Jason Tabansky builds on Gwangju silver with plans for new academy

Just two months after winning silver at the Gwangju 2025 World Archery Para Championships, Paralympic Champion Jason Tabansky  is focusing on a new project: a high-performance archery academy in San Antonio, Texas.

Named Enduring Freedom Academy, the centre aims to nurture para and youth archers, offering elite-level training for local and international athletes.

“There are three military bases here in San Antonio, so there are a lot of people,” said the  2024 Pan American Para Champion and current world number one. “From there, we decided to launch this academy back in May and named it Enduring Freedom Academy. We focus on elite-level training for kids, teenagers, adults, para athlete development and elite para athlete training.”

“If there’s someone on the para circuit who’s missing that spark or needs more one-on-one coaching, our doors are open for them to train with us. We’ve also had a few international teams sign up for camps with us, so it’s been busy.”

The 42-year-old founded the project with his close friend and former USA coach Scott Hamlin, whose wife Lisa created a nonprofit organisation two years ago called Enduring Freedom Company, supporting American military veterans, active-duty personnel, law enforcement and first responders.

After spending the summer constructing the academy from scratch – the original building was “completely gutted” – Tabansky and Hamlin are now coaching their first 25 students. While this is the current maximum intake, more aspiring archers are eager to join.

Tabansky aims to grow the academy to 50-60 students, an idea that emerged from discussions with Hamlin last year.

“He travelled with me last year to international events – Dubai, Brazil and others – and saw the need for high-level training, both locally and internationally,” said Tabansky.

“We want to help everyone reach a highly competitive level because, on the para side, we want to be viewed as competitive with able-bodied athletes.”

“With the youth programmes, we want to develop kids into the future of our sport. On the US para team, there are three athletes who came out of youth development programmes and are now part of the team. We want to continue that.”

Whoever takes up archery will, in one way or another, find it changes their life for the better. The formulaic process it involves can be a soothing escape from the busy necessities of life.

For others, it ignites a competitive spirit they never knew they had. Tabansky was one of the latter when he discovered the sport as a military veteran.

Instead of flying Chinook helicopters for the US Army around the world, he has spent the past eight years competing at international para archery events – and, unexpectedly to many, became Paralympic Champion at Paris 2024, after initially missing out on his first Games but later receiving a late quota place following the withdrawal of Australia’s Christopher Davis.

With established archery hubs in Charlotte, Salt Lake City and Chula Vista, a fourth centre in San Antonio could prove particularly valuable for para archers – especially under the guidance of one of the world’s best.

Tabansky already has a model in mind, inspired by Arcum Tampico in Mexico, run by his friend and current Mexico team manager Jorge Payan. Earlier this year, he visited the facility and, much to his surprise, was invited to give a talk to hundreds of people about his journey to Paralympic gold – after being told to expect “40 tops”.

“They had a whole stage set up for me. I got to do a one-on-one talk with him, sharing my journey – not just to Paris, but in adaptive archery – reaching out to people who are struggling, trying to find their identity, or looking for a sport to try,” he said.

“The goal is to get more people involved in this sport and help it grow. That’s been a big change for me – having the opportunity to talk to people, inspire a little change, and hopefully get them involved in archery.”

Tabansky admits he needs to improve how he manages his time between coaching and competing, but that didn’t stop him from medalling in Korea – a country where he lived for three years while on duty.

He lost only to China’s Zhang Tianxin in the W1 men’s final – a result he said was influenced by a physical issue with his right arm.

“My hand falls asleep and my fingers go numb. It just so happened that on the first shot, when I went to set my anchor and release, I didn’t feel how much pressure I was putting on my trigger and accidentally popped the shot off without being fully set.

“Fortunately, it hit the paper – unfortunately, it was a low six.”

A game of catch-up against the 2025 Asian Para Games gold medallist was always going to be difficult, but Gwangju was still his most enjoyable world championships yet. The pressure of being the reigning Paralympic Champion didn’t faze him.

That calmness, he said, was inspired by the ever-serene Kim Woojin, whom he watched in the able-bodied competition a fortnight earlier – and he hopes to replicate that same composure during the upcoming indoor season.

Unlike last year, when he took time away from the sport following an exhausting build to Paris, Tabansky plans to start the indoor season strongly – just as he did outdoors at the inaugural Americas Cups in Morelia and Chicago earlier this year – and target breaking the world record he set at 18 metres in January (587 points over 60 arrows).

From winning major honours and running an academy to giving motivational talks and serving on the World Archery Americas para committee, archery has become almost all of Jason Tabansky’s life. Over the past 12 months, he has come to realise his true potential in the sport.

“Giving back to archery is the least I can do – though, in reality, I’m doing far more than most,” he said.