Archery has been around for ages, going from a means of survival to a popular sport and hobby. According to the National Archery in the Schools Program, or for short, NASP, archery goes back around 20,000 years ago during the Upper Paleolithic period. Archery also has a large presence in pop culture, from Robin Hood and Merida to Hawkeye and Katniss Everdeen.
Recently, there has been a rising demand from students for an archery club at Harrison High School. In a recent poll, 78.9% of students said that we should have an archery club. When asked if they would consider joining if there was an archery club, 47.4% said yes while 31.6% said maybe.
There are quite a few programs dedicated to bringing archery into schools, two notable ones being NASP and USA Archery. On their website, NASP says “Students learn focus, self-control, discipline, patience, and the life lessons required to be successful in the classroom and in life.”
Gym teacher Mike Brossart further emphasized this in an interview, saying the two biggest skills archery offers to students are patience and discipline.
In archery, patience is important because it can take some time to learn things like how to hold and aim the bow and arrow, for example. Discipline is just as if not more important because you need to practice safety to make sure you don’t end up hurting yourself or others.
When asked why they think we should have an archery club in our poll, many students shared the sentiment that archery is a unique sport that could encourage anyone interested in picking up an extracurricular and finding people with similar interests.
“It would open the school to more opportunities within athletics and allow more students to strive to be participants in extracurriculars, which is the school’s main goal.” Jaxston Geis, a student at William Henry Harrison High School, stated.
With the demand being so high and all the skills it could teach students, it is clear that our school should consider starting a club or potentially even a sports team for archery.
