Shooting for gold... and a cure

Glance quickly down the row of men’s recurve archers at an international or national archery event, and you’ll quickly notice 2008 U.S. Olympian Brady Ellison.
 
He’s the one with the bright pink bow, shooting for the cure, one event at a time.
 
That was the scene at the recent USA Archery National Target Championships held in Hamilton, Ohio. This weekend, Ellison and his bow will be in Ogden, Utah, where the United States is playing host for the first time to a World Cup event. The final is Saturday, and the action will be captured on a large video screen, and the closing ceremony will feature fireworks and new archery technology.

In addition to Ellison, the 16-member U.S. team includes five-time Olympian Butch Johnson and three-time Olympian Vic Wunderle.

But lots of eyes will be on Ellison, for more reasons than one.
 
Ellison, 21, who has been a resident athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., since 2006, will be noticed for more than his bow, which he uses to call attention to breast cancer research. He also will attract attention because he has emerged as the top recurve archer in World Cup events this year. He is ranked No. 1 entering the third leg of the World Cup.

A minor-league baseball stadium overlooking a picturesque mountain range will be a big stage for Ellison and his pink Hoyt bow, which is a fitting symbol for Ellison’s initiative to join the Susan G. Komen Foundation in the fight against breast cancer. Ellison pledged $100 for every podium finish and $1 for every X and 10 he shoots. He set up a Web site, www.bradysshootforthecure.com, so that other archers and fans can donate. Pink wristbands, which cost $5 each, are commonplace at USA Archery events.
 
The donations and sales of the wristbands have already added up to nearly $7,000, according to Julie Nichols, one of the administrators for Shoot for the Cure.
 
“I‘m amazed,” Ellison said. “It’s just so touching how many people in archery that I have known since I started shooting, [they] come up to me and thank me and then tell me the story of their mother or their sister or their other half, just having it and getting over it. I knew it affected a lot of people, but I didn’t realize I knew that many people that it had affected. It blew me away.”
 
And then, there is great-grandma Jo, who died before Ellison could know her. An ex-girlfriend’s aunt had the disease, Ellison said. So did a best friend’s aunt, whose own child had to have chemotherapy to get rid of the disease.
 
“Every little bit helps,” Ellison said.
 
In the midst of Ellison’s mission to spread the awareness of breast cancer, he has surfaced as a USA Archery star not just focusing on a World Cup title in 2010 and a berth on a second consecutive U.S. Olympic team, but he’s also talking of scoring 1400 in a competition. Specifically, at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
 
“Next time the Olympics come around, I want to be shooting at a level that no one’s ever shot at before,” Ellison said. “It’s happened a couple of times in our sport, everyone is kind of shooting on this level and there’s one guy that jumps up there and he shoots a score that no one thought was possible…
 
“I want to be the guy that steps up archery again.”
 
He is pretty close now.

Ellison won five medals in two previous World Cup events. Included in that catch were two gold medals in men’s individual recurve and mixed team recurve at the World Cup’s season-opening event in Croatia. He added two silvers and a bronze in the second stage of the World Cup. He began the season with a win at the Arizona Cup, an event that raised more than $3,300 for his Shoot for the Cure campaign.
 
“He’s breaking so many national records, which has never happened before,” said Kisik Lee, the USA Archery national head coach.
 
Although Ellison has always shot well, even breaking international records during his practice rounds, he says it is a new confidence that has sent his game to higher levels in 2010.
 
“Something clicked,” Ellison said. “I made a couple of form changes. I guess, mentally, just really started telling myself that I know I could shoot with the best of them. … If I think I can shoot the scores that they are, eventually I’m just going to do it. And that’s kind of what happened.”
 
“In this sport of archery,” Lee added, “it’s very important how you’re thinking, how you approach being in the right mindset. I think he’s talking of a lot more confidence.”
 
Denise Parker, a two-time Olympian who is now CEO of USA Archery, said the mental game can be the match decider.
 
“Absolutely,” she said. “You can see it when it comes down to the final matches and they’re head to head. They’re shooting nine to 12 arrows against somebody. You’ve got to believe in yourself. That’s gut-check, when you go, ‘Do I think I can win? Or do I not? Am I standing up there thinking about winning or am I standing up there hoping I don’t lose?’ That’s a big difference.’’
 
Ellison’s stature in the archery community has soared. When he’s done shooting at an event, he is greeted by autograph seekers as he heads back toward the spectator tents. He shakes hands with fellow archers and shares stories. He serves on an athletes’ representative committee that reports to the USA Archery board.
 
“We shoot with these guys all the time,” Ellison said. “You have a lot of great friendships in archery.”
 
In fact, it was one of those friendships that led Ellison right to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. In 2005, when Ellison was still shooting in the compound division as a junior USAT competitor, his string broke.
 
Said Ellison: “One of my friends was like, ‘Hey, here’s my backup recurve. Why don’t you shoot it?’”
 
After watching Ellison shoot recurve for a few days, he was approached by one of the team’s coaches with the message: “You really need to switch.”
 
“Why?” Ellison replied.
 
“You might be able to make an Olympic team.”
 
Less than a year later, Ellison moved to the training center in Chula Vista as a recurve shooter, an important change because there is no compound division offered in the Olympic Games, only recurve.
 
The recurve bows feature reverse curves at the ends of the bow, and as a string is pulled back, archers experience more resistance. Compound bows shoot arrows at a faster speed and usually are more accurate.
 
“The thing that I found difficult was with the compound, I was used to making a shot and it going off in the middle and hitting in the middle,” Ellison said. “With the recurve, it wasn’t exactly like that at first. I would shoot a good shot or what I felt was a good shot, and it would go off in the middle, and it wouldn’t hit there. I found that really frustrating at first.”
 
Soon, those shots were hitting in the middle. He shot a 1300 in his first year competing in the recurve. He won the U.S. Open. Then, he won the Arizona Cup. By the time the 2008 Olympic Trials came around, Ellison was a virtual lock.
 
Erika Anschutz, who has known Ellison since their days on the junior national team and still shoots only compound, shakes her head in amazement at Ellison’s successful move from compound to recurve.
 
“He’s an anomaly,” said Anschutz, who also has won gold in the World Cup this year.
 
Ellison placed 27th in the 2008 Olympic Games in recurve, and that came at a time when he was still really learning the bow. Four more years of competition should make a big difference at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Lee said.
 
Certainly, Ellison is already thinking 2012.
 
“When I go to the Games, hopefully I’m shooting a level no one has seen before,” he said. “I know that sounds real cocky, that’s what I want to do. I work hard at it, I really do.
 
“Mentally, I know I can be at a level no one’s reached yet.”

Right now, however, he’s focused on the World Cup.
 
For the first time, it’s a home game for USA Archery, and Ellison wants to be at his best.
 
“I’m shooting good, and it’s on home soil. We want to go out and win them all, but it’s just kind of like an Olympics year on our home turf, you want to really win that one,” Ellison said. “For me, it’s going to be one of my biggest tournaments this year. I’ve put a lot of effort into getting ready for this one.”
 

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc. Paul D. Bowker is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of any National Governing Bodies.

Tags: archery, Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Brady Ellison, Butch Johnson, Denise Parker