By: Kyra Dorsey
The Georgia Southern Sports and Shooting Education Center offers archery classes for ages seven and up. The class is held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and then once again from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m various times throughout the week.
Sophie Jordan, the Explore Archery One instructor, briefs her students before they go out to shoot. She discussed the “three whistle rule" with them, meaning they have to wait for the whistle to sound three times before they can walk to retrieve their arrows.
Jordan reminds the students of which bows fit them best. The students were already measured for their bows but they all forgot which one was theirs.
After they get their bows, the students take position and practice their “square stance.” This is one of the first stances the kids were taught.
Liam Daniels and MaryAngel Garcia finally let their arrows fly toward the target. Garcia was able to get a bullseye on her first try.
Everyone takes their turn shooting their arrows and now they go to retrieve them. The kids are given three tries each round they practice.
Sophie Jordan (left) watches as MaryAngel Garcia (right) puts her arrows back in the holder. For some reason, the kids kept forgetting to put their arrows up.
Jordan reminds Daniels about how he’s not to bend down to get his arrows when he drops them. The instructor made it clear that it could be dangerous if one of the kids bent down to get an arrow while another is still shooting.
The bows hang back up as the instructors for the next class add more targets. This was Explore Archery 2 class, so these students were a little more advanced.
The first group of students puts up all their arrows and get ready to leave. The next class started at 6 p.m., giving the other instructors around 30 minutes to get ready for their class.
Liam Dainels’ parents, Michelle (right) and David Dainels (left) patiently wait for their son to finish up. He may have taken a little too long, which caused his father to take a quick nap.
The clock strikes 6:30 p.m., and the next group of students line up. The instructors took them through a small stretching routine.
The students stretch out with some big arm circles. Only a few of them hit each other in the process of stretching ,but they were all good sports about it.
The instructors take the students through their stances. Some of the kids had a brief class before this one where they learned the stances already, but they had a lot of newcomers.
Avery and Elliot Howard (left) listen to instructions from Cassandra Peloton (right). Peloton taught them how to find their anchor points or the specific places to look when drawing their arrow.
Lucy Chen takes her first shot of the night. She came with her little sister and she missed some shots on purpose to make her feel better.
Asher Hicks has a rough start to the class. Peloton had a hard time finding a bow that he could hold properly because his hands were too small.
Eventually, Hicks musters up the courage to try shooting on his own. It took a few tries but by the end of the night he was able to hit the target.
Avery Howard puts up her arrow for the night. The kids played three shooting games and she won all of them.
The targets sit idle with their puncture wounds. The classes are offered in four-week increments before a new group begins.
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