Youth archers draw inspiration, discipline from an ancient sport

A single target leans
against the far end of the wall, opposite the young girl. Shaking her caramel
brown hair out of her face, she takes aim. Raising her bow, she positions it at
her side, the hand drawing the string just brushing her right cheek, she aligns
it with her destination.

Even though she is the
last archer to shoot in the 9-11 age bracket, she doesn’t let that faze her.
Waiting in anticipation, parents, coaches and judges watch the girl as she
holds the bow steady, her grip never waning. Suddenly she releases the arrow.
The long, sharp, pointed object shoots from her hand across the gymnasium and strikes
the target just north of center.

On Friday, the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds hosted this year’s National Archery in Schools State Tournament, a program created for students from 4^th to 12^th grade. By participating in the sport, students learn discipline, patience, focus and self-control, along with lessons required for success beyond just the classroom.

“I think it’s just a good discipline sport, and it makes the kids focus,” says Whitney Cunum, a coach from Valdese Elementary, “whereas other sports you just do it. This, they have to be really focused; they have to be honed in on what they are shooting at. They’re listening for those whistle commands; it just helps them to calm down so that they can be the best shooter that they can be.” 

Whistle commands or
blasts are a set of signals that are given for archers to follow in the
shooting range. One blast lets archers know they can begin, while two whistles
mean that archers should move to the shooting line. And three toots instruct
the archers to stop shooting immediately.

The competition began
just a little after 1 p.m.— with teams comprised of students in 4^th
and 5^th grade. A variety of different elementary schools entered the
tournament such as the Eagles of George Hildbrand Elementary, Dudley Shoals,
Husky of Forest Hill Elementary, Valdese Elementary, Startown Elementary, Baton
Elementary, Balls Creek Elementary, Drexel Elementary, Sunshine Elementary and
Icard Elementary.

As each archery team begins
to reload and fire their next set of arrows, attempting to make a bullseye,
Cunum speaks about the bond between the students.

“You’re a part of a team and you work together,” Cunum says. “This is an individual sport, but you still have to work together as a team, especially encouraging each other and showing one another support.”

Minutes before the
competition starts, a small girl with golden hair tied in a ponytail runs over
to her mother who stands near the bleachers. Her small eyebrows are knit together,
and a frown is plastered on her face. The mother kneels in front of her daughter
with a look of concern.

Softly, the girl’s mom
places her hands on the sides of her arms and speaks words of encouragement. Only
after a bone-crushing hug does a small smile spread across the girl’s face.
With new-found reassurance, she makes her way back over to her team excitedly.

Stacy Springroll, a
mother of one the Eagle archers, says her son worked hard to make the cut.

“This is his first year,
he’s eligible to do it, age-wise,” she says. “Then there is a tryout process,
and the PE teacher has to choose them. “

A father wearing a
ballcap seated at one end of the bleachers, Trevor Gooden, attempts to
communicate with his son Tristen through hand gestures, trying to convey a quote
from Star Wars. He whisper-shouts, “May the force be with you.”

“Once he got into archery,” Trevor says, “he’d seen it and thought he would probably be well at it. He just picked up the bow — a regular bow and was very good at it. We invested into a good bow and spent some time with him and got him what he needs to better himself. He’s been excelling ever since. His coach says that he’s the most gifted archery student that he ever coached. Just picked up the bow and did not have any training.”

A fifth grader for the Husky
archery team, Tristen tied with Josh Lutz for fourth place in his age group, scoring
a total of 262 points.

“I think the best part
about being a coach is seeing the growth,” Cunum says. “You know, when they are
in tryouts, as a coach I’m looking for if they can group. If they can group,
they can move that group anywhere they want to put it.”

A group is when an archer is able to shoot a series of arrows close together.

Placing in third, was
the Dudley Shoals Elementary, with the Eagles from George
Hildbrand Elementary taking second place and Startown placing in first place.

The finalists in the
individual boy’s archery category were Gavin Starnes, Seth Harrell and Jayden
Yang takes first.

Coming in at first place
for the girl’s individual archery competition is Andrea Ibbaro, succeeding
Audrina Buchanan and Rylee Styers in third.

The young female archer
with caramel brown hair, eyes narrowed as she processed where the arrow had
landed. With a small grin on her face, she turned away from the range and
strode over to the rest of her teammates who were cheering and bouncing with
happiness.

For more information about the tournament go to the National Archery in the School’s Tournament website.