Hi, my name is Madi Rhinevault. I can’t wait to share my archery experiences with you throughout 2023!
The first time I picked up a bow was as a five-year-old on Christmas day. It was a black mini Genesis and I couldn’t wait to shoot archery. After having so much fun shooting with my dad in our backyard, he signed us up for a Centershot winter league at a local church. In third grade, while shooting the weekly league I discovered that my school had an archery team. You can imagine my dismay when I found out that you had to be in fourth grade to sign up.
When I finally made it to fourth grade, I made the team and eventually found myself at the Pennsylvania State Tournament.
In fifth-grade things started changing, my dad became a coach, I improved my scores and I made it my goal to compete at Nationals. My school is in Montrose Pennsylvania, which is a small town between the more widely known city of Scranton and the New York border. For years, the Montrose teams had never made it past states as they had always thought of it as an impossible task.
My dad supported me every step of the way, although there were many who said that we would never make it and that it couldn’t be done. I worked hard. There were many long nights spent in aggravation shooting arrows at the target on the other end of my basement as my dad helped to critique and fix all the little problems with my form. In 2017, we went to the state tournament and I walked out of that arena with my highest score ever, a 266, and a third-place trophy in my arms. I had made it to Nationals and after shooting that tournament I went to Worlds. It was then, in 2017, that archery began to shape my life.
A lot has happened since 2017. I’m 16 now, I’ve placed at the National and World level, and my scores have improved a lot. The 266 is now a 299 and my latest goal is to shoot a 300. I have made it my goal to place first in both 3D and Bullseye at state.
In fact, one of the things that I love about archery is that it has taught me to have a strong work ethic and dedication to my goals in order to achieve them. I also like that archery has given me a reason to work hard in school and at practice. NASP® provides scholarships for top-place shooters and gives kids the opportunity to win scholarships through the academic archer program which also pushes them to get good grades in school. Unlike other sports, archery is friendly and lacks violence or grudges against other schools. This has made it possible to befriend people I compete against and maintain strong friendships with archers several states away. Also, archery is a sport that goes beyond NASP®, there is a whole world of IBO and ASA competitions to shoot because archery is truly a lifelong sport that continues to grow as time goes on.
So to sum up, I am an eleventh grader from Montrose, PA, I have been shooting for 8 years and I love archery. This year I hope to place well at the tournaments and help to spread my knowledge and experience with other archers throughout the nation.
Happy shooting!
-Madi Rhinevault is a 2023 student contributor-