HARDIN — Fourteen-year-old Asher Renshaw has grown quite fond of archery.
Renshaw, who lives in Hardin and is home-schooled, joined 4H and was a quick study with the bow. He’s been shooting for just three years, but he recently won the high school 3D competition at the Montana NASP (National Archery in Schools Program) state meet in Helena.
“I didn’t know I was beating everyone until the very end. I was one of the first flights so I was just trying to stay calm and keep myself composed," said Renshaw.
Renshaw notes that composure is one of the most important attributes in archery, and for a young teenager he is incredibly strong mentally.
“I read a trick from a book. It was, think of a flame and then put all of your emotions into that flame until your mind is blank," Renshaw said. "That’s really helped me. All the practice I did, it was all really engraved in me so I didn’t have to think too much.”
“We do spend a good bit of time on mindfulness. … One of the biggest things is that he is coachable," Hardin archery club instructor Tim Kaldahl said. "Both Asher and his little sister, I can see them – he does that follow through and his eyes close and he’s going through that shot process again.”
Renshaw isn’t just a one-trick pony, though. Sure, he’s become quite the archer, which he says he practices in shorter increments as a break from school, but he’s also quite the swimmer. So how does he find time for all his activities?
“It's really nice being home-schooled because you can get up whenever you want and start doing school, and that really helps," Renshaw said. "In swim season I wake up, do school, go to swim and then do whatever I have at night, which is usually some sort of youth group or something."
Renshaw says he’ll continue with archery and will entertain competing in college should that opportunity arise down the road.
