Less than two years ago, Bailey Mason had not shot a bow and arrow. Now she is one of the top elementary-school-age shooters in the country.
Bailey, 11, recently completed her fifth-grade year at Pine Forrest Elementary School — her second at the Maumelle school. After joining the archery team at her new school, she’s progressed to the point of finishing fourth in the recent national archery competition in Louisville, Kentucky, and will compete in the National Archery in Schools Program world championships July 21 and 22 in Orlando, Florida.
“I came here in fourth grade. … At my old school, we didn’t have any kind of cool before- or after-school activities,” Bailey said. “I just wanted to explore
different things. This looked fun. It is a sport where I can actually breathe and not lose my breath.”
Bailey previously attended Tolleson Elementary School in Jacksonville.
Tonya Raborn, physical education teacher and archery coach at Pine Forrest, said all her fourth- and fifth-grade students participate in archery in their PE classes.
“I talk to them all, and we have a tryout for the team,” Raborn said. “It’s not a club. [Bailey] came up to me and said she might want to do this. I told her that I thought she should.”
When Bailey tried out for the team, she scored 92 out of a possible 300 points. That includes 15 arrows shot from the 10-meter point and 15 arrows shot from 15 meters.
“I had no idea at that point in time because I really didn’t know her yet, the monster that she is in a good way,” Raborn said. “She has a work ethic beyond any fourth- or fifth-grader that I have ever seen. When she puts her mind to it, she can do it.”
At the beginning of the 2016-17 school year, Bailey scored 277 on her tryout.
“It was a year of experience for her,” Raborn said of Bailey, “but we practice two days a week before school. That is me helping them. The rest of that was her on her own, in the backyard, in her house — wherever it needed to be done.”
Raborn said Bailey is “very coachable.”
“I can tell her something, and she will analyze it and fix it,” Raborn said. “She doesn’t try to make an excuse like a lot of kids do.”
Pine Forrest competed in the regional tournament at Pulaski Robinson High School. The team won the competition, which qualified it for the state tournament, which took place in March at Bank of the Ozarks Arena in Hot Springs.
Bailey scored 268 in the elementary girls division, which was good enough for second place. She finished two points behind Reese Birkhead of Sulphur Rock.
At the national competition, Bailey scored 287, which was the second-highest score but ranked fourth out of 1,906 competitors because of the number of bull’s-eyes that were hit. She was also 11th out of all elementary school students.
Bailey said she hopes to do well at the world competition.
“I want to be in the top 5,” she said. “Just being in the top 5 in my division would be good for me because it’s the world. It’s not like the state, where I want to be first. The competition is harder.”
Bailey, who is the daughter of Sandra Mason, is involved in other activities outside of archery. She was a member of the Student Council and is a dancer. She also plans to play volleyball this summer. However, she loves archery.
“Whenever I get asked what I want to be when I grow up, it’s either a lawyer or an archer,” Bailey said.
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.