Is Westford Home To A Future Olympian?

Some people are born with gifts, and other people get gifts at parties. 12-year-old Kai-Lou Yue’s gift was a little bit of each.

The young Westford resident found her talent for archery 18 months ago when she was playing around at a party and she was able to hit a target from 15 yards away on multiple occasions.

From there, she’s skyrocketed to become the best archer in her age category in Massachusetts, taking first place at the 2011 Bay State Games, Nutmeg State Games and Massachusetts Junior Olympics as well as the 2011 U.S National Target Championship in Yankton, South Dakota.

But that may not be all for Kai-Lou. She’s been training in her backyard and going to Dedham three times a week for instruction from Anthony Belletini, a coach who has advised six former U.S Olympians.

According to Belletini, only about one out of every fifty students he’s had in the past can even compete at the national level, let alone do as well as Kai-Lou has.

“Kai-Lou always keeps her eye on her goal, and even though at times, just like any other teenager, she would rather be doing something else, she's in her backyard practicing hitting the "gold" - the very center of the target, which, by the way, she does very often,” said Belletini. “It's too soon to say if we'll see her on an Olympic Team but I wouldn't underestimate her.”

And while dreams of a gold medal may be in the current student’s future, her father Shinji hopes her rise in the sport can also help increase the love of archery here in Westford.

“There are plenty of archery programs in New Hampshire, but hopefully Kai-Lou’s success can spark an interest in archery here in Westford,” he said. “We hope that interest in Kai-Lou’s success can help create an archery program at Westford Academy one day, and help introduce the sport to everyone in the area.”