight of an arrow can only be understood by others whose candles burn the same as ours.

  Do any of us know where the journey will take us after we let our first arrow soar through the air? Some people may never shoot a bow again; others may buy a bow and shoot arrows in their backyards; some might decide they want to hunt with a bow; some might get their families involved; some might enjoy traveling to attend novelty events; some might be drawn into the competitive arena; some may join leagues; some may become top-level amateurs, while others may just head to tournaments for the camaraderie they present; and a few, very few, will go on to become professional or world-class archers, and those archers are the ones who put sparkles in young shooters’ eyes and give them something to strive for. They become heroes to many competitive archers – young and old alike.  

  When I began shooting, I always tried to pass my love of archery on to others and introduce them to the game I spent countless hours on while trying to perfect my craft. Archery was big back then, and we didn’t have to travel far to get to huge events, with the National Archery Festival in New Hampshire drawing a thousand or more archers. I introduced Aron Stevenson to these events, and he became engrossed in the competition and went on to achieve a runner-up finish at the IBO World Championship in Flatwoods, W.V., in the early ‘90s before graduating from high school, entering the U.S. Marine Corps and heading to California.

  When he returned four years later, his love of archery came back with him, and, as I had done at his age, he began passing it on. In his absence, I met the Sullinger family, and Dennis used to bring his two young boys and daughter to the club every Friday night for league. The boys Levi and Cruise quickly took a liking to archery and became quite proficient at it. They would travel to different archery events with their dad and sing a song. I never heard about this until last winter when things came full circle and Levi and Cruise returned to take part in the Friday night league. That’s when they informed me that they used to sing, “We’re gonna beat Todd Mead. We’re gonna beat Todd Mead,” every time they traveled to an archery shoot with their father. Dad would be the lead singer and the boys would contribute backup vocals.

  It made me warm inside when they told me about it last winter, and we all laughed together. As Aron used to help them when they were kids, he began helping them again when they decided to get back into shooting. All the old-timers from the club were glad to see them back at it. We welcomed the long-lost members of our family back into our home.

 Aron and Cruise in the early years       

 Cruise 20 years later

 Aron still at it

      

  Well, last winter I saw a man, his wife and their sons begin participating in competitive archery. After explaining to them that there were some noteworthy events across New England and New York, they began the journey that we’ve all been traveling for many years. They attended many shoots and were lucky enough to take home some hardware. In the process, Aiden, the oldest son, began following some professional archers and started routing for a few of them. In no time, he realized one of the best professional archers on tour lived within an hour of his home range, and Aiden instantly became a Jacob Sluzarz fan.

   Amazingly, I can look back over 20 years ago and see the beginning of Braden Gellenthien’s journey into the pro ranks when Brian Visco and Eric Griggs brought him to the Empire State Plaza. I can also recall the day after the Patriots beat the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game when the roads were atrocious across New England. A group of us headed to Massachusetts to shoot in a weekly MFAA 5-spot round. I shot 59xs that morning, and a young whipper snapper next to me who was shooting a blue Mathews single cam shot 56xs. He wasn’t happy about it either, but he walked off the range and said he was going home to work on things. That young man was Braden Gellenthien.

  Skip ahead a few years and Braden was breaking records and stacking up medals all over the world. Then, he returned to the Albany area to shoot in the annual Guan Ho Ha Vegas tournament, and he was wearing the black and gold jersey, just as the young local phenom was wearing one. After the tournament, Braden teamed up with the young up-and-comer Jacob Slusarz to shoot in the team event. I’m sure nobody knew at the time that Jacob would continue putting the work in and go on to achieve a level of success in his first few years as a professional that many shooters dream about their entire lives.

 Braden and Jacob about 10 years ago

  Anyhow, the year that Jacob and Braden teamed up to win the team event, there was a picture taken of the two of them, and Braden sent me the picture a few weeks ago when a picture surfaced on social media of Aiden with his idol, Jacob. The picture of them was taken in the same exact spot as the picture from 10 years earlier. It’s nice to see the tradition of passing down the passion of archery and giving others something to shoot for. If you shoot for the moon and miss, you’ll still end up in the stars.

  As New Englanders say, “Do your job.”

  It’s up to all of us to be role models for others. It doesn’t matter whether we are average shooters, good shooters, or phenomenal shooters, and it doesn’t matter whether we are club superstars, card-carrying professionals, or just guys who love archery.  I’ve enjoyed seeing both Braden and Jacob make their way through the ranks from being kids nobody knew to becoming professional champions. I’m also happy that we all three of us found our way onto the same team and are currently teammates now. It only takes a second to pose for a picture or ask for a picture. You never know what kind of gold nugget that picture could become in the years that follow. We all have treasure chests and what we chose to put in them will remain with us forever.