Take the bow and arrow, pull back, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, let go of the string, a loud crack comes across the range, bullseye. This is what a person does when they take part in Archery. But that’s not all, archery involves confidence, self reflection, hard work and determination in order to thrive in this sport.
Archery is becoming a big part of Nixa High School.
“Archery is something that is hosted through The National Archery in the Schools Program,”Archery and J.R.O.T.C. teacher Robert Hodapp said. “And what that is, is it’s an opportunity for students grades five through 12, to participate in another activity. … I know they’re looking at doing something during summer school at the Nixa Junior High this year as far as archery goes as well, and they also have a National Archery in Schools Program taking place over at the Rec Center.”
Archery is an inclusive sport for a wide variety of students.
“It’s an all inclusive activity for those that have disabilities, there’s very few disabilities you could probably come up with, that we couldn’t find a way for them to still participate in,” Hodapp said. “Kids that have deformed arms, and they use their teeth to pull the string back and shoot and have a special device.”
This is the 3rd year Archery has been offered at the Nixa High School.
“How our class works is we first they have to have 10 hours of training on basically the safety requirements, how to respond different things on there how the bows function is and so that they can be able to manipulate safely on the range, we have what’s called the 11 steps for archery success,” Hodapp said “So we start developing these skills, so they can go from barely hitting the target to understanding the process of being consistent and accurate. And we will change it up from time to time to focus on specific areas, and then each week, they have to, they get points for their participation in the class for actually going through and shooting. And then they also get what part of their grade is where they have to do a reflection of self reflection on how they did that week.”
Competitions are a big part of the archery program.
“We have the competitions on the weekends, and the competition season usually starts right around Thanksgiving, and then it goes all the way through March,” Hodapp said. “So we typically go to all the State qualifiers. So when you compete in this competition, you’re actually trying to qualify for State and we typically will qualify for State at the first competition.”
Life lessons are part of the sport.
“Students will learn how to work as a team, and they also learn how to learn organizational skills, especially if they have to turn in assignments,”Hodapp said. “But a lot of it is developing a sense of self confidence in another skill. And then you know some of those life skills that you expect of being able to identify what’s working, right, what needs to be worked on.”
Sophomore, Michael Ewald is taking archery.
“It’s a fun activity to do with friends,” Ewald said. “I mean we go to a lot of competitions. It’s very competitive but overall it’s just a fun, simple thing to do.” […] “It’s fun to go talk with friends, especially if you’re going on long trips. It’s very addicting and it’s a very inclusive activity and the people in it are very fun and exciting to hang around. It’s just an overall welcoming experience.”
Ewald’s older brother was also a member of the Archery team.
“My brother did archery when he was in high school, it had basically just started by his senior year and he motivated me to do it,” Ewald said. “He became extremely intuitive. He bought all of this gear, and then eventually I started myself and became extremely motivated.”
Archery takes commitment in order to succeed.
“Archery is pretty simple,” Ewald said. “The hardest part is just being consistent with choosing to keep doing it, because you can get really lazy and not do it and then get worse. In class you critique yourself every time you shoot and try to improve yourself and your shooting skills. Like I said, it’s just a commitment.”
