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A Long Shot
Savannah Hoffman
Age: 14 years old
From: London, KY
My name is Savannah Hoffman and I shoot for the Aim Takers S3DA club in London, Kentucky. I tried just about everything before I found my love for archery (dance,cheer,basketball,softball, gymnastics). None of them clicked, and then I found what most people consider “their thing”. To me, archery is a mental sport and you have to have a good mindset to be able to make good quality shots. I’ve shot 3 years of NASP through my school with a Genesis bow and this was my first season competing with a compound bow in multiple organizations.
It was definitely a struggle trying to switch from a barebow to compound. Between punching a trigger release and target panic, I was nowhere near ready for a real range. However, I decided to take a “shot in the dark” at a local fun shoot. 3D tournaments were a lot harder than what I thought and I was nowhere near making podium. I shot a 55/240 and missed 13 out of 20 targets. I guess you could say at that point, I was a “longshot”.However, I wasn't going to give up.
I wasn’t satisfied with my score, so I went home and did what every other archer would do. I practiced. I also worked on my shooting form and updated my equipment hoping to become a better archer. I worked diligently to fine tune my form, and participated in several tournaments for extra practice in preparation for the state and national events. My score finally started to improve and I was feeling a lot better about how my shots felt. When the time came, I was nervous but confident, knowing that I had come such a long way in a short amount of time. In less than a year, I became the KY 2020 S3DA 3D state champion. It has definitely been hard mentally and physically getting to where I am today. I thank everyone that has given me a fighting chance along my journey. A huge thank you to Bow Junky Media for this opportunity to tell my story!
