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Hard Work Pays Off
By: Maddi Duvall
Age: 12 years old
From: Trinity, North Carolina
I am a staff shooter for Droptine Archery in Advance North Carolina. This is my first year shooting for them and it has blessed me so much. The other shooter have helped me in so many ways with my skills and my equipment. If anyone has the opportunity to shoot for a local archery shop I would greatly encourage them to take advantage of it because of all of the local knowledge that will be exposed to that will help any new archer. Just like it has done for me. Robert and Pam Brookman at Droptine Archery have treated me like family ever since the first time I met them.
I shoot for Randleman Middle School FFA in the North Carolina Wildlife Hunter Safety Skills Team Competitions. My favorite this is shooting 3D in the ASA tournaments. I feel like shooting 3D has greatly improved my shooting skills, and helped me become a better hunter. I have recently won the ASA State Championship in Virginia, shooting in the Middle School Open Female class. I will be competing in the upcoming North Carolina ASA State Championship, and the ASA Classic in Foley, Alabama. Shooting 3D to me is a lot more fun and challenging than just shooting at a piece of paper.
I love to hunt with my dad Willie Duvall. He take me deer and turkey hunting all time. I have been about to take several does, one small buck, and three very nice eastern wild turkeys. My dad and I have been able to go to Texas twice to hunt Rio Grande Turkeys. My dad and I would like to achieve the North American Grand Slam for turkeys. My goals in hunting are to achieve the Grand slam for turkeys, Kill a buck big enough to hang on wall, and hopefully this year to kill a deer or turkey with my bow. I have two younger sisters and we all love to hunt with our dad, he make our hunting trips so much fun even if we do get anything. I have learned so much about hunting from my dad and watching how you do things the right way.
So far in my archery career my best tournament was wining the ASA Virginia State Championship at New River-Grayson County. I have shot in so many local tournaments to prepare for the larger state tournaments and how I could see how all of the extra practice time in the yard was paying off. While at this tournament I got to shoot alongside some pro archers and being able to watch how they do things taught me a lot about how I can improve my Archery game as well. I also got to learn how the bigger tournaments are run and what the expectations are for each archer. The most nervous part was having to wait to see if I won after knowing I had turned in a good score. The excitement and anticipation was fun as well. It was a true blessing to be a part of that championship tournament and even more of a blessing that I was able to win it.
The product reviews I have, would be several major products. When I switch to a competition target bow and setup I was huge jump in my scores and what I was able to do competitively. When I was able to get my Mathews TRX-38. I could tell a huge difference in the quality of my bow and the quality of the shots I was able to produce. I also made another huge step forward when I got my CBE vertex sight with Shrewd scope and lens. After seeing so many great shooters using those products I knew that if I wanted to get to their level I have to get the same kind of equipment they had. When I first started using the scope with 4X power lens I could see things on the target I could never see before and I could definitely better place my shots. Right before the Virginia state championship I was able to upgrade to Victory V-Tac 23 arrows and a Hamskea Trinity rest that I feel like those are products that helped complete my set-up and put me over the top and truly helped me become a State Champion.
I got into archery because my FFA teacher needed more female archers on our Hunter Safety Team. I tried it out and I fell in love with it. I found out quickly that I was good at archery and improved. Archery has taught me that hard work and practice pays off. I have learn that you get out of it what you put into it. I spend a lot of time practicing in the yard and shooting local tournaments. All of that extra work and time spent on the range is what has helped me become a better archer and achieve the things I have. Archery to me is fun but serious because I like to compete at a high level and do the best I can to succeed. Archery has also brought me so many new friends and role models. I hope to continue to better my archery game and improve my skills every day.
My role models are my dad who has taught me so much and always pushes me to be the best I can be. Joey Thompson took so many hours out of his time to help me learn how to shoot and introduced me to 3D archery and bow fishing. The knowledge and information that Joey taught me are things that I will keep forever. Joey also introduced me to Droptine Archery where I was able to meet Robert Brookman and Tony Fleshman. These guys have taught me so much about my equipment and how to take my skills to the next level and they have believed in me enough to invite me on to shoot for the bow shop. Every week Tony and Robert check on me to see how I am shooting and to offer me some advice to always help me move forward. But my dad has always taken me and sister to the range, to a tournament, or got us what we needed so we can always shoot and practice when we want to. All of these people mean a lot to me and my archery game. They have all taught me so much about myself and about Archery in general. They have taught me about being a good person and being good archer. They are all special people and I would not be where I am today if it weren’t for those guys and all the help they have shown me.
I would love to be able shoot some targets with Levi Morgan and be able to talk with him to gets some tips on making my skills more like his. When I go to the ASA Classic in Foley I am hoping to at least get to see him shoot but having the chance to meet him and talk with him would be a dream come true. Thank you for all your doing to help get more kids like me into archery. When I go to tournaments it is sad that I don’t see more kids my age shooting. If they only knew how much fun it was they would be doing it too.
