Autistic teen becomes award winning archer

By: Cierra Johnson
From: ABC News WKBW Buffalo

ANGOLA, N.Y. (WKBW) – It’s hard not to love 17-year-old Aaron Montroy’s light hearted energy. It’s even harder not to respect his dedication to archery, the first sport this high school junior living with autism has ever played.

“He was diagnosed at the age of 4 with autism and we were told not to expect much,” Aaron’s dad William Montroy told 7 Eyewitness News. “We knew we had more in store for our child than what the physicians had told us.”

Montroy says he and his wife spent years searching for something — a sport or an activity — that would give Aaron what any kid wants, a sense of acceptance.

But soon a golden opportunity came into their lives.

Ronald Bergum is the stepfather of one of Aaron’s classmates. Bergum trains people of all ages in the sport of archery and decided to take Aaron under his wing.

After just two years of training, the novice archer did the unthinkable he won a state championship. The win came as a surprise to many, but not those who knew Aaron was more than his diagnosis.

Aaron’s family says his success should be a lesson to anyone living with autism, that a diagnosis does not determine an outcome.

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