Meet Abby Gordon! JOAD Archer and MetroWest YMCA Member!

Jan 06, 2023

When Abby Gordon started summer camp at the MetroWest YMCA at age four, little did she know she would find a passion that would take her far in life…

When she turned seven, Abby was able to try archery at the Hopkinton Day Camp – and she loved it!  In fact, she loved it so much that she started taking archery classes during the fall program session and throughout the year with her favorite instructor, Preston.  She was a natural!

By the time she was 11, Abby realized she wanted to get serious about archery and elevate her game.  She began training with the BayState Archers Training Center.  After only a year, she started going to competitions.  Her first tournament was at the Indoor Junior Olympic Arhery Development (JOAD) Nationals.  She came in last place, but it was her personal best at the time.  She was not deterred.  She was ecstatic!  Abby thought, “I did my best.  They were better than me.  I’ll be better than them next year.”

Today, Abby is one of the top-ranked archers in her division in JOAD in Massachusetts and is a Level 2 Certified Archery coach.  Abby was scheduled to go to the 2022 Maccabiah Games (the third largest sporting event in the world by number of competitors after the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup), but Archery was cancelled that year.  However Abby was able to participate at the Outdoor JOAD nationals in Alabama.

While now attending the Columbia College in Chicago, Abby occasionally returns to the MetroWest YMCA to teach archery.  It is meaningful for her to give back to a community that supported her growth over the years.  She says, “The MetroWest YMCA game me a place to spend my summers and explore things that I wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise.  The introduction to archery is something I credit with most of the good things that have happened in my life.”

You can cheer on Abby Gordon at her website:  https://abigailmargaret.com and check out our archery program and all of the activities offered at our award-winning summer camps on our website.