CONNOQUENESSING TWP — Hannah Blaine received her first bow when she was 10 years old.

Then she got serious.

Now 16, the Connoquenessing Township resident is looking to defend her Pennsylvania State Archery Association junior indoor championship next month in Harrisburg.

She also won the outdoor regional championship last summer at Rainbow Archery in Franklin.

"My dad got me my first bow as a Christmas gift, just to give me something to do, to see if I liked it," Blaine said. "Once he saw how interested I was, he got me a better bow so I could compete."

The family has an outdoor practice range on its property. Hannah and her father, Frank Blaine, shoot at a six-inch target from 20 yards away that features a center the size of a dime.

"I took up archery once I saw Hannah liked it," the elder Blaine said. "It was something we could do together."

"It's become a real father-daughter thing for them," said his wife, Melissa.

Hannah's father and grandfather, Tom Paff, taught her how to use the bow. The latter lived to see her win her first competition in sixth grade before he died.

"He'd be in his glory watching her now," Melissa Blaine said.

Hannah and her father compete in the adult archery league at Shooter's Showcase in Slippery Rock from January through March before competing in the April state tournament.

After finishing runner-up in her youth division in 2008, Hannah won her first state title last year, beating out 12 competitors. Her father finished third out of 28 archers in the A class, a step down from amateur-pro.

"Forget the divisions. She's better than me," Frank Blaine said. "She has a natural talent for this — just a very good shooter."

At the state tournament, each archer gets two practice rounds of three arrows each. Each participant then shoots 60 arrows one day, then 60 arrows the following day.

Blaine isn't growing tired of competing in archery. In fact, the Butler High junior is planning to attend Penn State, which has an archery team.

"I'm hoping to improve to the point that I can get a scholarship," she said.

In the meantime, she continues to compete in league play with her father and to receive voluntary coaching tips from other archers at Shooter's Showcase.

"She gets a lot of help from the archery shop up there," her father said. "They watch her shoot, tell her what she's doing wrong or right.

"I think they recognize the kind of potential Hannah has."