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.
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