Archery hits the mark by teaching students focus, discipline

Archery skills are developed through practice, discipline and concentration, as Selena Evans demonstrates with eyes fixed on the target. Selena is an eighth-grader at Horace Mann Magnet Middle School in Little Rock.
Archery skills are developed through practice, discipline and concentration, as Selena Evans demonstrates with eyes fixed on the target. Selena is an eighth-grader at Horace Mann Magnet Middle School in Little Rock.

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.

-- A really old joke

In the world of scholastic archery, substitute Louisville, Ky., for Carnegie Hall, Louisville being the site of the national championships for archery in middle and high schools.

Practice is how the team from Horace Mann Magnet Middle School in Little Rock got to Louisville in April. Mann's team didn't win, but the competition was stiff -- more than 10,000 young archers from 39 states.

"We did all right," Michael Emery, 14, says. "I know we could have done better."

How?

"More practice and less caffeine."

Lesson learned. Among others. Michael's father, Jim, is one of the school's coaches. He says archery teaches "determination, reliance on one's own abilities, concentration and consistency."

James Herrod, an English teacher and the Mann team coach, believes archery develops "the ability to do something in the same way over and over."

For Michael, the sport is fun.

"And it gives me something to do so I'm not sitting around doing nothing."

Something to do means practicing 10 to 15 hours a week, he says, mostly in his backyard. Michael has scored as high as 292 out of 300 in competition. All that practice, he says, "never feels like I've been working."

Mann is one of 502 schools in Arkansas that offers archery in cooperation with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

Curtis Gray, coordinator for the archery in the schools program, says the sport has exploded statewide. He estimates 42,000 kids participate through their schools. Only Kentucky has more students in its archery in the schools program, Gray says.

The commission goes in half-and-half with the schools on the cost of equipment. The program requires schools to allow students at least 10 days of archery practice during school, Gray said, but schools usually extend that to 29 days.

"Kids love it," Gray said. "They're eat up with it."

Gray was a wildlife officer before taking the archery job in 2008. At the time, there were 100 kids involved in a pilot program with school sites across the state. Now, he says happily, "all I am is a glorified bow salesman."

The state tournament is held in March at Summit Arena in Hot Springs. Two thousand students typically participate, Gray says, with 10,000 people in attendance.

There is an element of self-interest for the Game and Fish Commission, he admits. "We want them all to be bow hunters, but we know that won't happen .... we're making more outdoors enthusiasts."

Horace Mann parents are plenty enthusiastic.

Nikki Akerman's daughter, Kira, is 13 and in the seventh grade. This is her second year in archery. "She couldn't wait to go to middle school and start archery," her mother says. Kira says archery is fun and "gives you arm strength and some discipline."

Archery gives her daughter a focus, Akerman says, and requires a certain academic standard for participation. The sport is for everyone, she adds.

"Some kids aren't athletic, but this is the kind of sport where any kid can pick up a bow and get better with practice."

Lloyd Overcast's daughter, Sarah, is also 13 and in the seventh grade.

"A lot of kids don't have an opportunity to be on a team," Lloyd Overcast says. "In archery they shoot for themselves and for the team. They learn how to be on a team."

Lolita Evans was leery when Selena, 14, and Jekiah, 13, asked to join the archery team. Sounded dangerous, Evans says.

Her mind has changed.

"The kids get along well, it's like a big family, and they have to keep their grades up. This has been a wonderful thing for them," Evans says.

Noor El-Houri is 13 and in the seventh grade. She has been in archery about a year, practices three to four hours a week at home, and finds Hunger Games to be "pretty cool." She's pretty cool, too, with a top competition score of 273 out of 300.

Noor appreciates the opportunity to interact with others and to travel to compete: "It's really fun, but I don't know if they'll have it in high school. But I keep practicing."

MIDDLE SCHOOL SPORT

No high schools in the Little Rock School District offer archery, Jim Emery says, and a district spokesman agreed. Neither is archery sanctioned by the Arkansas Activities Association.

Emery has been a Mann coach for five years. His daughter, Samantha, a 10th-grader at Parkview Magnet High School, was an archer at Mann. Part of the sport's appeal, he says, is the level playing field.

"Everyone who plays does so with the exact same equipment," he says. "You can't buy better equipment, and that's what makes it so great -- it comes down to the shooter's ability to shoot."

Many of the kids take targets home, and they may buy their own equipment but in competition, all equipment is the same. The bow is a Mathews Genesis, and the arrows are Easton 1820 aluminum. The advantage of aluminum over carbon fiber, Emery says, is that aluminum doesn't splinter or shatter as carbon fiber can.

Interest in archery is cyclical, Gray says. "We came along at a perfect time, with the Olympics and the Hunger Games movies. It's a co-gender sport, which drove it. I get that from parents."

Kids involved in no other school activities can take up archery, he says, and "this gives them something to connect to the school."

Gray advocates archery as a moderate aerobic activity, a safe sport -- "safer than any ball sport" because there's no contact -- and good for all.

"No matter what your size or shape or physical abilities, anyone can do it. Who wins depends on who practices the hardest and develops that muscle memory," Gray says.

EAGLE EYES

Another Arkansas school that competed at the nationals in Louisville was Eagle Mountain Magnet School in Batesville. In fact, Eagle Mountain has pretty much set the standard for archery in Arkansas. Its middle school team has qualified for the world championships and won twice, in 2009 and 2011, both times at Disney World.

Susan Parker, the coach and health lab teacher at Eagle Mountain, is still surprised by what happened in 2009 with her fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders.

"That was pretty neat, with us being new," she says. "That was our first year to enter the tournament [in Louisville]. ... Everybody was saying, 'Who is this team?' They didn't know Arkansas even had teams."

Before becoming the archery coach, Parker's exposure to the sport was limited to a college class she took while pursuing her physical education degree.

"I don't get to practice much. I'm nothing to write home about. But I know what they're doing wrong and what they need to change."

Then she channelled Yogi Berra, who famously said that baseball was 90 percent mental -- and the other half physical.

"Ninety-nine percent of this is all mental," Parker says. "I can teach anyone to shoot. It's whether they have the mental ability to stand up in competition and shoot."

AIMING HIGH

Back at Mann, the team gathered on a recent Monday morning for about an hour of practice in a courtyard. Students helped Herrod set up the targets and the arrow curtain. Herrod and Emery coached, but lightly. The students mostly shot, practiced and rotated in and out on their own. Lots of friendly chatter, lots of concentration.

Principal Keith McGee sees educational advantages in archery.

"A new adventure brings new excitement and new energy," he says. "If students are happy when they come to school, that leads to achievement."

Add in other benefits.

"Archery teaches them discipline, and that's needed in the classroom and in life in general. It teaches them how to be competitive, to put in the time and prepare."

What does it take for a school to get started in archery? First stop is Gray, at jcgray@agfc.state.ar.us, or (870) 319-5136. Schools can borrow some equipment, or participate in the grant. A full complement of equipment costs $2,650. That includes 12 bows, five targets, an arrow curtain, 60 arrows and a repair kit.

"We don't want the money to be a burden to a school getting going," Gray says. "We'll figure out something for them."

ActiveStyle on 06/02/2014

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