by Maggie Fitzgibbon
Lauren Goodrich at the National Shoot March 2013.Hilton native Lauren Goodrich is a two-time winner of the National Field Archery Association’s Indoor National Championship. The path to these national titles all began when she joined a six-week recreation league when she was only nine years old.
“I heard about an archery league through the town recreation program and wanted to try it. At first, I didn’t do so well but I wanted to do better, so I kept practicing,” Lauren explained.
After this league ended, Lauren knew she wanted to pursue this sport and asked her parents if she could take archery lessons. And so began her weekly practice at a local archery range, participation in a youth league and weekly competitive shoots all throughout western New York. She advanced rapidly in area age-based competitions, and as her skills progressed, so did her competition level.
“I like competing, I get to meet new people, but the best part of competing is the advice and encouragement I get from other competitors,” Lauren said.
Competing is something that Lauren does well, she’s a two-time champion. In 2012 and 2013, she won the National Field Archery Association Indoor Championship for her age group. This year, the competition was held in March in Louisville, Kentucky.
Lauren is humble about winning these awards, but said, “Winning makes me happy and it is fun to go on these adventures.”
Like any parent would be, Lauren’s mom and dad are proud of her accomplishments. Her mom, Patrice Goodrich, has seen how Lauren has matured over the last three years.
“Lauren’s confidence has grown greatly over the last few years. During a recent competition she became ill but insisted in finishing the competition. She acted with great integrity and sportsmanship,” Patrice said.
Ben Adams is the owner of Creekwood Archery in Brockport, the range where Lauren practices archery. Adams describes Lauren as attentive and on task.
“Lauren is focused on what she needs to do and no matter what happens, she doesn’t let anything distract her,” he said. “She’s calm, confident and trusts her instincts.”
Adams noted that becoming a successful archer is more than shooting with a bow and arrow.
“It’s more than shooting, it takes discipline. You need to put your problems and distractions away. And that’s just what Lauren does, she has a goal and a purpose, something you don’t see very often in a 12-year-old,” Adams said.
Steve VanZile is a staff shooter with Precision Shooting Equipment, a national company that manufactures and distributes archery products. He’s known Lauren for almost three years and over these few years he’s seen tremendous growth in her skills.
“Lauren is a hard worker, and a strong competitor. But what makes her different is her attitude. During a recent competition, a fellow competitor kept missing the target and Lauren could have easily ignored this girl but she approached this girl, consoled her and encouraged her to do her best. Lauren has the mentality of a champion,” VanZile explained.
The Team USA website, www.teamusa.org, notes a rise in the popularity of archery and attributes this rise in participation due to the Olympics but also the success of some recent Hollywood movies. Lauren’s Dad, John Goodrich, would agree with this fact.
“We’ve seen an uptick in the number of girls becoming involved in this sport. I think it may be due to the release of two movies, “Brave,” and “The Hunger Games” and how the movies showcased girls and archery,” John said.
