Elite Next Gen: Josh Isenhoff

Name: Josh Isenhoff

Coach: Andrew Lee

Hometown: Hopkinsville, KY

My Bows: Echelon 37 for target and Answer for hunting.

My Accomplishments:

Superman Classic - 1st (2014)
ASA London - 2nd (2015)
Superman Classic - 1st (2015)
ASA Metropolis - 3rd (2015)
Iowa State NFAA - 1st (2015)
ASA Metropolis - 2nd (2016)
USIAC 3D Nationals - 1st (2016)
USIAC 3D Nationals Mens Team - 2nd (2016)
USIAC 3D Nationals Mixed Team - 2nd (2016)
Collegiate Indoor Regionals - 1st (2017)
USIAC Outdoor Nationals - 1st (2017)
USIAC Outdoor Nationals Mens Team - 1st (2017)
USIAC Outdoor Nationals Mixed Team - 1st (2017)
USIAC 3D Nationals - 3rd (2017)
USIAC 3D Nationals Mens Team - 3rd (2017)
USIAC 3D Mixed Team - 1st (2017)
Collegiate Indoor Regionals - 1st (2018)
USIAC Indoor Nationals - 1st (2018)
USIAC Indoor Nationals Mixed Team - 1st (2018)
USIAC Outdoor Nationals - 2nd (2018)
USIAC Outdoor Nationals Mens Team - 2nd (2018)
USIAC Outdoor Nationals Mixed Team - 2nd (2018)

I hadn't thought back on my archery career in a long time so it was almost shocking when I started writing this and realized it's been six years since I got my first bow. My dad had been a bowhunter for as long as I can remember so as soon as I was old enough, about fourteen, I got my first bow for Christmas. My dad got me a Diamond Razor Edge and before temperatures were above freezing I made him get me a set of arrows and spent nearly every day shooting in the yard after school. It wasn't long before the addiction found me at a local Pro Shop shooting indoor leagues and I knew I had found my community.

I soon quit high school football and devoted everything to archery, I even had the school bus dropping me off at the archery shop for a year before I got my license. Although my dad taught me everything he knew, I never actually had a coach. It was more like a few mentors and travel buddies as I grew in the sport sharing information we gathered and helping each other get better. Now when I think about the future and where I want archery to take me I guess I don’t really have any particular goal in mind, as long as I'm doing it for the rest of my life I'll be happy. I plan on graduating with an Engineering degree in three more years so I may try to get into the industry designing equipment or I may take another career route and focus on the Professional Archery lifestyle. I do plan on going into the Pro class after winning out of K-50 in 2019 so hopefully I'll know more about the direction I want to go by then.

I've been very fortunate to have such a supportive family when it comes to traveling and spending most my time in archery. Another huge blessing that is growing and becoming more available each year is college archery. I am about to begin my Junior year at the University of the Cumberland’s and without college archery I would have had a much more difficult time keeping up with my training and tournaments while trying to be a college student, especially in my major. Not only does being on an archery team help pay for my tuition but it also keeps me in practice with scheduled practice times every day along with facilities that otherwise wouldn’t be readily available to me. College archery took me to Vegas and paid my way two years in a row to shoot in the biggest indoor tournament in the world. So for someone with limited funds, archery has been one of the best things for my career. When you are as heavily into archery as I am, you build a whole network of friends in the community and all over the country, at times it feels like one big family.

Time management is definitely a struggle, but that’s really part of growing up. So in my opinion if you aren't struggling a little bit as a teen/young adult then you should find some more hobbies and get busy figuring out who you are. Personally, I spend my summers working odd jobs on the weekends that I'm not traveling to tournaments and the weekdays working and practicing at the archery shop.

Ever since Herndon Archery took me on as a staff shooter and got me set up with an Elite bow, they have been the only bow I can shoot. I have tried Mathews, Hoyt and even Obsession but I have never felt comfortable enough to compete with anything but an Elite. My first tournament bow was a 2013 Elite Answer, and in my opinion, it is still one of the best bows ever made, but as soon as the Victory series hit the shelves I had to have one. I still hunt with my Answer to this day. This year I picked up the Echelon 37 and it has been a game changer for me; although it took some initial getting used to, it has forced me to learn more about the technical side of setting a bow up and how precise and important that tunability is. I love the bow and I love Elite and I hope to be shooting for The Outdoor Group once I hit the Pro Classes in 2019/2020.

I want to achieve everything I possibly can in the archery world. My short-term goals include ASA Shooter of the Year in Known 50 for 2019, a score of 600 120x in Indoor Nationals because of how close I was last year and to qualify for Team USA in 2019. My #1 goal in archery is something I can strive for over and over every day for the rest of my life and that is to be better than I was yesterday. In archery your biggest competition is yourself meaning that you have the opportunity to win or to lose every time you pick up your bow and that is what drives me.

"But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded" 2 Chronicles 15:7

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