00:00My story started when I was born.
00:03I was born without any arms.
00:06I'm not sure why.
00:08We never found out a medical reason for that.
00:11So I lived my whole life hands-free.
00:14I remember the first time I got into archery.
00:16I remember sitting at home on the couch
00:20trying to figure out how I was going to provide for my boys.
00:25I had just spent the day looking for a job.
00:29No one's given me that opportunity.
00:31And I was really kind of down.
00:33And I see a guy on TV.
00:35And he has a bow.
00:37And he's shooting it.
00:38And something just clicked.
00:40Like, Matt, you need to try that.
00:43And it's funny because I have no arms.
00:47So I googled how to teach an armless man how to shoot a bow.
00:53And there was nothing.
00:55My aha moment came.
00:57I had a buddy that said,
00:59you should go shoot archery tournaments.
01:01And I said, what happens there?
01:03And he said, you can win lots of money.
01:05So I went to my very first tournament ever.
01:08I got basically last place.
01:11On my way home, I get a call from a manufacturer
01:14that said they would like to sponsor me.
01:16And I was like, of course, right?
01:18Because who doesn't like free stuff?
01:21So I take this bow.
01:23And I show my friend at the time.
01:25I show my friend.
01:26And I say, check this out.
01:27This is awesome.
01:28And he says to me,
01:31Matt, the reason why they sponsor you
01:34is because you have no arms.
01:37And you draw attention to their product.
01:40It's not because you're good.
01:43And that's when it clicked.
01:45I wanted to be known as the best archer in the world.
01:49Followed by, oh, by the way, did you know
01:52he does that with no arms?
01:55And that was the day I sat in a chair from then on,
01:59almost eight hours a day,
02:01practicing and practicing and practicing
02:03so I could become the best archer in the world.
02:06In my mind, I guess I've never been frustrated
02:09by the fact of I'm just a Paralympic athlete.
02:12And that is because outside of the Paralympic Games,
02:16I compete against able-bodied archers
02:18all across the United States, even the world.
02:21And when I go there,
02:23and I've won places against able-bodied people
02:26and won able-bodied tournaments,
02:28and so they see me as an athlete.
02:30And of course, I'm just specifically talking about myself
02:33in the archery sport,
02:35but they look at me like I'm an archer,
02:38not a guy without any arms.
02:40And it's a humbling experience.
02:42My mindset of what I want to accomplish from now on
02:45has just changed a little bit.
02:47Of course, I want to come to Paris
02:49and would love to win a gold medal.
02:51But what I think is important,
02:53that for the first time ever, potentially,
02:56if everything goes like I think it's going to,
02:59you will see four,
03:02not three, not two, not one,
03:04four other armless people competing at this Games.
03:08And that is amazing.
03:10That is what I want to happen.
03:12That is the future of the sport, right?
03:15That's my gold medal,
03:17helping other people go after their dreams and their goals
03:20and let them experience success like I've experienced
03:23because it literally changes people's lives.
03:26There was a time in my life,
03:28literally right before archery happened,
03:31that I really felt down.
03:33I felt hopeless,
03:35like nobody was giving me that chance
03:37to prove to myself or to the world
03:39that I could do things.
03:41So now that I'm in the position that I'm in,
03:44I would have to say that you can't give up, ever.
03:49If I would have gave up then,
03:51I'm not sure what would have happened to me.
03:53And you can't give up.
03:56No matter if you feel like it is the end
03:58and that's how you're feeling,
04:01take a breath, smile,
04:03start over the next day.
04:05Because dreams can happen to anyone.
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