Why family matters as much as medals for Bennett in Paris

THLETE SPOTLIGHT is presented by WIAWIS.

Eric Bennett will be heading to Paris 2024 as a history maker and that’s already before he’s won anything in the French capital.

His confirmed selection means the 50-year-old will be the most experienced Paralympic USA archer of all time with Paris to be his fifth consecutive Games.

But behind every athlete, there is a family. For Bennett, the chance for his two children to finally watch him in action on the biggest stage for potentially the last time means just as much to him as winning what would be his first Paralympic medal.

“I’m just so overwhelmed with happiness,” said Phoenix born Bennett who also coincidentally taught physics to Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Brady Ellison in high school. “My kids have been a part of this journey.”

"They’ve been the unfortunate recipients of some of it, me being gone, time away practicing so with the sacrificed time away from them over the years, I’m happy for them to now realise, be a part of it and join the happiness of what it means to be a Paralympian, go to the Paralympics and see how big and cool it is.” 

The 2015 Para World Champion’s family was meant to be going to the previous Paralympic Games in Tokyo 2020 with him before the COVID pandemic hit.

They bought brand new passports for their children specifically but under the obvious circumstances it could not happen. 

However, three years older, Bennett feels now would be the best time for his children to see him compete internationally for the first time.

“Now my son’s 18, my daughter’s 15, they’re old enough to understand and enjoy. Now they get to see Paris, see me shoot, be a part of all the festivities and see what this whole journey for what’s been about their whole lives basically.” 

Although he refuses to rule out LA28, the USA’s first Games since Atlanta 1996, Bennett sees Paris as his last chance at achieving something he has never done before and what every para athlete craves, getting onto the Paralympic podium.

He has won medals in every other major international tournament in both individual and team events.

He has won nine medals across the 2015 and 2019 World Archery Para Championships, 2015 and 2023 Para Pan-American Games and 2016 and 2022 Para Pan American Championships but none in the four prior Paralympic Games he has competed in.

“Nearly daily practise, tournaments throughout the year, travelling, time away from my family,” said Bennett when listing reasons why he is leaving the sport for now.

While it is his passion to stay at it for this long, and he enjoys going to the tournaments and being with the other archers from around the world, the fun benefits he gets out of it are starting to not outweigh the toll of practice, the commitment to do it and the level that’s required to stay competitive.

“I might show up for the trials for LA, but we’ll see, that’s a long way away so, this is really like the culmination of my career...”

“…it’s my last chance to medal. I’ve been close, I’ve been pushing for a long time, but the elusive Paralympic medal still is not a goal I’ve accomplished yet,” he added.

Being for his family is also such a priority for Bennett not least because it was his own father who ignited his return to the sport.

He had been doing archery since high school and would regularly practice in his backyard as a junior but stopped doing it for 10 years after losing his right arm in a car accident when he was just 15.

Bennett said he put archery on hold but in the meantime learned to live with the life changing injury thanks to his solid “family support structure” consisting of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

He learned to play tennis left-handed, catch and throw baseballs in addition to learning how to fish all with a prosthetic arm.

His dad though in a phone call persuaded the four-time Paralympian to return to the thing he loved the most, archery. 

Together they built a bow where Bennett used his feet before transitioning over to one with a shoulder release and mouth tab that he uses to this day.

“Once I was able to do it again, it felt like something that had been taken from me was given back,” he said when describing the moment, he first believed he could become a para archer. “It’s obviously an extreme comparison but it’s like a blind person being able to shoot again.”

"I lost the one thing I really loved which was being able to shoot my bow and now I got it back. I jumped in with both feet and learned every possible thing.”

"I started working at my local bow shop, going to every event and I just immersed myself into it.”

Athletes can immerse in their sports like Bennett did and go on to become the most successful version of themselves. 

This of course involves plenty of familial sacrifice all for the sake of glory and legacy. Bennett is no different in many respects, still chasing for that dream Paralympic medal that has been on his mind for 17 years as part of team USA. 

He admits the competitiveness has not left him, but the perspective of life has made him not sleep on it. 
He credits 1988 Olympic Champion Jay Barrs who told him ‘whether I win or lose, my family is still going to love me’. 

Medals matter hugely for Bennett but so does his family. Combining the two he holds closest to his heart this August, climbing the podium at Les Invalides in front of his wife and two children would be Bennett’s dream, utopic send off to a sport he loves so dearly.