The Academy was founded in 2013
I remember being hired and discussing with Rob, Carole, Jared, and Chris at the time you know kind of what their vision was for the Academy
and that was just learning and starting off classes I designed an introduction class
and to evolving into six week classes and then a series of six week classes
and then having so much interest that we have a JOAD program within the Academy
So I was way before the Academy was even created I came when I was eight years old so like 2008, 2009
and I came it was just the shooting center and it was very small and I joined the JOAD
because it was the closest in our area even though it's still an hour and fifteen minutes away
away I started archery in 2017 2018-ish
I shot around at Lancaster Archery for a little while and then I found out more about the JOAD club and team
and that's when I decided that I wanted to pursue that club and make some friends in archery and really get into competition
I went through a couple different clubs first I went to Perry County and then I went to Palmyra JOAD
and then from there someone had directed me to Lancaster Archery
then we heard that there were lessons with a new coach Heather Pfiel
so I started doing those lessons with her and they were really great and from there I was asked to go on to the JOAD team
My dad started working here, they were teaching classes I kind of got brought into it
started shooting that and here we are
Yeah I got into archery competitively when I was about eight years old it was during the time I was doing gymnastics
but once I was around twelve or thirteen I started getting really serious with archery
and I competed in a couple national tournaments and that's when I realized from there is when my Olympic dreams started
So the JOAD program, JOAD stands for Junior Olympic Archery Development
it’s a program designed by USA Archery with the idea and intent that every three or four years when the Olympics would come around or every world cup cycle
that you would have a talented pool of youth archers who would be able to then try to qualify for those teams to qualify for those games
that way we would broaden the talent pool in the country and make it deeper
and it has been extremely successful I would argue that it is the most successful program that USA Archery has ever created
because at this point most of the athletes who are at the World Cup or have gone to the Olympics got their start in a JOAD program somewhere
so we have always had two JOADs that we have run we have our Club JOAD that meets on Thursdays and our Saturday JOAD that meets on Saturdays
and the Club JOAD, think of it as like the junior varsity
to where we will have our competitive athletes there we will have our recreational athletes there
they are all mixing together and it is just an amazing atmosphere and I love it
and then the Saturday team, think of that as almost as the varsity squad
these are the ones who are already nationally competitive they are shooting very good scores already
and they want to take it further they don't want to just be nationally competitive they want to be internationally competitive
JOAD to me is where I started my competitive dream of archery
because before JOAD I would just shoot for fun
and then when I joined JOAD we had official practices we had competitions and that was something that I wasn't used to
and to meet other people to meet older kids and just be like I want to shoot like them one day
and I want to go to all of the competitions that they go to
and it is just good to have that atmosphere of seeing people and giving you a role model for what you want to get to eventually
you know in high school sports you hear a lot of people say "oh the team is like a family" and that
but I feel like you get it a lot with JOAD because you go to tournaments together
and you'll spend the entire trip together hanging out with those people during the shoot after the shoot dinner
all of that so it's really just like another mini family
whenever I went to school we didn't have archery as a sport and it wasn't recognized by my high school
so I didn't really have that community at school to be able to you know be a part of the athletics
so then whenever I started shooting for the Lancaster JOAD then I had that community and a group of people that I could go to
people that were at my level of shooting and just a lot of friends that I could hang out with
it's a really good community of people you have really great archers with you who have the same competitive drive
and you can become good friends with them, because they have that same spirit that you have towards archery
and there are a lot of nice parents you can meet great coaches as well the coaching is really great
I was at the Olympic Training Center in 2006 and that's when Coach Lee was coming over and the program was just getting started
but I had to make a decision to either re-apply in a few months or go to college and I knew that I couldn't do both
and it was really important to me that I went to college so I left went home worked towards my degree in Communications
and then I just happened to apply at Lancaster Archery and here I am
so I think one of the first successes that I've had of course is that I'm still shooting so many
of the people that I initially began shooting with in college 99% just aren't shooting anymore
so in college I was All-American I believe at least three of the four years that I was there
I've placed top 10 at the Lancaster Archery Classic in the past and I am continuing to compete on the USAT circuit
and of course always at college the thought was well the dream job of course is to be an archery coach but there's no such job that's out there
that's just unrealistic and I remember seeing it going there's no way
at that time they were just looking for a full-time instructor so I'm like YES
so I move on up here and one of the things that was a part of that program was our JOAD team
The most beneficial thing that JOAD has helped me with is just with the equipment that we are able to have access to
for an example the camera room that we have is amazing in the camera room you have different angles that you can film from
so you can see your shot process from every angle possible so when you are working on something
or you don't know what is going on in your shot you can go into the camera room film yourself
and then you can see exactly what is wrong with your form or you can see what you are working on and if it is improving or not
and that's probably one of the more beneficial things and then the activities that we do too
I really like the team building activities like no bows or anything just kind of team building activities
I remember it was in the main range and it was called cross the river and we had to get from one side of the range all the way to the other
and that was fun to work with younger teammates and older teammates to try and do that
that I like when we do team activities whether it's team building or actual team rounds where you shoot in a team of three and rotate
I really like that because it gets you at a faster pace and it makes you think a little more critically and be on your on your toes
toes and I like that about archery that other than shooting individually you can also shoot as a team like with a team score
and so when we do team rotation or just team building skills in general it's always fun
I really like to do its like drills that you wouldn't expect to do in archery
like we used to pick a number out of a hat in outdoor and instead of aiming for the center you would aim for that number that you would pull
and it just gives you good aiming off practice it's just something that you don't think to practice
like you don't think "oh I'm not going to aim in the center"
but also Bryan came up with one that was really good and we did it this past winter and it was a hot wing challenge
first we printed off a Buffalo Wild Wings sauce chart that we gave them out to the kids and we said "alright, circle your comfort level"
we said "alright, go one or two beyond that like what would be uncomfortable" then we said "alright, now hand those in and pick a partner"
we calculated their three arrow end average and then if they shot above it say like a point or two then we had to eat the hot wing,
for instance Casey was a 29 so if she shot a 30 then I'd eat a hot wing but if she shot a 27 then she would have to eat two hot wings
JOAD has really helped further my archery career it's gotten me to college and winning national titles at college
and then it also helped me get into working in the industry as well so it has really helped out
when I was thirteen I made my first national team and that was to go to Argentina for the Youth World Championships
and I also made the United States Archery team the USAT they call it that year and since then I have made all of the senior USAT teams
as well as all of the World Cup teams to be able to travel internationally and compete in the World Series outdoors
So one of the coaches in our JOAD program, Bryan Brady, he shot at JMU and he has really helped me with getting to learn the collegiate format
format he has introduced me to many of the coaches and taught me really how to perform well under pressure in a collegiate situation such as collegiate nationals
because it is a pretty big event one thing with collegiate nationals is that there is a lot more team atmosphere there
and you have to be able to concentrate while a bunch of other archers are screaming for their teammate to win whose shooting against you
which collegiate archery is all about the team everybody sees archery and thinks individual but when you get to collegiate
the individual achievements have meaning but I don't think they have as much meaning as the team awards
so JOAD really gives you a starting point for a team it's not quite the whole team aspect that you get in collegiate but its definitely better then shooting by yourself
and what we have for that Saturday team is that eventually people would age out of the JOAD program and would go to college
and we wanted to have something that would keep them at least if not in our thoughts and in our memories
but give them a way of transitioning away from that team and into whatever they wanted their archery career to be so we created this idea of The Legacy Team
so I can't believe that I am on the Legacy Team already, it's been ten years I've been on the JOAD team which is crazy to say
because I'm only nineteen, but it's a group of past member that left the team and aged out to go to college and we're just like the old members now pretty much
throughout JOAD and what the coaches have done for me and how they've helped me out I wanted to be able to kind of
give that back to kids who were just getting into it so it was a great job to get and a great way to teach other kids in need with archery
JOAD has helped me a lot in my current job because I got an appreciation for the people who helped me out when I was in JOAD
JOAD and I kind of wanted to give back so I really wanted to be able to graduate college and come back and work and then give the same opportunities that I had
so I used to work as an instructor and I got to help out the JOAD a little bit there and then now I am working in videography
so I really like to be able to give information out to people on-line and then I also help out in the shop as well
I've always liked little kids and I've always helped around the little redneck bow shops back at home
and then I wanted to take it to the next level and I wanted to get certified and get an establishment behind my name to help the kids and that led me here
I think this is a great program because we offer a lot of different opportunities for the archer to grow
now myself as a mom I have a vision of what I would like this program to be and I also have a different perspective now with my daughter getting into different activities
so now as our program continues to grow not only is this a program that I want my daughter to be a part of in the future
but I want people to be able to look at this program and go "yes this is where my child can grow and reach their goals"
and I think to have that kind of perspective from an archer and a parent is a fantastic thing
because it is a positive environment and that's really what we want
I would recommend Lancaster Archery JOAD to someone who is interested because of just the lessons that you will learn
learn like JOAD has taught me a lot of lessons about working hard you have to put in a lot of hard work to achieve what you want
and so something that the JOAD has really taught me and the coaches have really taught me
me is that you can start with a basic set-up and get to the Olympic stage and that is a big message for a lot of people to see
I would definitely say to give the JOAD a try or even just one archery lesson
even if you are just a tad bit interested in archery you should definitely give it a try
because from my one singular decision to start I got on to a nationally ranked team I went to college I've got national titles
I have a job in the industry now and that was just from one idea to start
so if you don't start in archery you don't know where it's going to take you.