CHESTERFIELD — Dewey Hathaway first picked up a bow and arrow when he was 5 years old. Now, barely 10 years on, he’s going to the World Archery Youth Championships in Limerick, Ireland, as a member of the United States under-18 team.
“It’s one of those breakout moments in his career,” mom Rachael Hathaway said.
Dewey, who turned 16 in March, remembers catching the archery bug at a family gathering.
“There was little me, watching my uncles shoot outside at Thanksgiving,” he said.
It wasn’t long before Dewey was competing locally, his mom said, taking part in his first state competition at age 8, and in his first national shoot at 11.
Dewey was competitive from the get-go, said his coach, Roxanne Ryea of Hall’s Arrow in Manchester, Connecticut.
“He has always wanted to be the best, from a young age,” she said. “It was always his goal to beat the older kids.”
Ryea, who has worked with Dewey for six years, said more than anything it takes a special mindset, a tough mental game, to be a great archer.
“Many kids are physically capable and talented,” she said. “There are not many like Dewey who excel under pressure. There’s this elite few who have that ability.”
Archery competitions consist of a qualifying round of 12 “ends” or sets of six arrows each, Dewey explained. Usually 32 archers will make the cut to compete in the elimination rounds, which consist of five ends of three arrows each. He shoots a compound bow, for which the target is 50 meters away.
While higher-end equipment is expensive, the financial barriers to getting started in archery are not high, and Dewey sees the sport growing in popularity.
“There’s more to archery than most people would think,” he said. “I meet new people every time.”
A student at Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School in Northampton where he plays on the varsity football team and is studying to be an electrician, Dewey just got back from the World Youth Team Trials in Arizona. He qualified for the world championship team by finishing in the top eight in the qualifying round, then finishing in the top three in the round robin matches.
USA Archery is taking 24 archers in all, Rachael Hathaway said — three boys and three girls under 18, and the same number in the 18-21 age group for each discipline, compound and recurve. The tournament, running from July 1-9, will feature approximately 60 countries.
There’s the opportunity to win three medals, she noted — in individual competition, in three-member team competition against other boys, and in two-member mixed team competition.
But the young U.S. archers have to pay their own expenses, so the family is seeking help from the community with a GoFundMe. As of Wednesday, the page had raised $1,645 of its $5,000 goal.
“It’s quite a large expense,” Dewey said, citing registration, uniforms, lodging, transportation, and meals — not to mention extra jerseys. “We heard there’s a lot of trading of jerseys among youth archers.”
His mom said she hopes to travel with him — dad Matt Hathaway works on all the equipment and likes to be behind the scenes, she said — and praised her son’s dedication.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to make his dreams come true,” she said. “He deserves it. We’re gonna take him one way or the other.”