Archery: Where everyone gets the same shot

Both Carrington and New Rockford hosted their annual archery tournaments over the past two weeks. As a parent of three teenagers, who all compete in archery and several other activities, I must say archery is among my favorites. Why? Well, as Jamie Risovi, retired head coach and founder of the Rocket Archery program at New Rockford-Sheyenne School once told me, “Everyone gets the same shot.”

It’s absolutely true. Archery is a sport for the tall and the small. Each person is responsible for his or her own performance, and each has the opportunity to excel with practice, discipline and focus.

Last weekend I was taking pictures at the New Rockford tournament, and there I met Trina Hayes. Trina is a tiny fourth grader from Medina who was competing in her first archery tournament that day. I watched as she worked hard to get each arrow to rest in place, then tried her best to launch those arrows at the target. I spoke to her after her 8 a.m. flight, and she said she thought she did “good.”

Fourth grade is the earliest youth can begin competing in archery. Through the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP), the organization that manages school archery, all youth are introduced to the sport in school. At most schools, the archery unit is taught as part of their physical education programming. In a few NASP schools, however, these archery lessons are presented by history, language, art, and even Spanish teachers.

As the NASP proclaims on their website, archery is an “activity that doesn’t discriminate based on popularity, athletic skill, gender, size, or academic ability.”

Each year I see young kids just starting out in archery, and I encourage them to keep practicing and working hard. While I’m sure it can be disheartening when most (or sometimes nearly all) their arrows fall well in front of or sail past the target, these kids keep trying.

Aubree Kukowski is one of the Rocket archers I’ve been watching. She is in her second year on the NR-S archery team, and she has made amazing strides since her first tournament in January 2021. At the NR-S tournament last weekend, she scored a 167 out of 300. This was a personal best for Aubree, an improvement of 42 points over her previous PB. Her score at her first tournament was a 4.

In 2019, the last time an in-person state archery tournament was held, New Rockford-Sheyenne’s elementary team (fourth and fifth graders) earned third place among all the teams in the state!

Alex Weisenburger, a fifth grader at NR-S in 2019, was an elementary national champion in 3D archery (where they shoot at animal replica targets) that year as well.

Interestingly enough, 2019 was the first year that Carrington fielded an archery team. Their elementary team competed in two tournaments, New Rockford and Kensal. They brought 11 elementary archers (fifth graders) to the New Rockford tournament. Principal Jenna Helseth reported to the Carrington School Board in January that there were 36 elementary students enrolled in archery. I should note that in Carrington fourth graders do not compete in tournaments. They brought 47 archers to New Rockford last weekend.

What’s the endgame, you might ask? Well, consider Koven Walford, a 2021 graduate of New Rockford-Sheyenne High School. He was among the first high schoolers to compete for Rocket archery. He was a 2020 state champion, and his on-range prowess earned him a scholarship and a chance to compete on the shooting sports team at University of Jamestown this past fall.

And it doesn’t end there. Archery is a lifelong sport. USA Archery was formed in 1879 to foster and promote the sport of archery. The organization hosts 200 tournaments annually for youth, adults and seniors.

Vegas anyone? The Vegas Shoot is the world’s largest indoor archery tournament. The event brings together nearly 4,000 archers from around the Globe ranging from beginner archers to Olympic champions. Speaking of the Olympics, archery has been an Olympic sport at every summer games since 1972.

While I appreciate all of the co-curricular and extra-curricular activities available to our youth, I am grateful that archery has found a place in our communities.