by Isai Carmona | sports editor
Freshman Aubrey Tarbox does more than play an instrument and make good grades, she picked up archery in middle school, and has been excelling in the sport since.
“I started archery in the summer of 2020, so almost two years,” Tarbox said. “At the beginning of the year I decided to join the archery club because that is just something that I like to do. Something that I wanted to help contribute to, during school.”
Tarbox picked up the sport after reading The Hunger Games trilogy at the start of the pandemic.
“After reading that I decided to go to the archery range for my birthday and try out a bow,” Tarbox said. “I really liked it so I have been doing it ever since.”
Tarbox not only loves the sport, but has also begun competing.
“I am part of Buck and Doe’s JOAD which stands for Junior Olympic Archery Development,” Tarbox said. “Every fall/winter season there is the indoor season where I compete in, and currently I am in the off-season until the outdoor season begins in April.”
JOAD coach John Smith is impressed by Tarbox’s talents on and off the playing field.
“Aubrey’s greatest strength lies in her ability to adapt to ever changing circumstances. The world is in a state of disarray, much like the sport of archery at large, Aubrey can basically adapt and overcome these changes,” Smith said. “Another notable strength is her ability to encourage the team to do their best. She has been seen as a voice of reason to archers on and off her team.”
Her family has also grown to like the sport and supports Aubrey’s choice doing what she enjoys.
“Before archery I was really into softball, like I did softball for six years alongside my brother who did baseball,” Tarbox said. “My parents were kind of disappointed that I did not want to continue softball, they definitely supported me in the transition and thought it was pretty cool that I wanted to try something new.”
After high school, Tarbox hopes to continue competing in archery while pursuing her dream of studying Science.
“I would really like to go to Texas A&M and compete on their archery team, and after that I would love to work at NASA as an astrophysicist,” Tarbox said. “I was really excited for all the new opportunities and the new freedoms I was not given in middle school. Like the opportunity to do things on my own and go places that I wanted to and just kind of have a more variety of different classes that I could take.”
