On Saturday, September 16th, I had the opportunity to take my grand-daughter to the park for an archery lesson. Alexis, who is eleven years old, had never held a bow before Saturday and was a little reluctant to go see what it was all about.
For members who didn’t make it out to the range, you missed out on a great opportunity to learn how to shoot for the first time or dust off your bows and learn a few new tricks. It only took Rob Carpenter, our chapter’s archery committee chairman, a few minutes to adjust the bow for my grand-daughter and have her hitting the 5 yard target. I noticed that she takes advice and instruction better from someone other than a family member. She soon got the feel of the bow and Rob showed her how to stand and adjust her aim. It was only a few arrows later and she moved to the 10 yard target and was able to hit color with almost every shot.
Rob’s son, Nathaniel, was also practicing or should I say seeing how tight he could group arrows at 20 and 30 yards. After watching for a while I couldn’t resist and picked up a bow myself. I hadn’t shot a bow in over 30 plus years. Back then I had a fiberglass recurved bow and thought it was state of the art. Let’s just say I wasn’t grouping arrows but I did manage to hit the target a few times.
On our way home I asked Alexis if she had a good time. She said “yeah”, with all the subdued enthusiasm of an 11 year old. Later that evening her mother called me to tell me that Alexis had said she really enjoyed the afternoon and that archery was something she would like to do again. Score one for grandpa!