When the COVID-19 pandemic caused the world to shut down in 2020, a lot of people found time to pick up a new hobby.
Sara Gebhardt of Phoenix was one of them. She picked up a bow and arrow.
Starting the sport in October 2020, Gebhardt began training at the Papago Archery Association under coach Kevin Ikegami, a veteran to the sport with more than 25 years of experience in archery.
Gebhardt saw it as a way to have fun and stay active while raising two young children. But she caught on quick.
Now, after less than two years of training, Gebhardt has already made an impact on the world stage.
She took on archery veteran Fawn Girard at the US Open, held last month in Pennsylvania by USA Archery, coming back from a 4-0 deficit to win gold in a shootout.
“The US Open was only my second tournament,” Gebhardt said. “I first competed in one called the SoCal Showdown, which took place in the San Diego area. That was my first taste of real competition and that’s when I really got hooked on archery. I took second place in that competition and as soon as I was done, I signed up for nationals.”
Ikegami said he could never have predicted Gebhardt would advance so much in the sport in such a short time.
“I don’t think anyone including her or I could have predicted that she would go to her first national championships and our only our second ever tournament and end up winning it,” Ikegami said. “The woman she was going against (Fawn Girard) has been in this for you know, decades and has multiple national championships and is an icon in the sport. Then Sarah comes out of nowhere, no one knows her name, it was a very Cinderella match.”
Barebow Pirate: How Gebhardt competes
Gebhardt however, is different from other archers as she competes in bare bow archery. Olympic archer’s typically compete in Olympic recurve, in which the bows have a few additional pieces.
“First, they have a sight, which helps people aim because you can look through the site to see the target. That’s the big one. There are a few pieces on there just to help stabilize the boat. And there’s something called the clicker. So your draw length is always consistent. You draw until the clicker goes and that’s when you release so that’s the Olympic recurve,” Gebhardt said.
In her case, the bow does not have the additional pieces, and she is not allowed to use any aid that may help in stabilization and aiming. Gebhardt said barebow archery is the fastest-growing form of archery in the United States and is growing in popularity throughout Arizona.
Gebhardt wears an eye patch while competing, which her earned the nickname “Barebow Pirate.”
“When you’re shooting up on and you’re standing on the line, you need to close one eye,” Gebhardt said. “For most people that is not a problem, they just wink. The funny thing is, I thought I was winking my whole life whenever I would see a cute kid or a little baby, I would wink at them. It turns out I was just scratching my face and looking a little unusual.
“So, when I got out to the archery range, my coach pointed out that I can’t wink and because I can’t wink I have to wear an eyepatch over my left eye, and that’s where people would joke that I look like a pirate.”
Arizona attractive for sport of archey
Ikegami said from what he’s observed in the Phoenix area archery is growing.
“So I think it’s kind of the same phenomenon that a lot of other sports and interest use were experiencing,” Idegami said. “It’s just everyone got locked down and cooped up and then had to go out and get out and spend their money get to have some kind of outdoor activity to do. So hunting blew up. From our club, competitive archery blew up.”
Arizona has always been a leader in archery, Gebhardt said, with the ability to shoot outside year-round a draw. Arizona also brings name recognition with Olympian Brady Ellison hailing from the state.
Although Gebhardt cannot compete in the Olympics because barebow archery isn’t offered, she was invited to attend the World Games with Team USA and hopes to continue to compete and travel internationally.
“I’m really new to the sport,” Gebhardt said. “I have only been shooting since October 2020, and I hope that next year I can start going international and compete.”
Gebhardt hopes her daughter will follow one day in her footsteps and learn archery as well.
“I’m sure you hear people say being mom is a full time job. But then when you we added quarantine, on top of that, it was totally all consuming and after about seven months of lockdown, I realized that I needed to carve out at least an hour a week just to get outside and to do something active and something that I could love just for myself,” Gebhardt said.
“I had my first private lesson, within 10 minutes, I had a bow in my hand, and I was hitting the target. I wasn’t hitting the center or bull’s eye, but I was hitting the target. So, it was a perfect pandemic activity. It was outside it was socially distanced and it was five minutes from my house.”
Comments are closed.