Greenleaf Games

On Saturday August 19th, Greenleaf Archery held its first tournament! The Greenleaf Games was a 15 end, 45 arrow tournament with a mini game at the end. Both compound and recurve archers competed in the Greenleaf Games with respected handicaps for each style. At the end, the compound archers competed against each other in a best of three in a “closest to the center” competition at 20 meters on a 40 centimeter target. The recurve participated in the same event but on a 80 centimeter target.

The official winner for the all around tournament was Olympic recurve competitor Clara Sorensen with a 407 out of 450 possible points. She had an amazing outing where she averaged 27 out of 30 points per end. Clara has been shooting Olympic Recurve for 6 years and has recently become a Level 2 Certified Coach. Clara Commented, "I really enjoyed the relaxed, easy atmosphere of the tournament! It was a lot of fun to get to spend some time practicing shooting outdoors with a competitive but friendly group.”

(Clara Sorensen Left, Rebecca Arleth Right)

The winner of the recurve shoot off was Shelby Begley. Shelby won with 2 points to Clara’s 1 point in ” the closest to the center” mini round by pinwheeling her last arrow. She has been shooting since she was very young and has practiced with compound and recurve bows. Her overall showing at the tournament was a personal best! Following the tournament when asked for a quote she said, ” The quote that I have in my room is ‘An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backwards. So when life is dragging you back with difficulties, it means that it’s going to launch you into something great. So just focus, and keep aiming.'” This was the first tournament that Shelby and her mom, Barbara Begley, got to compete with each other. They both did an amazing job, and it was a so much fun to watch this mother and daughter duo shoot together.

(Shelby Begley left, Barbara Begley right)

The winner for the compound shoot off was Caleb Arleth. He won with 2 points to Barbara Begley’s 1 point in ” the closest to the center” mini round. Barbara and Caleb had an amazing match where anybody could have taken it. Both archers shot so well that one end it was a tie for the exact distance to the center of the target. After the tournament he commented, ” After I had a sight malfunction which caused me to miss the target, I thought to my self ‘Come Back City’. Then another thought occurred to me, ‘it only takes one swing of the bat to change the world’ (Tyler Tony). In the end I am just thanking God that I won something #itonlytakesone.”