Tony Procter has a mantra when he steps to the line with his bow and arrow - point and shoot.
It's what he's told himself since he was two-years-old and eventually competed in his first tournament at the young age of four.
Fifteen years later, it's one that's served him well - all the way to competing at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in February.
Procter, a 17-year-old member with Prince George's Silvertip Archers Club, earned the lone berth in the male compound bow division at the Team B.C. trials Nov. 1-2 in Oliver.
Only four archers qualified for Team B.C. His teammate Mya Schouwenburg earned the lone berth in the female recurve category.
The archery event is on target at the 2015 Canada Games, Feb. 13-21 at the Northern Sport Centre.
Both athletes had to endure a nerve-wracking final shoot-off. For Procter, he just did what he's always done, especially with a Canada Winter Games spot on the line.
"I was nervous and excited [in the shoot-off] and it was just point and shoot, that's all it takes," he said recently at the Silvertip Archers indoor range recently. "It's been a long process and five years of getting to this event. It's [Canada Winter Games] not the biggest tournament I've competed at but it's one that's taken the most training time - six days a week, four hours a day."
Procter, who has a part-time job at Save-On Foods, is a Grade 12 student at Kelly Road secondary who's about to enroll in welding level C in the Career Technical Centre at the College of New Caledonia in February. It's a program where he'll be able to earn his first level of trades training as well as complete high school.
As one of the top-four compound archers in the province, he was one of 16 athletes invited (eight males and eight females) to the B.C.trials in Oliver. (The spots were determined based on submitted scores from athletes).
Procter and his competition shot a 600-round on the first day and based on those scores, seeding determined first to fourth.
Procter shot a round of 583 points out of 600 in the first round, one point below the Canadian cadet record of 584 held by Chris Perkins of Ontario.
Procter's score placed him first and match play followed in a format of first place vs fourth place and second place vs third place until gold and silver medallists are determined.
Out of a round of 150, he scored 145 points to advance to the championship shoot-off against his Silvertip Archer teammate Spencer Schouwenburg, who finished third in the seeding and advanced to the final with a win in the second round.
Procter shot a score of 144 points, good enough to win gold and the Team B.C. berth.
Competing in the female recurve event, 16-year-old Mya Schouwenburg was one of four in her division.
The event involved shooting two rounds of 300 followed by two shoot-offs.
She scored 252 points out of 300 - a personal best - in one of the rounds. She was then seeded second and in the first three-end semifinal elimination round, earned a maximum of six points, winning all three rounds.
In the championship final, she won three out of four rounds, beating her rival Mariessa Pinto from the Lower Mainland.
Schouwenburg won the first two rounds, Pinto the third round and the Silvertip archer won the B.C. spot in the fourth round.
"I just closed my eyes and breathed," said Schouwenburg. "I was nervous in the final round knowing there was a Canada Winter Games spot on the line
"We were both shooting well and it was an awesome match. It was terrifying waiting for the judges after the fourth round to call the arrows [determine the scoring points] and the judges came back and announced who the winner was. I was very happy and relieved it was over."
Making the B.C. Canada Winter Games team is quite the feat for Schouwenburg, (who turns 17 in December) and only took up the sport two years ago after being inspired by her big brother Spencer.
"It's been four nights a week of training," she said. "I didn't really have a goal when I started, I just wanted to shoot."
Both she and Procter are looking forward to competing in their hometown 2015 Games.
"I'm going to do more training and try not to get hurt," said Procter. "[The 2015 Games] should be a great experience and hopefully we'll have a lot of hometown backing. I'm going to enjoy it all and take it all in."
"It hasn't really sunk in yet that I'm going to the Games," added Schouwenburg. "It'll be awesome to compete in my hometown Games."
The pair of Silvertip Archers will be joined on Team B.C. by Emerie Watson of Quesnel who won the female compound bow event.
Dawn Procter, a long-time member of Prince George's Silvertip Archers Club as well as the zone 8 representative on the B.C. Archery Association, said with three out of four archers from northern B.C. qualifying for the 2015 Canada Games speaks volumes about the sport in the region.
"It sets a huge precedent," she said. "Seven of the 16 athletes were from the north. It's spectacular considering the distance to get to training facilities."
Each province can only send its top two male and female athletes in the compound bow and recurve bow categories, making the competition to make the team a tough process.
During the 2015 Games, the archery range will comprise of 52 targets that will stretch the length of Field 1 at the NSC. Archers will stand 18 metres away, shooting 30 arrows at a target the size of a nickel. The highest possible score is 300.
The Silvertip Archers are hosting its Spruce Capital tournament this weekend, Nov. 22-23. It'll comprise of archers from Prince George, Quesnel, Fort St. James and Vanderhoof competing between 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
The event takes place at the indoor range, at Austin Road elementary's school gymnasium, 4543 West Austin Rd.
