The Tribune

MULTI-talented LeRon Rolle has returned home from the Central American and Caribbean Games in El Salvador, San Salvador, where he set a new national record in the Open Men category.

Rolle has emerged as the top Bahamian archery man in the island nation. 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 is looking forward to competing at the Pan American Games from October 20 to November 5 in Santiago, Chile and ultimately the Olympic Games in Paris, France, in 2024.

Rolle 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.”

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.

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.”