In many ways, Casey Kaufhold is a typical teenager. She wants to look nice and be in fashion, especially when it comes to her fingernails.
However, get her on the archery range, and it's a whole other story for the 13-year-old Conestoga Valley Middle School student.
In her element, Kaufhold is a tenacious competitor — one with big goals, too. Even at such a young age, she has already won big competitions, including a national championship in 2016.
The daughter of Lancaster Archery Supply president Rob Kaufhold and company CEO Carole Kaufhold, she is not one to mess with.
"Casey is a beast. She is very strong," Rob Kaufhold said. "We are very excited to see where Casey goes with this. She remains driven."
While she has set her sights on another national title in August, Casey Kaufhold is looking ahead to even bigger things, including international competition, and hopes to eventually make the U.S. Olympic Team.
"This year I am shooting 13- to 17-year-old range,” she said. “I'll be the youngest of the group, but will shoot up a division that will make the U.S. Archery team. I believe I will be the youngest to ever make it. After last year at Outdoor Nationals, that is what I have been striving for."
This is not just a young person talking big, either. According to her father, the only woman to score better than Casey at the recent indoor championships was current Olympian Mackenzie Brown.
Casey will also try out for the team that is slated to travel to Argentina for the Junior (20-and-under) World Championships in July.
Obviously, with parents in the business, archery is in Casey's blood. However, the Kaufholds always wanted the sport to be fun for her and older brother, Conner, who finished third nationally in his age group.
The siblings learned young — Rob made each a bow out of PVC pipe when they were just old enough to walk — not for greatness, but for the enjoyment.
"Our goal as parents has always been to raise them to love the sport," Rob Kaufhold said. "Just to get the kids to fall in love with the flight of the arrow. The mystical flight of an arrow is inspirational. We never saw either of our kids taking it this far."
"Watching the Olympians do it, made me want to do it," Casey said. "That inspired me and made me start to work really hard at it. I got serious about it around 11, the first time ever placed in outdoor nationals, and that gave me a boost of confidence knowing I could do it."
Even with all the physical tools, strength, concentration and precise reflexes, Casey is working to improve, training six days a week, shooting up to 200 arrows a day.
"I have learned a lot more new things, so this year will go even better," she said. "Most of it is mental more than physical. If you are in an elimination match, you have to put that mindset that you can do it. Once you get the form and skills down, it's the mental aspect that adds to it."
Rob Kaufhold said his daughter has always been a competitor, whether shooting arrows for target or hunting, especially with her brother. Casey is also an accomplished gymnast, and while the sports may not seem to have any similarities, that training has helped on the range.
"Competitive archery is a lot like skating or gymnastics; mentally it has a lot of parallels to golf," Rob Kaufhold said. "The technique, the mental concentration and discipline is huge."
As her straight-A report cards demonstrate, Casey Kaufhold has plenty of discipline — and talent.
