The 14-year-old Great Sankey High School pupil started out in the sport five years ago but only entered his first competition in May and now the national team selectors look set to keep an eye on his potential for the future.

Abbott, inspired by Warrington’s Paralympian archery gold medal winner John Stubbs, has set his siights on representing Great Britain at the Olympic Games in London in 2012.

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Keep an eye on Thomas

Monica Abbott, who played on the 2008 USA silver medal winning softball team, and Kevin Stone, who won a medal at the Paralympic games for archery, greeted and signed autographs for Gatlinburg city officials, dignitaries, and their families.

“It was a genuine pleasure for Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies to have the opportunity to meet and acknowledge these two exceptional world athletes,” said Steve File, general manager of the aquarium.

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Ripley’s aquarium of the smokies host olympic medalists

The foundation also helped Staff Sgt. Steve Bosson win two titles in competitive archery at the National Target Championship in Colorado Springs. It wasn’t until after his lower left leg was amputated, the result of a grenade blast in Iraq, that Bosson learned the sport and began using it as an outlet for his recovery.

The foundation paid for his equipment and travel expenses. Bosson practices daily on the archery range and plans to apply for the Army’s World Class Athlete Program, so he can compete full time.

Bosson, who is 37 and has a wife and young son, said he learned breathing techniques from a mental health professional to help keep his mind and body focused on the precise movements needed to hit the inner 10 ring, or bull’s-eye.

“It puts you in a state of mind,” he said. “You’ve got to be as calm as possible.”

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Wounded troops get helping hand

I’ve made inroads into my motivational speaking circuit. I’ve written over 31,000 words in a novel about a Paralympian, and I’m still going strong. By December I hope to have something readable, something worth editing and sending off to a publisher’s. By mid-January I start classes again, and continue shooting archery recreationally with the University of Texas Archery Club again. We have just instituted a Competition program, Team Texas, which will help our more competitive members stay focused and shoot better at the tournaments we attend.

I’m looking forward to finishing my English and History degrees in a couple of years. By that time, I hope to have made some serious progress with my Juice Plus business. I hope to have my Master Level Reiki third degree by then. And I hope to have a novel in the works of some publishing company, ready to hit shelves in a bookstore near you. I have a goal to meet, you know. I want to be on the NY Times Best-Seller List by 2020, and it would be absolutely wonderful to see a book about a Paralympian taking center stage in the literary world.

Our best wishes go with you Lindsey. We’ll definitely be on the lookout for your book to be published and we’ll be in line to pick up a copy.

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An excerpt from my novel, Passing the Torch
Passing the Torch / The End

AN indomitable Moreton woman has died just months after getting out of her hospital bed to qualify for the Paralympics.

Lynne Burton, 34, needed to undergo a third liver transplant but a suitable organ could not be found, resulting in her condition deteriorating until she passed away.

She finished second in a selection shoot to qualify to represent Britain in the archery competition at Beijing’s 2008 Paralympics.

This was while she was being treated at London’s Royal Free Hospital after suffering chronic rejection of the latest of two liver transplants she underwent because of a condition she was born with.

She was too weak to self-propel her wheelchair but still shot the required eight dozen arrows.

Lynne, who had already competed in the world archery championships, was driven straight back to the hospital where she hoped to get fit for Beijing but her consultant told her she was too poorly to compete.

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Brave Paralympian passes away

Lindsey writes with such heart. You’ve got to read the whole article, but here are a couple of paragraphs. She goes into much more detail so make sure to check out her posting.

It was cool to be able to talk with the Olympic Archers, who we all know from tournaments. Vic Wunderle, Khatuna Lorig, and Jenny Nichols were all there, as well as Olympic coach Don Rabska, who also happens to be my personal coach. How wonderful to see him!

Well, I have to go get ready to give a talk and a demonstration in front of a large group of third-graders in Marble Falls. Before the Games, these kids each made me good luck cards. I have stacks of them, still. I have no idea what to do with them!

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Recap of Washington Visit

Drawn to its full 35-pound resistance, the bowstring describes a perfect triangle, its apex kissing the corner of Lindsey Carmichael’s mouth.

The 23-year-old archer squints through an impossibly small peep sight and acquires the target — an Olympic-style, Robin Hood kind of round backstop way off, down at the back of a dead-end street.

Muscle-memory, brain-train, practice-till-it’s-perfect instinct takes over, and the wire-thin composite arrow — 29.5 inches long — squirts off the bow with a dull mechanical thunk, flying in a long, looping trail toward the target. It arrives down range less than a second later, slapping into the yellow bull’s-eye, imbedded to the fletching.

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Lago Vista archer relishes paralympic bronze

Kevin Stone has served his country, both in the military and in the 2008 Paralympic games in Beijing, China.

Stone, a disabled Army veteran, has received dozens of national metals and titles. He’s broken more than 20 U.S. national records, traveled on three U.S. World teams, and has dedicated the last six years of his life to ensure the United States would be represented in the sport of Archery at two consecutive Olympic Games.

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Local archer is a real straight shooter at Paralympics

A South Valley man who competed in this year’s Para Olympic Games in Beijing has come back a champion. Jeff Fabry has only one arm and one leg. He won the bronze in the archery competition.

Wilson Elementary School in Tulare had a celebration for his homecoming on Wednesday. Hundreds of students packed the outside lawn of the school to celebrate “Jeff Fabry Day.” In addition to winning a bronze medal, Fabry shattered a world record.

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Valley Man’s Olympic Return from Beijing

“I also talked to Lee Pearson and told him about my archery and what I hope to achieve in 2012. I was really surprised to be able to hold a gold Medal and hope to be holding my own in 2012.”

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Dartford student welcomes Paralympic stars