The sport of archery, as implemented by the National Archery in the Schools Program, has a positive and lasting impact on many lives. The sport offers students opportunities to participate in organized individual and team activities, for those that may not have other options due to physical or other limitations. This is what makes the sport and NASP® so important.
This is no more evident than in the case of Cedar Grove Elementary 5th grade archer Peyten Sizemore of Shepherdsville, KY. Peyten has chronic pancreatitis which is a rare and often deadly disease in children. Peyten was diagnosed as a young girl and the outlook was not positive that she would even go to school, let alone flourish. While she still suffers from severe pain and has spent time in hospital to manage the condition and receive life saving treatment, she has continued to fight on and beat the odds now as a 5th grader.
Peyten came to the Cedar Grove Archery program last year as a 4th grader. Her infectious smile, warm laugh and positive outlook despite her own pain has been an inspiration to her coaches, teammates, and the large archery family within Cedar Grove and Bullitt County. Her love of archery has inspired her to push on despite having to miss practice and tournaments with pain and for treatment. Archery has given her a positive outlet and she continues to fight to do what she loves.
When Peyten faced a particularly challenging surgery last Spring, her team and archery family rallied around her with custom team and family shirts in her honor. At a tournament that Cedar Grove hosted the shirts proudly displayed support for Peyten and her family. Despite having an invasive procedure on a Thursday, Peyten’s love of archery and desire to participate led her to recover in record time and make it to a tournament on Saturday. She pushed through pain to shoot her round for the team.
Archery and NASP have had an extremely positive impact on this young warrior’s life helping her push through difficult times. Her coaches and teammates continue to support her as she starts her second season as a 5th grader!
