Aimee Teplitskiy, 11, decided to take up archery after reading “The Hunger Games” in which the heroin defends herself with a bow and arrow. Forum Newsgroup Photo by Jeremiah Dobruck.
Under the supervision of her grandfather, 11-year-old Aimee Teplitskiy drew back the string on a wooden bow and let an arrow fly at a target down an indoor range.
It whacked into the backstop about ten feet away, and Teplitskiy casually turned around to hang up her equipment—as if she’d been doing this for years.
Teplitskiy recently read “The Hunger Games”—a book starring a bow-and-arrow-wielding teenager.
It brought her to Pro Line Archery Lanes in Ozone Park Tuesday night to live out a small fantasy.
“My mom, one day, she gave me the idea,” Teplitskiy said. “She said, ‘Why don’t you let your grandpa take you to the arena so that way you can be like Katniss.’ It just seemed so fun.”
Katniss Everdeen is the teenage heroin of the Hunger Games book and movie in which she competes for her life as part of a warped game show in a dystopian future.
About six months before the movie came out in March, Pro Line started seeing a new wave of customers slowly build.
Word of mouth has always brought new customers to the range, co-owner Joe McGlyn said, but now there’s an unprecedented surge of girls, teenagers and young women showing up to shoot.
McGlyn is in the midst of Olympic trials, and right now, he’s part of a top 16 trying to make the team that will be whittled down even further in California next month.
Between his training, his day job and his family, he finds time to help run Pro Line and handle the surge of business it’s getting.
During a busy night, the range will have 30 people lined up on it shoulder to shoulder, he said.
“Every time there is an archery reference in a movie it brings people in,” McGlyn said.
Through decades of Rambo and Robin Hood movies, McGlyn has seen people come in waves, but this is the busiest he’s ever seen it, he said.
On Tuesday, four other customers were picking up bows and nocking arrows for the first or
Aimee Teplitskiy and her grandfather, Jeff Sakharov, talk about what bows she shouldtry out during her first trip to Pro LineArchery Lanes in Ozone Park. Forum Newsgroup Photo by Jeremiah Dobruck.
second time while range staff trained them.
A few feet away, an older crew that has been coming to shoot at Pro Line for years were lounging, waiting to start shooting for the league that starts at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Without ever picking up the book or watching the movie, they could all rattle off the names “The Hunger Games” and “Katniss Everdeen.”
McGlyn said he and old-timers are happy to see the new blood.
He recited a quote on the shop’s website “Archery is for everyone.”
One of Pro Line’s slogans—in addition to “the best kept secret in Queens”—is “Archery is addictive.”
“Everyone gets very excited when they first try it out,” McGlyn said, and he’s sure some of the newcomers will soon be regulars.
One of those longtime regulars is Jeff Sakharov, Teplitskiy’s grandfather.
He’s been coming to Pro Line since he was 55. He’s 60 now, he said.
He was quick to talk about his granddaughter on Tuesday, and he smiled wide while reminisced about fishing and hunting with his son years earlier.
Now he’s getting a chance to live out some outdoorsmanship with a new generation.
“Look at this. Look at this,” Sakharov said excitedly while his granddaughter drew the bow back. “She’s like fresh air for me.”
By Jeremiah Dobruck
j.dobruck@theforumnewsgroup.com
