ASHER S. February – When I first started Archery, I thought that I could just pick up the bow and arrows and start scoring bullseyes. Yeah, that wasn’t the case. If you just pick up a bow and expect to start scoring tens, you’re about to have a big surprise because when you start shooting, sometimes you’ll have to deal with arrows going in all directions. You have to practice to shoot a bow and work on your form – but also work on thinking about it in a positive way. Archery requires strength, focus, good form, and so much more. You could have an amazing tournament one weekend, but the next weekend you don’t do as well as you did the weekend before. Archery isn’t just a competition between you and other archers, it’s a competition between you and yourself and the high score you currently have.
At my first tournament, not only did I get the highest score in the 5th grade, but I also surpassed 100 in scoring. My high score was 186 and one time this season I matched it exactly. My high score is now 212. That doesn’t mean there weren’t struggles though. Most of the time, my nerves got the best of me, this is what made me forget to stand up straight. This also made me get lower scores. This didn’t just discourage me, it also made me mad, and tournament after tournament I kept getting lower and lower scores and the frustration just kept building up. This kept making me do worse and worse each time. I thought that I was never going to get past 200, but I kept practicing and working hard to get in the 200s. I worked with my coaches and they helped me so much. I practiced at home as well, and, I went to an archery camp at St. Xavier High School. All of these things made me keep getting better and better.
Archery teaches people more than just aiming at a target and shooting an arrow. It teaches us about persistence, working hard, learning, listening to the coaches, being a good teammate, trying new things, keeping calm when frustrated, and even more. It teaches us about overcoming difficulties in our own shooting and as a team. Recently our gym was shut down due to water freezing and bursting in the floor pipes in the winter. This damaged our floor and we couldn’t practice there. Our coaches helped us to find other places to practice. We decided to practice at another school’s gym, and even then the coaches helped us and were with us the whole way through. I have to thank my coaches for everything and for getting me to where I am today. I can’t wait for my next tournament.
-Asher S. is a 2023 student contributor-