Introducing Youth to Shooting Through Archery

By Lloyd W. Brown Jr.,
National Coach, National Archery Association
Assistant Coach, U.S. Olympic Archery Team

(This article is reprinted from the Third National Shooting Range Symposium, 1996 with permission from International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Wildlife Management Institute and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.)

Archery is a great way to introduce kids to the shooting sports. Every kid wants to shoot a bow and arrow, and they really love doing it. Archery is widely accepted by parents and youth organizations. It's a great lifetime sport for men, women and kids. It's something the whole family can do together.

It's easy to sell parents, teachers and youth organizations on the advantages and benefits for kids of shooting a bow and arrow. Those benefits include the challenges of an Olympic sport, building confidence, self-esteem and concentration skills.

I like to tell parents that the skills that I teach their kids in archery can be used to prepare for a math test or job interview. It also helps them increase upper body strength.

There are many different ways to participate in archery. There are recreational, competitive, Olympic-style. Also gaining popularity are 3-D and bowhunting.

Archery can be very simple. A simple long bow is still a very popular way to shoot. I know a club called Sticks and Strings. They shoot long bows and wooden arrows. Archery can be very complex. It can really get into competitive equipment and all the things that go with it.

It's easy to get a kid's archery program set up. It's important to start with simple recreational-type archery equipment, which is also inexpensive. There are quite a few manufacturers who have that equipment available.

You can set up an archery program or event almost anywhere. This past weekend Easton Sports Development Foundation set up an archery program at Sea World in San Diego, California. We set up targets and had the help of volunteers. We had plenty of archery equipment. More than 500 kids came through and shot. That was right in the middle of the park at Sea World. Archery ranges are easy to set up almost anywhere.

Easton Sports Development Foundation in Los Angeles, California, provides archery equipment for youth programs. The equipment is on loan throughout the United States for instructors to use. Instructors can set up archery equipment anywhere through schools, clubs, church groups. The goal is to get kids shooting and introduce them to archery.

I also have taught archery to Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, which have highly developed archery programs with merit badges. A good place to offer your services to develop archery programs include 4-H and YMCA. We've taught youth in the Crippled Children's Society and the Junior Wheelchair Sports Camps. Even the Foundation for the Junior Blind brings their kids out for an archery day.

Easton Sports Development Foundation also will attend birthday parties for kids. All we have to do is let parents know that we have archery equipment, and they will bring the kids to shoot because the kids really, really enjoy it.

A new group, Archers Who Care, has been active in recruiting instructors and getting kids with disabilities and different groups and organizations to shoot.

The Junior Olympic Archery Development Program is through the National Archery Association. The goal of that organization is to develop Olympic-style shooters. Quite a few pro shops in the United States have very strong junior Olympic clubs. It's easy to get one started. That can grow into quite a large part of an archery store's business.

To help you get started, the National Archery Association has an instructor program. We can help you find an instructor course or we will come out and put one on for you. The Archery Manufacturers and Merchants Organization funds a program to train camp archery instructors throughout the United States. Right now AMO teaches over 100 courses to camp instructors; the program trains and certifies more than 1,500 camp archery instructors every year.

Millions of kids shoot bow and arrow at summer camp. When they come home from summer camp, a lot of times they have no place to continue shooting. We're trying to help them locate the nearest archery shop or a place to shoot.

AMO has the booklet, "Archery and Bowhunter Range Guidelines," to help you set up an archery range at your shop. The booklet provides information to help you start archery groups.

The manufacturers also support your efforts through Easton Archery University which teaches pro shop owners how to handle archery equipment, fletch arrows and those types of things. PSE-Precision Shooting Equipment has a dealer school, and Hoyt U.S.A. also has some educational programs to help dealers or ranges get going in archery.

Meanwhile, archery is getting increasing coverage in the media. Since this is an Olympic year, there are opportunities for archers to get covered. ESPN has covered our national competition, and the Olympic trials have aired several times.

Archers on the Olympic team have been on "Late Night with David Letterman," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." A special on an Olympic team member was aired on "American Journal." Others have taken their places as interviewees on national morning shows. Articles on archery have appeared in "People Magazine" and "Sports Illustrated." The Wall Street Journal will feature a cover story on one of our Olympic athletes who works for American Express. We have coverage in the Coca-Cola Olympic City; a booth shows the different aspects of archery.

Also, 3-D archery is exploding throughout the country with heavy ESPN coverage. Archery is finally getting some notice for having money-winning opportunities for competitive archers. At the 3-D shoots last year, the top person made over $100,000. There are several archers who make more than $60,000 a year. The organizations, International Bowhunting Organization and Archery Shooters Association, have strong industry support to continue these activities.

The National Archery Association level one instructor course includes emphasis on getting kids started early, just like the 4-H Shooting Sports Program.

NAA gets a bow into kids' hands and get them started shooting quickly and successfully. There are a few methods to make sure that the kids hit the target the first time, but that's the most important thing to get kids interested in archery.

We also teach instructors to use positive communications when they work with the kids. NAA teaches instructors never to never say "no" or "don't." Always keep your communications positive. It's really a fun course; a lot of exercises help instructors go in that positive direction. We talk to instructors about how to develop a program to make it interesting for kids and how to make kids want to come back for more.