Hitting The Target

Quick. Who’s your favorite archer? Robin Hood, Rambo, Legolas from Lord of the Rings, or your server at Medieval Times? If you’re a cinephile, those are probably the first names that come to mind when you think of archery. But that’s only if you don’t know Clark Rendleman, a rising eighth grader at Thoreau Middle School in Vienna, and archer extraordinaire who wields his 20 pound bow more deftly than Mel Gibson did in Braveheart. Of course, it should be noted that Rendleman fires arrows at targets rather than marauding English noblemen, but that doesn’t make his talent any less compelling.

Some kids get into little league baseball, others get hooked on soccer. How did Clark get hooked on archery?

“I just like, probably got interested in it from seeing movies, like Lord of the Rings, and from playing video games, and stuff and I just wanted to try it myself,” he said. 

Rendleman’s dad, Charles, found the young lad a three day archery camp at the Bull Run Shooting Center in Centreville run by Ruth Rowe, a former Olympian and international champion who represented the U.S. in eight World Championships, two Pan American Games and the 1984 Olympic Games.

“He got hooked on it right away, and my wife started taking him to private lessons, and she did it for awhile too,” said Charles Rendleman, a stay-at-home dad who is refurbishing the family home. “But then I started having to take him to the lessons, because of my wife’s work constraints, and before I knew it, I started taking lessons too.”

So the son hooked the father and now they both travel around the region to compete in archery tournaments. Clark has won numerous tournaments at Bull Run, and took first place in Mid-Atlantic Indoor Tournament in Reading, Pa. in October 2010, and third at Mid-Atlantic JOAD Tournament in November 2010. He also finished in the top third at a national event in Harrisonburg, and is now part of the Junior Olympic Archery Program, while his dad regularly finishes in the top half of competitions around the region, and has even begun to teach an introductory archery class himself. The youngest Rendleman, William, just 10, just took up the sport himself, and is already firing bulls-eyes with alarming regularity.

“It is a pretty fantastic way to bond with your sons,” Charles Rendleman said.  “We get to shoot adjacent to our kids, so it’s a really positive, personal sport. It’s competitive, but it’s also centered around personal development.”

Men have been shooting arrows from bows since at least 10,000 B.C. For most of history, the targets were animals or warring tribes, but these days, archers shoot at targets and not each other.

“It’s a very safe sport,” Charles said. “The most dangerous part is pulling the arrow out of the target- you’re much more likely to get hurt there, than getting shot with an arrow.”

Lessons cost about $40 for a one hour private lesson, but bow and arrow sets are relatively pricey. Charles Rendleman’s kit cost $650. But it’s a lifetime sport that one can enjoy at any age. Some colleges in the region, like James Madison, offer it as a club sport, but Clark Rendleman has loftier goals in mind.

“I want to compete in the Olympics,” he said. “I’m going to be doing this for most of my life.”