LAC LA BICHE — The first time Rene Schaub pulled back on a bow he was around the age of seven. It was made out of a willow branch and other materials that could be found around his family’s farm, as he recalls.
At the time, there were no archery clubs or places to buy a decent bow, and if you did happen to find one, you couldn’t afford it, Schaub said.
Nearly 25 years later, his youngest daughter was eight-years-old and ready to pursue her own sports dreams. By then many things had changed. Looking for a sport to separate her from her siblings, Schaub’s daughter Emma quickly took to the sport of archery.
Watching Emma learn and compete, Schaub saw that extra hands were needed within the archery community.
“For the first year, I sat in the back and I watched them. I could see that the coaches were kind of young and they could use help. So, instead of complaining, I just went and got my coaching course and started coaching. From there on, I got really into it,” Schaub says.
The year following his time spent coaching and volunteering, he became the vice-president of Lakeland Archers, after another year he was president of the club — a position he holds to this day.
Recognition of dedication
On Tuesday, Archery Canada announced Schaub would be the 2020 recipient of the prestigious D.M. Lovo Award for 2020 — a highly esteemed award given to individuals who have provided outstanding contribution to the sport of archery in Canada.
Schaub was chosen for this award for his long-time commitment to the sport of archery, for showing up to fill any role that has been needed, whether it was coaching, organizing events, judging or club management.
In a statement from Archery Canada, the organization applauded him for his several accomplishments. ”(Rene) brought his first team to the Alberta Winter Games in 2002 and led Team Canada at the World Championships in France in 2017. He helped Alberta host their first indoor target provincials in 2007 and the first successful field and target shoot in 2008... Thank you, Rene.”
The award’s namesake, Donald M. Lovo, was an early champion of archery in Canada. For more than 40 years, Lovo had worked to develop the sport of archery in Canada and around the world as an athlete, coach, instructor, an official and throughout the entire period he worked as a volunteer.
Feeling both humbled and honoured by receiving the award, Schaub will be one of only four Albertans to receive the D.M. Lovo award. Included on that list of former recipients is Eileen and Ewan Ferrier, individuals Schaub describes as respected friends and mentors.
“If I look down the list of the recipients, over half of them have been my mentors over the past 25 years. The ones that helped me out and have given me information through the years, and now I join the list,” he said. “It's really something to be with your mentors.”
Sharing the recognition with the many individuals and groups who supported his vision over the last two decades, Schaub said, “This award is pretty well the best award that you can get from Archery Canada. I know that along with getting this award, it took a lot of work from my family, from the County, from Lakeland Archers, all of the volunteers, because all these big shoots take 150 to 300 volunteers to make them work. You can get somebody to do all the planning, but if you don't have the volunteers, it's not going to work.”
He added, “As long as the community helps me, I'm just going to keep on going.”
Currently, the Lakeland Archers are waiting to hear if they have been awarded the bid to host the 2024 Worlds Field competition, and will also put in a bid for the 2025 Archery Canada tournament.
Although Schaub hasn’t competed in the sport since a Worlds Archery competition in 2005, he still warmly recalls bringing his daughter to her first provincial competition that was held in the Portage College gymnasium in Lac La Biche.
“I remember how nervous she was, but you know, after that we shot all the time together and we used to go to competitions together.”
Nearing the age of 67, Schaub now watches and teaches his grandchildren in the sport, with the youngest pulling back a bow and watching arrows fly at only three years old — a far different experience from when Schaub first held his homemade willow branch bow as a boy.
Long time coming
When Schaub and his family first got involved in the Lac La Biche archery club, the focus a was mainly on adult shooting. Overtime, Schaub says, he was able to turn that around and put family first.
By improving youth participation and skill development, more families began to join the club and shoot together, which was Schaub’s goals all along.
“People are busy now, a lot of people have two jobs, a mom and a dad both work. They're looking for something that they can do with their child and if you offer a sport that they can all do together, I think that's the key,” Schaub explains. “We didn't want it to be a drop off center, we wanted the families to come in, bring their kids and shoot or see how they are doing and help them out.”
Being a family-oriented club has had beautiful results as Schaub now coaches the children of the preteens he first began coaching 20 plus years ago.
Schaub also boasts that at one point the Lakeland Archers had both the oldest and youngest club members in Canada.
“When Herb Erickson was still alive, he was 100 years old, and our youngest one was three-years-old... He lived to 101, but it just showed people that no matter what age you are, you can do archery."
