Archery at Warren Peers School ties into rural community

Warren Peers School in Acadia Valley has been working with the National Archery in Schools Program (NASP) for about 12 years. Teacher Jaime Didychuk explained, “it’s a wonderful way to get archery into the schools. It’s very regimented and has objectives set out. It’s very safe and the kids are loving it.”

The students started competing three years ago, which has taken the sport to a new level at the school. Students in Grades 7, 8 and 9 can sign up for archery as an option, which gives them about two hours of practice each week. This year, there were 15 students in the option class. 10 of them also chose to be competitive allowing them to attend tournaments along with some also going to the provincial and national competitions.

The students participated in five local tournaments, each of them within a two-hour drive of the school. NASP Provincials were in Edmonton this year where 2,500 archers from across the province competed. The school was very excited as one of the Warren Peers students came away with fourth place.

“It’s incredible watching them improve and change,” said Didychuk. “It's really neat to see because it’s a sport where you don’t have to be athletic. It’s interesting to see the focus, determination, and self-motivation in the students because it really is a sport where you are trying to beat yourself and your own score and hone in on skills that can carry over into other parts of your life.”

Students are scored based on where their arrow lands on the target, receiving 10 points for a bullseye and one point for the arrow landing on the outside. During a competition, they shoot three rounds of five arrows at 10 m and again at 15 m. Additionally, Warren Peers also takes part in an auxiliary competition called 3D animals where they shoot at foam targets of various types of animals.

“They love it,” stated Didychuk. “They have a target on the animal as well, so it is a similar scoring system. It’s a great connection with our rural country. Lots of our kids are avid hunters so this blends into some of their passions and works out nicely for keeping their interest.

Grade 7 student Ava Khun went to camp this past summer and took up archery and found she was surprisingly good at it. “It’s different than all the other sports because you aren’t really physically competing against someone else, you are only competing against your own score,” explained Khun.

As her aunt, Jaime Didychuk, teaches archery at the school, Khun decided to sign up for the option class as well as compete at tournaments. This year, Khun’s highest score for 3D animals was 214/300 and for targets it was 209/300. At the NASP provincial competition, she placed 13th in 3D animals, out of about 250 Grade 7 girls competing. She did respectfully well in the target competition as well and, although she was unable to remember exactly how she placed, Khun said it was somewhere in the 20s. 

“My dad likes hunting, and our neighbour has a bow I’ll be able to use and I plan to get my hunting license,” said Khun when asked how she plans to continue on with the sport.

“It's really interesting just watching kids the first time they pick up a bow and be apprehensive until the end of the season where they are loving it. They really want to do it and they realize they just have to hone into those skills and keep trying and keep doing it,” concluded Didychuk.

By Samantha Johnson, Prairie Rose Public Schools Content Writer