More than 5,000 archers of all ages gathered in Las Vegas, Nev., in February for the 2017 Vegas Shoot competition—the largest indoor archery tournament in the world—including 15-year-old Randi Robertson of Santa Maria.
Robertson, a sophomore at Pioneer Valley High School, was excited but intimidated at the same time by the amount of people at the Vegas Shoot, she told the Sun.
“When we first got there, there weren’t too many people yet. We must have been some of the first ones there,” Robertson said. “I was already nervous, but when I saw how big the arenas were, it only made it worse.
“I thought to myself, ‘Yeah, a lot more people are coming, aren’t they?'” she added.
The Vegas Shoot was Robertson’s first national archery competition, although she has competed at several local competitions over the past two years, from Santa Ynez to San Luis Obispo.
Robertson was in the sixth grade when she shot her first bow during science camp. At the time, the Disney/Pixar film Brave had just been released. Robertson imagined herself as the film’s bow-wielding protagonist, Merida, she said.
“That was the moment I fell in love with archery,” Robertson said. “Something just felt right when I picked up that bow for the first time.”
After sixth grade, Robertson kept archery in the back of her mind, but didn’t pursue it until high school.
“She tried out other sports, like softball, but I could tell something was missing,” Micci Robertson, Randi’s mother, told the Sun. “Then one day she brought up the possibility of going into archery, and that was it. She became passionate about it right away.”
Randi’s bow of choice is the Olympic Recurve, which she practices with at least twice a week. She splits her time between two indoor archery ranges—one at the Santa Maria Gun Club, the other at Central Coast Archery in SLO.
“I’ve met a lot of new friends at the ranges, which has been great since I don’t know anyone from school who is into archery,” she said. “That’s another benefit I think. Like most sports, it’s a great way to meet new people.”
Randi recommends archery to anyone, even those not necessarily into sports.
“To me, archery is an activity that allows you to escape from the real world for a little bit,” she said. “I truly believe everyone should try it out at least once in their lifetime.”
This article appears in Mar 2-9, 2017.
