Born and raised in Arizona, Eleanor Rodriguez’s journey with archery began during her summer camp adventures in Minnesota. Escaping the Arizona heat, Rodriguez found her passion, earning badges and awards during her time at camp.
After practicing recreationally at a shop in Chandler, her interest became more serious around age 12. This led her to join a competitive target archery club.
With Arizona and California being two of the biggest hubs for competitive target archery, Rodriguez has had the opportunity to train with top-tier athletes and coaches. At local tournaments, it’s not uncommon to see multiple Olympians there.
Now 26, Rodriguez has spent the last four years dedicated to honing her skills. While she competed in the 2024 Olympic trials and didn’t make it, her sights are set on the 2028 Olympics.
While she continues to train, she got certified as a Level 4 USA Archery coach so that she can share her love for the sport with others.
“I’m at the range all the time and I really love introducing people to the sport,” Rodriguez said.
“It’s been really rewarding to be able to give back all of the knowledge that I’ve acquired over the years from some of the best archers in the world,” Rodriguez said. “It’s fulfilling to give back to the sport that’s given me so much and brought me so many cool experiences.”
Rodriguez offers lessons to students of all ages and experience levels. Each lesson is personalized. Specializing in the Olympic recurve bow and target archery, she offers one on one lessons, small group lessons and corporate team-building lessons. All equipment is provided.
“I can take someone that has never even touched a bow in their entire lives and knows nothing about the sport, or someone that’s been shooting for years and years,” Rodriguez said. “I want to get more people from the Valley into it. I’d love to have more local people come and have consistent lessons. Then I can build that relationship with them and walk them through the entire evolution of getting started with archery.”
Something she loves about archery is that you can get into it at any age. “You can start the sport even as an adult and, with a ton of commitment, you can make an Olympic team,” Rodriguez said. “That’s the beauty of it.”
Lessons in resilience
Rodriguez’s journey in archery has been filled with challenges, but she credits the sport with teaching her invaluable life lessons.
“There have been times when I’ve wondered, ‘Why am I doing this? Why am I here putting hours and hours of work into this?’” she admits.
“Sometimes following your dream isn’t always a rainbow path. You’ll have the hardships, but I think what’s most important is that if you want others to believe and take a chance on you, you’re going to have to take that chance on yourself first… You can’t win if you don’t play.”
For Rodriguez, setbacks are growth opportunities. Rejection will always be tough, but it’s better living knowing that you gave it your all instead of not even giving yourself a chance to be rejected.
“Never take no as an answer,” Rodriguez said. “Even if there isn’t necessarily a door open, you can create a door for yourself.”
For more information about Eleanor Rodriguez, visit archeryeleanor.com. Follow along on her professional archery journey on Instagram @sporty_eleanor.
