Learning From Kids

[rmorris]

This Saturday I went up to the local bow clubs Traditional 3D shoot had the best time I have had in years of shooting. A typical 3D shoot for me consists of me and about 5 other good buddies getting in our same group and doing what we can to run our mouths and beat each other. This weekend's change of pace helped me re-connect with why I love traditional archery so much and I hope you all enjoy this short story.

Over the last few months I have noticed I have had a little buddy following me around why helping my wife after school in her kindergarten class. He is the son of another Kindergarten teach at my wife's school and after he learned I was into archery he soon had himself a kids longbow.  I could no longer resists and I asked his mother if I could take him to the 3D shoot on Saturday, she said yes and Saturday we were off to shoot.

I was not sure how it would go over dragging a 12 year old kid around with a bunch of old men who more often than not need a filter, so I chose to let fate take control  and let the random lottery pare match me up with a group. When the shoot started I was matched up with 3 other shooters I had never met before and two of them had never shot a 3D shoot before.

The first few targets were misses for the kid but once he connected his first arrow with a target I was just sure he was going to explode with joy. As the shoot went on and the kid was able to better judge how far away a target was, he just kept improving and hitting more targets.  I was just so happy to be in the presence of a kid enjoying traditional archery so much and enjoying the company of some newly made friends. For the first time at a 3D shoot I was not thinking about it as a competition and beating my buddies and was able to relax and just enjoy shooting. I actually shot my best score to date and I attribute that the being relaxed and just having fun.

The best part of the day was that the kid actually placed in the top 3 and his prize was a beautiful set of red and yellow custom made wood arrows. I can't tell you the last time I saw a kid so truly happy and I encourage every one of you to do anything you can to get kids and youth into archery, trust me, you will benefit as much as the kid does!

[Green]

   

[Mark 507]

Great story, thanks for sharing.

[Caughtandhobble]

Thanks for sharing the story about your new shooting buddy. That's a great prize for the kids, you must belong to a great club!!!

[Killdeer]

Helping new archers is such a joy!
Thanks for the story, I love a smile first thing in the morning.

Killdeer  

[Paul/KS]

Sounds like you and your buddy had a great time. Thanks for sharing the story.

I have been a 4H Archery leader going on 4 years now in my county. Getting the kids interested in archery is fun to watch.