Archery for me began at an early age. I was introduced to it from my uncle for the sole purpose of harvesting whitetail deer. I continually practiced archery with my father at a local archery club in Illinois called Fox Valley Archers. The first animal targets I remember are the ones the people from our club would make on annual bases for everyone to practice on. They were much more primitive than what we have now with foam 3D targets.  

During my junior and senior year in high school I didn’t spend much time behind my bow because of my pursuit for a college football scholarship. It wasn’t until after my first season in college that I traded the football for the bow and arrow set on a competitive level.  I remember going to my first competition in Spring Grove Illinois. It was an experience I have never forgotten. The targets had become much more advanced and the distances were about twice as far as I remembered shooting only 3-4 years earlier. Needless to say I only made it about half way through that course before running out of arrows. I had never felt so defeated! Here was an athlete that had excelled at everything he had tried but yet was absolutely terrible at competitive 3D archery. I left that tournament and went on to Gander Mountain to buy another dozen arrows and I went back to the shoot and finished up.  

The next day I headed straight to a local archery shop that had an indoor 3D range, as well as, some of the best local archers. I spent a lot of time there and was eye ball deep in archery. My next move was over to another local shop that had one of the best technically minded archery managers around. His name was Mike Donovan and the shop was GAT Guns. He eventually took me under his wing and started teaching me the mechanics to a bow.  

Within a years time of starting college I realized that archery was more important to me than school. I left college to go work for an archery shop for about $4.50 an hour. My job was to come in and do warranty repairs, new bow set ups and arrow building. During this time I shot for hour’s everyday. I would consider myself an average to slightly above average shooter but nothing more than that. I lacked consistency at this point in my career. I was shooting multiple tournaments per weekend and was winning most of them.  

My first major tournament was an IBO shoot in Indiana. I remember my score of 360. The following year I competed at all the IBO Triple Crowns and the World Championships. My shooting was improving some but I wasn’t satisfied and decided to take some archery lesson from a well known coach. It was there where I met one of the legends in 3D archery Randy Chappell.  

Randy had just come off a season of shooting the first ever perfect 400 IBO score. He was also there to seek some coaching. Within a few months we were very close friends and I decided to take up Randy’s offer to come out to Virginia and train with him. Randy and his brother Sonny single handedly raised my game at least 30 points. That year I shot semi pro and posted some of my first good scores. Still to this day I look back and think that if I hadn’t have met Randy and Sonny there is no way I would have come this far. That is why I realize the importance of a peer to respect the younger shooters and relay on the knowledge I have learned. 

My form was descent but had one major flaw. I had a serious case of target panic. During pressure situations I just couldn’t keep from punching the trigger. Luckily, a doctor came to the rescue. Dr. Randy Ulmer introduced me to a Carter back tension release. It took some time but with the right coaching I made it through and the end result has taken my shooting to a whole new level. I remember going to my first tournament in Virginia with strong form and no sign of target panic. I shot a 30 target 3D tournament with the Chappell Brothers. I shot a 348! I had only missed six 12 rings out of 30 targets. It was at that point the Chappell’s convinced me to turn pro.  

I went out looking for sponsors and sent a resume into Mathews Solocam. They were the fastest growing company in the industry and I had shot the new Conquest better than any bow I had put in my hands. Luckily for me Mathews was making some additions to their Pro Staff and were interested in picking up some Rookie hopefuls to defend their Rookie of the Year Title.  

I only lived about 3 hours from the Mathews factory and made frequent visits there to build new bows and fine tune my equipment. I had a good relationship with several people that worked there and would usually go to lunch with Joel Maxfield and Matt McPherson. At that time I was starting my own archery shop, raising whitetail deer and shooting my bow.  

It was in January of 1998 that I remember getting a call from Matt offering me a position as a factory sales rep. I had a few reservations about the decision but eventually decided to move to Sparta Wisconsin and give it my best. I was trying to adjust to a new town, new home and a new job all while heading into my first season as a Pro. In the middle of all of this I got a call from Lealonie at 3D Times Magazine to ask if I would be interested in writing a column for the magazine called Rookie on Tour. I felt that there was plenty to write about so I added that amongst my long list of things to do for my rookie year.  

My first tournament was in Abilene TX. It was the NABH Tour. I had set several personal goals that year. It was a great year and a springboard to my career. That year I had won 2 National Titles and the Rookie of the Year. There are many accomplishments and many good friends that have happened since then.  

Mathews Solocam has grown like a fire in the wind and it has consumed the majority of my time. But the in midst of that fire I had found a job that I truly love. I couldn’t ask to work with better people and feel blessed to have such good examples around me on a day to day basis. I know that several years ago I had grown tired of traveling to the same places, shooting the same courses and witnessing the constant decline in prize purses with 3D archery. I was content with what I had done with my career and decided to focus my time in some other areas of my life. I put down my bow for over a year of competitive shooting. However, In 2002 I got a call from Jeff Hopkins and said he was considering shooting the IBO Triple Crown. I told him he was foolish not to ad the Triple Crown to his schedule and he agreed that he would do them all on one condition. He wanted to win the National Triple Crown Team event as well. He told me that he wanted me to shoot alongside him, Colin Boothe and Michael Anderson.How could I turn that down. We went onto win that title and after that year I was yet again bored with 3D arhcery.

I enjoy 3D and find the game challenging. But for me the frustration came from reduced prize monies and the fact that in my opinion 3D doesn’t truly judge the archers ability to shoot the bow. At least the scores don’t reflect that. I could go on a course and make 40 perfect shots but if my ranging was off some in like 20^th place. Then other days I could make terrible shots all day and still luckily hit the 12 ring. I just personally felt that how I could shoot was much more impressive than my 3D scores were showing.  

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I decided to try shooting some target archery. It was mainly because a few people had doubted my talents and I looked at it as a challenge to prove what I knew I could do with a bow. I started shooting target archery to prove something but in the process I have found several things that I really enjoy. Target archery is a way for me to really see how I am shooting. Paper doesn’t lie. The arrow is either in or out. You know the distance and the target. You just stand the line and make your shots. You score the arrows where they land. There wasn’t much money in Target Archery when I first started it so the politics with arrow calling wasn’t existent. It was just a way for me personally to see where I stood with my personal talents and a bow and arrow. I have met some great people in target archery and really feel hungry again to see where this new road will go. Work continues to consume the majority of my time but I always make time to shoot some arrows. Never the less, it is always exciting and I will keep you informed on how things are going.