Archery is a sport full of fun new experiences. One of my personal favorites is meeting new people. Over the course of the past three years, I have formed many new friendships. I have always been quite the extrovert; I love being able to meet new people and connect with them.
Where I am from, we have many schools around us that we have invitational shoots with. There is one school in particular that is like a second family to us. Kingston High School, just about 45 minutes south of our area, is a school that we spend a lot of our time with. There is always lots of encouragement and laughter between us as competitors, and never a dull moment. Going to Kingston is always the highlight of our year. Every time there is a tournament there, we all count down the days until we get to see our family.
Not only do we get very excited to see the shooters on the team, we are also very excited to see their head coach, Coach Applegate. She has helped me in so many ways I don’t even know where to begin. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be the shooter I am today. Not just with archery, but also with my shotgun sports. Anything that any of my teammates, myself, or my coach needs, she is always there willing to help. It’s always nice knowing that you have the reassurance of not only your own coach, but another coach as well. She also loves to joke around with everyone and have a good time.
The love and support doesn’t just stop in Missouri. Alongside my team making the trip to South Carolina for Worlds, so did Coach Applegate with a shooter of hers. It’s never easy being the only one from your team competing, and sometimes you just want to see a familiar face. My teammates and I made it a point to go out in our free time to support their shooter. Additionally, any chance that we had to be together as a team, we would invite him along as well. After all, he’s part of our family too.
-Anna Rawe is a 2022 student contributor. Watch for her future submissions.-
