The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IN less than a year, multi-talented LeRon Rolle has emerged as the top Bahamian archery man in the country. And based on his rapid progress, Bahamas Archery president David Rahming said Rolle could be one of the top competitors in the region.

Rolle, a 17-year-old 2022 graduate of St John’s College where he played basketball, soccer and ran the sprints in track and field, got started in archery during the COVID-19 pandemic after he couldn’t get to participate in any other sports.

He got a chance to represent the Bahamas in competition in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Belize and on each trip, he noted that he was able to improve on his scores.

“My biggest achievement came in Chile where I got my best score,” Rolle said. “The highest score you can get is a 720. In the Dominican Republic, I scored 516, then in Chile I did 670, so that was my biggest achievement so far.”

Next week, Rolle is expected to head back to the Dominican Republic where he will spend about a week training with one of the archery competitors he met on his initial trip.

During his first trip to the Dominican Republic, Rolle was matched against the competitor from the Dominican Republic, who was ranked at number 10 in the world and was eventually declared the winner of the tournament.

He said he gained a lot of experience from competing against him.

Looking back at his performances, Rolle said every time he competes, he improves his scores, so he’s pleased with the way he’s progressing.

As the no.1 competitor in the country, Rolle is also listed at the top in the English-speaking Caribbean and is pegged at 181 in the world.

“I don’t like to pay attention to the ranking that much because it changes so quickly,” he said. “People are shooting every day and so the scores change, so you can maintain a rnaking as well as it could drop.

“I know everytime I go out to shoot, my rankings go up. So, I’m very pleased with my progress.”

Rolle said his goal this year is to be able to obtain sufficient sponsorship that will enable him to compete in more tournaments on the international scene.

He also has his sights set on representing the Bahamas at the Central American and Caribbean Games from June 23 to July 8 in San Salvador, El Salvador and hopefully coming out with a medal.

He would then like to compete at the Pan American Games from October 20 to November 5 in Santiago, Chile and ultimately the Olympic Games in Paris, France, in 2024.

Rahming said he’s excited sbout Rolle’s progress in such a short space of time because he has put in a lot of work and he’s applied himself, while performing at a high standard whenever he gets to travel.

“We think that he’s going to enter the top echelon of archery in the region sometime this year,” Rahming said. “He’s shown that improvement so far. He started his first competition in March, and he shot 400 points out of 720. Then in September in the Dominican Republic, he shot 500 out of 720 and in November, in his third tournament, he shot 670 points.

“Bear in mind, he’s shooting against the best archers in the region, who would have had at least 10 years experience. He just needs to shoot about 50 more points, and he would be right up there with them.”

Normally it would take a competitor at least a year to produce the numbers that Rolle has posted, but Rahming said they are extremely pleased to see him doing it a lot faster. The plan this year, according to Rahming, is to send Rolle on a six-member national team to the Dominican Republic in April to qualify for the Pan American Games.

He said there’s also a competitor, who is in England, who they hope will also be making the trip.

“He’s already qualified for the Central American Games, and he’s not confirmed to be the archer that we send, but he’s definitely the leading archer at this point. So, if he continues shooting the way he’s shooting, he will definitely be the man we send.”

As a self-trained competitor, Rolle practices every day and he spends a lot of time on YouTube picking up pointers how to improve his game. He thanked God, his mother Rolle, who has been there every step of the way in his journey as well as Rahming for his assistance in getting him to travel to the various tournaments.

In track and field, Rolle competed in the 100 and 200m, did every position on the soccer pit and on the basketball court he was a shooting guard. But Rolle said there’s no better gratification that he gets than competing in archery.

His proud mother said her main goal is to support her son in every aspect of the way.

“LeRon started competing in archery a year ago during the pandemic,” said Rolle, who has joined her son in participating in the sport as well.

“I was familiar with the sport, having played Robin Hood as a child. So, when he said he wanted to try it, I told him let’s go for it and ever since he’s been hooked, and he’s gotten better and better.”

Since he got started and every time he travels, she said her son has been getting assistance from a lot of the other competitors from the different countries like Trinidad & Tobago, Santo Domingo, Puerto Rico and Argentina.

“They recognised his talent and they have been pushing him along during the competition,” she reflected. “He’s looking forward to going back to the Dominican Republic for some training with one of the competitors there.

“He’s also gotten a lot of encouragement from the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg and also the president of the Archery Federation, David Rahming. He’s the son who introduced him to the compound shooting. “In order to get where he wants to be, he needs to get to travel more to compete. He’s doing very well, but he just needs to travel to get more exposure,” she noted.

Rolle is also a musician who plays the trumpet and was involved in the Bahamas Musician Academy and is now a member of the Bahamas Youth Orchestra and plays in his church band at the Church of the Most Highly Trinity Anglican Church in Stapleton Gardens.

He has also started the Trinity Flames Archery Club at his church and he’s also trying to form a club at his alma mater - St John’s College. Interested persons can contact Rolle at trinityflamesarchery@ gmail.com for further information. When he’s not engaged in any of the above, Rolle is on the campus at the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute where he’s studying networking in cyber security with the view of one day being an astronaut.