15-year-old archer from P.E.I. aiming for Canada Games medal

He's only 15 years old, but Keegan Crawford is already a veteran on P.E.I.'s Canada Games archery team.

Crawford started shooting arrows when he was six, and was only 11 when he competed in the 2019 Canada Games in Red Deer, Alta.

Now he'll be aiming for medal in his home province when the archery competition gets underway this week.

"I feel like it's kind of that same old thing, home-turf advantage, home-team advantage," he said. 

"I've shot with a lot of the athletes that I'm going to be shooting with here, so I know them and I might have even a little bit of an advantage against them, just kind of neat to be at your own range."

A lot has changed in the four years since the last Canada Winter Games. Not only has the sport grown — there are about 250 active members on P.E.I.  — but Keegan has grown, and not just in size.

"In terms of physical growth, he's twice as big," said his father, Duncan Crawford, who is president of the P.E.I. Archery Association. "Competitive and social, huge gains as well."

Duncan Crawford said Keegan was on the Pan Am Youth team this year and finished fourth internationally.

Keegan is trying out for the World Youth Championships in Ireland this year.

But this week, he's setting his sights on a medal at the Canada Games.

P.E.I. won silver in 2019

Keegan's teammate, Kristen Arsenault, won a silver medal four years ago.

She's not on the team this year, but Duncan Crawford said the medal brought a lot of awareness to the sport on P.E.I., and hopes this year's team does the same.

"Archery is a funny thing," said Duncan Crawford. "You can show up and shoot an absolute personal best and finish in the middle of the pack and that's a huge victory. The other side of that is you could have a terrible day and win the event."

Keegan will have plenty of family support.  His mother, Karla, is the team manager and 12-year-old sister, Avery, is also a competitor.

"We're passionate promoters of the sport of archery and we all participate and compete," said Duncan Crawford. "It's part of who we are, it's part of our family fabric."

The other members of P.E.I.'s archery team are Isabella Doucette, 14, and Arden Hopkin, 15. All four team members are eligible to compete at the next Canada Games in four years.