Archer sets sights on Junior Olympic team

Haley Petersheim, 14, got her first taste of archery as a 10-year-old Girl Scout. Her parents thought she was too young to practice archery at the time, but two years later she was allowed to join the Paseo Vista Archery Club.

“I started out taking archery lessons on Saturday mornings at an archery shop in Chandler,” Haley said. “I was instantly hooked.”

After only a few months of practice, Petersheim competed in the Hearn Copper Classic and took first place for her division. She has competed in seven tournaments since, finishing as high as second.

She hopes to join the 24-archer Olympic Junior Dream Team. The Junior Dream Team consists of the country’s most promising Olympic-style archers. They travel to Chula Vista, California four times a year for training camp and stay connected on the Internet between sessions.

Having already competed against Olympic archers in the Arizona Cup international tournament, Petersheim is inspired to try even harder. While at the tournament she met two of her role models, Jeremiah Cusick and Khatuna Lorig, who also trained Jennifer Lawrence in “The Hunger Games.”

“I would love to have a chance at the Junior Dream Team,” she said. “It would not only be an honor, it would provide me with so many more opportunities to improve my skills in this sport.”

In order to qualify for a chance at the Junior Dream Team athletes must compete in a number of tournaments around the country and shoot a minimum qualifying score, 600 for the female cub division, at a registered Star FITA event. Unfortunately, this adds travel expenses to the already costly sport, which is creating more obstacles, said her stepmother, Suzanne Petersheim.

To combat the travel costs Petersheim started an online donation page for her stepdaughter. Her coach and teammates have agreed to help Haley host an archery class in Maricopa to teach kids interested in the sport and raise money for her cause. Details of the class haven’t been finalized, but Haley hopes it will help children in Maricopa discover the joys of archery.

***ADVERTISEMENT***“Archery is important to me because I find it fun, I’ve made new friends and it’s calming,” she said. “I compete against other individuals, but I also compete against myself.”