My name is Lydia Windell and I am currently an 11th grader at North Harrison High School. At North Harrison, I discovered my passion for archery with the National Archery in the Schools Program. This passion was ignited in my 6th grade year, as my school started a NASP® club for the first time. Before discovering archery, I was not a sporty person, but I loved being competitive in everything I could. The National Archery in the Schools program gave me an outlet for my love of competition.
During 6th grade, in 2018, I learned the basics of archery and accumulated more knowledge on archery in general. However, a strong asset to my archery abilities that was missing was my inability to handle tournament stress. This was something that took me a long time to overcome, but it was paramount to my success in the long run. At the end of my 6th grade year, I managed to shoot a 280, which was ground-shattering for me. This being said, I did not know how to handle this score and unfortunately couldn’t repeat it in a tournament for the longest time.
The following year, I managed to begin to succeed in tournaments until the pandemic struck the nation. After that, archery at my school was put on pause until my 8th grade year. For many archers I know, this was a time where they took a break from archery all together. I did not do this. I was upset when my season was cut short, especially after I began to find success, so I continued to shoot nearly every day during the pandemic. It was during this time I also began to become interested in other forms of archery. I started shooting a compound bow, mostly at local 3D competitions, and loved shooting that bow as well. During the summer of 2021, I shot my first national 3D tournament with a compound bow. This extended my passion for archery, and now I compete in multiple archery organizations with my compound bow. Since that summer, I have been able to win a national tournament with my compound bow and continue to achieve success in NASP®. The following years in NASP®, I was able to win state titles and place nationally. As of now, my best score is a 297 in bullseye and a 295 in 3D, the latter score allowed me to win at the NASP® 3D Championship in 2022.
While NASP® archery is now not my only focus, NASP® gave me my introduction to archery, and I am perpetually thankful for the foundation it gave me in archery. Archery is a sport that has taught me so many life lessons. It has aided me in being a more calm, confident, and prepared individual. Simultaneously, archery has helped me become more of a team player and form relationships with those around me. All in all, archery has given me so much in my life and I am so grateful I found my passion through the NASP® archery program.
