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.