Caleb Grant’s “Cinderella Story” to the Eastern National Archery Tournament
“Caleb is literally a Cinderella story.”
That’s Gillingham Charter’s head archery coach Lenny Martin. And this is his newest competitor at the Eastern Nationals Tournament, senior Caleb Grant. He joined his first archery team in middle school but quit shortly after, and then in high school he was approached once again.
“My coach was like yeah, you know, you’re shooting good kale. You gotta join the team next year. So literally I just joined the team the following year. I was shooting pretty good for only doing it for just that one year.”
Now in Grant’s senior year, he’s consistently been shooting between 270 and 275 all season but on Pennsylvania’s biggest stage, he scored a 288, placing him 7th in the state, and securing his spot to compete in the bullseye tournament in Louisville, Kentucky.
“I mean, he wasn’t even ranked in the top 30. He wasn’t even a tier one shooter, so he got into tier two, and he came out of nowhere and shot 288 And he beat a lot of kids that beat him throughout the whole year.”
“Usually I’m pretty average with like, you know, like math or reading and stuff but like this is one of those things where I’m like, like above well above average and you know, going to Nationals which is like it’s gonna be a super cool experience.”
One of the parts of the game Grant loves is interacting with the other competitors. He says it’s key to be friendly with one another especially in a sport where having a positive mental space makes such a difference while shooting.
“”You can have the skill down of aiming and shooting you can have that down that just think about the target don’t think about you know, any noises going on in the in the you know, the gym at that time. Just literally just focus on that target.”
Grant’s vast improvement in just a two year span attests to his work ethic and determination to absorb everything he can from coach Martin, and as May 9th approaches, the opportunity to not only contend with the best shooters in the country, but also explore a new place, excites the Gillingham senior.
“It’s gonna be a very, very competitive space but the trip in and of itself is going to be super fun. You know, I get to hang out with my family and get to hang out with my coach. And apparently, Kentucky has some pretty good food. So you know, got to try out the cuisine.”
“He learned from his mistakes and then he dialed in a lot. When he found his mark, he kept it there. And even when he slipped up a little bit he went back to that mark so he definitely throughout the year from day one till now, he literally improved every day.”
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