Mike and Gaby Schloesser juggle international archery and raising daughter Luna
Dutch archers Mike and Gaby Schloesser are balancing elite competition with parenthood, a dynamic visible at the Archery Premier League in Hyderabad and reported on 2026-10-30. Their daughter, Luna, has reshaped daily priorities as Mike continues in compound archery and Gaby in recurve.
Mike competes for the Mighty Marathas in the Archery Premier League's second season and has spent more than two decades pursuing top results; he earned the nickname ‘Mr Perfect’ in 2015 when he became the first archer to score 600 out of 600 in the indoor 18-metre qualifying round. Gaby won silver in the mixed team event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Mike says, “Now, archery is no longer our top priority. The well-being of Luna comes first, and that has been a really nice change.”
Gaby describes a different adjustment to parenthood after two decades in the sport, saying, “What surprised me most was how comfortable I became with not training. I have been doing archery for 21 years, and before having Luna, I thought I would always be obsessed with training,” and adds, “I assumed I would constantly feel that I needed to practise. But now, if I don't have time to train on a particular day, I'm fine with that.” The couple initially planned to travel everywhere with Luna and managed that for about a year, but Gaby says she started saying no to competitions because “I wanted to be with her, and saying no to competitions was also a way of accepting that my life had changed. It was okay to stay home.”
Their competition travel and practice schedules have been reshaped around family needs. Mike explains the routine: “In the morning, we would shoot for around 30 to 45 minutes, and then I would shoot for another hour,” and describes returning to the venue for finals while Gaby and Luna supported them. He also notes the increasing difficulty of travel with a growing child: “As Luna gets older, starts walking and understands more of what is happening around her, travelling becomes more challenging.”
A trip to Las Vegas underlined the tension between competing and parenting: Gaby recounts trying to keep Luna quiet during a final, saying, “I think I changed her diaper three times during the final and fed her twice as well.” She adds that Mike's victory made the effort worthwhile: “When Mike finally won, I felt that all the effort I had put into keeping Luna quiet had been worth it.” Mike says the arrival of fatherhood required reshaping his preparation: “Of course, being a dad has changed how I approach my career. I don't have the time to put absolutely everything into archery because my family has to come first as well,” he says. “Sometimes, it is difficult not to be at the same level I was before or not to have the same amount of preparation time.”
Mike believes experience can offset less-than-ideal preparation, saying, “Even if my preparation isn't always optimal, I can draw on that experience to perform at the level I did before Luna came along.” He pointed to his Las Vegas win as proof: “Winning in Vegas proved to me that I could still compete at the highest level, take on the biggest competitions and win,” he says. After a disappointing outing at the World Cup Final this year, Gaby described her approach to supporting him: “I have learned over the years that the moment immediately after a competition is not always the best time to talk to him, whether he wins or loses,” Gaby says. “I give him 15 or 20 minutes to be upset, process what happened and have a moment to himself. After that, I can talk to him and tell him that I am proud of him.”
Gaby insists her own ambitions remain important even as family life alters which events she can attend: “I don't want to say that my own career doesn't matter anymore, because that isn't true,” she says. She also frames supporting Mike as part of her contribution: “But sometimes, when I don't perform as well as I would like at a competition, I can still think about how I helped him prepare and how I contributed to his journey. That is also a form of success for me.” Gaby has begun compiling photographs of Luna in the countries they visit — “Every time I take a picture of Luna in India, China or Mexico, I think about how I want her to look back at those photographs when she is older and say, ‘Wow, I was there when I was little. My parents took me with them. My dad was shooting there, and my mum was shooting there,’” she says.
They are taking one tournament at a time while working out how sporting commitments fit around family life, with their next major goal identified as Los Angeles 2028, where compound archery will make its Olympic debut. Mike says he is “excited about the Olympic opportunity” and highlights the exposure Olympic inclusion would bring to compound archery, while Gaby says of a possible shared Games experience, “I know he has the strength and the knowledge to go there and perform, so I think he is going to do great at his first Olympics.”