I’m happily the father of two young kids and consider myself passionate about archery, hence the name of this blog (wow! How creative!). I always mentioned that, when they are old enough, I’ll buy them their first bow and start teaching them archery. One day, a friend asked me why I was so convinced to introduce them to archery. I never stopped to think about it thoroughly, so I gave it a try … and I had tens of reasons why. So, I compiled the best ones in this post. I hope you agree with all (or, at least, most of them) and do the same with your kids.
It’s a sport
Although some people don’t think archery as a sport, it is. There is no strict definition of what is a sport. However, SportAccord, the international organization that encompasses all international sports federations, has its own definition of sport. Given it’s a worldwide organization for all the largest sports federations, it’s like an implicit official definition.
Their definition of sport says that a sport should;
- have an element of competition
- be in no way harmful to any living creature
- not rely on equipment provided by a single supplier (excluding proprietary games such as arena football)
- not rely on any “luck” element specifically designed into the sport.
As we can see, archery fulfills all these clauses. There are a lot of archery tournaments, if it’s practiced properly it isn’t harmful to anyone (unless you are doing hunting), there are a lot of archery equipment suppliers (Hoyt, SF, W&W, you name it), and you can bet that luck has nothing to do in archery. Moreover, it has many of the benefits of practicing any sport. They set the kids’ bodies in motion, learn some rules and discipline, they’ll start sharing an activity with other kids and, most importantly, they’ll have some fun while shooting.
It’s safe
There is a misconception with archery that it is a risky activity because you might “poke an eye out with an arrow”. Although there are a couple of things in archery that can lead to bad injuries, they’re often associated to an equipment malfunction, and the chances of happening are much lower than in other, more traditional, sports, like football, basketball, baseball, or any other of the more popular sports. Archery, if done correctly, is a very safe sport. This is even a great opportunity for kids to learn about safety. They will learn how to follow safety rules because, if they don’t follow, they will not shoot.
All year long (no seasonality)
One of the greatest features of archery is that it has many variants. Among the largest categories, you have indoor and outdoor target archery. The best part is that your kids can do both. It’s not a decision you have to make when you start. On the one hand, when it’s winter season, they can go to the archery club, and they have indoor courts with all the needed equipment, so they won’t have to stop the activity in cold seasons. On the other hand, when spring comes, they can practice outdoors, and enjoy nature.
Being in nature
With all this modernity and the urbanization of the world, kids are more and more used to see concrete, and buildings and streets. They aren’t so used to see green. Thanks to archery, on the proper seasons, as I mentioned in the previous section, they will practice it outdoors. In this way, they can enjoy mother nature, and get full of Vitamin D from the Sun. Being in contact with nature will greatly improve their lungs, skin, everything. They’ll love the outdoor activity.
Better behavior
This one is very important. For doing archery, you have to follow certain discipline and safety rules, to avoid being hurt or hurting someone. They are so important that instructors have zero tolerance for them. If you don’t follow, you are put aside from the shooting line. For some people this may seem a bit too much but, a kid that’s fooling around in the shooting line might hurt their friends or they can even put themselves in a risk position. Because of this, instructors are very insistent with this rules, without losing the fun, of course. They are professionals, and they know very well how to “insert” those rules in between the practice, so kids will follow them unconditionally.
Discipline
Being an archer is not only grabbing a bow, aiming and shooting at the target. They have to follow a certain procedure if they want the shot to succeed. They have to pay attention to things like the stance, how to rotate the elbow, lower the shoulder, in order to have a proper bone alignment when they draw, not only to have a good shot, but also to exploit all the bow’s power, and avoid being injured.
When you issue a list of orders to a kid, they most likely do it in any given order, or they’ll surely miss some of the steps. When they start archery, the instructor will teach them the steps to follow, and they’ll learn how to follow them step by step. They’ll learn how to do things orderly and in their due time.
Patience
Together with discipline and other virtues, archery needs patience. Each step in the procedure has its own duration in order to do them properly. They’ll have to learn this in order to improve their shooting.
One of the most common things we see on kids that start archery is that they are rushed to stick an arrow in the golden ring, and they forget nearly every step of the shooting procedure. And this is not something exclusive of archery, they are rushed to do what they like most, ignoring all things around, even safety. Archery will teach them how to be patient. This is a necessary skill to acquire in order to shoot. And this patience will be immediately transferred to any other activity they do. So, you’ll see an improvement in their anxiety handling.
Concentration
The shooting process is something that requires concentration. The key step is when aiming. They’ll need to avoid any distraction from the target in order to hit the golden ring. Doing archery they’ll learn how to concentrate. They’ll want to concentrate by themselves because they know that, if they not concentrate, they won’t be able to score a hit. And gaining concentration might also impact positively in their concentration for school.
Focus
This one is somewhat related to concentration. They’ll learn to focus on their goal, which is hitting the target. This focus will help them not getting distracted with other stuff around. Often instructors teach students (kids and adults alike) not to talk on the shooting line. This will distract them, and will surely distract the other archers. No matter if they go there to relax and shoot some rounds. There are people that want to shoot in a serious way, and they can’t concentrate.
Balance and Coordination
These are two key skills that anyone, not only kids, has to learn. Since archery is about precision and finesse, you have to have a great balance in order to shoot accurately. You’ll have to stand in front of the target as steady as possible, to avoid hindering the shoot. So, balance is key.
You’ll also acquire some coordination. Rising the bow, pulling from the string, aiming and releasing are steps that sound easy, but if they’re not well coordinated, the shot will be awful. And, obviously, when kids learn to be more coordinated and balanced, they’ll improve in any other sport they do, or any other activity, like playing an instrument.
Teaches goals setting
Archery is one of the best disciplines to teach goal setting. When anyone starts archery, most instructors teach to shot at a blank backstop. They want you to learn the proper technique and form and don’t want you to get distracted by the target. Kids are so eager to shoot at a target that, if you put one in front of them, they’ll try to hit it, forgetting all the forms they have to do.
When they are shooting with the correct form, they’ll start to shoot at a target, located very close to them. They’ll learn some aiming techniques. Then, when they improve their aiming, they’ll start shooting further from the target. All these instances can be exactly put as a goals list. You can even refine it and define shorter, easier goals. In this way, kids have a nearly constant progression feeling and will focus to achieve their current goal.
Increase confidence
Setting smaller, shorter goals will make them advance to the next one very quickly. This will give them the feeling of accomplishment and will gain confidence, seeing that their effort is giving results. Moreover, as they gain aim, and their shots are more accurate, they’ll increase their confidence, and be motivated to keep going.
This and goal setting are two things that, combined, can be extrapolated to other activities, like school. They’ll learn (with your help, of course) how to set goals, divide them into smaller goals, and have the feeling that they can accomplish anything if they structure it enough.
Raise self-esteem (they’ll be treated like adults)
Archery is a sport for people of all ages. Kids, teenagers, adults, and elder people can do archery, and the things they’ll do are all the same, regardless the age. Thus, your kids will see that they do the same things as adult archers. They won’t be put in a place with toy bows, and rubber point arrows. They’ll be using adult equipment, and that will thrill them.
Non-body-shape dependent
Some kids don’t want to practice sports because they feel that their body isn’t up to. First of all, that’s nonsense. They can do any sport they want, regardless of their body shape, of their overweight. Moreover, archery is a great example of this. It can be practiced no matter how much you weigh, or how short you are. For example, bows can be adjusted to different heights, by changing to a shorter riser, or limbs.
Inclusive (everyone can practice, even disabled kids)
If you ever heard about archery in the Olympic games, you may probably hear about the Paralympic games. If not, they are the equivalent of the Olympic games for disabled people. Luckily, archery is one of the disciplines they can be practiced by everyone. And I’m not being general. Literally, it can be practiced by anyone.
People on wheelchairs can shoot sitting there. There’s no obstacle for grabbing the bow and pulling the string. People who lack a limb can also shoot. There are paralympic archers that pull the string with their feet or even their teeth.
As you can see, archery is a very inclusive sport, and anyone can practice archery. ANYONE.
If you have a disabled kid, archery can be an excellent option. They will also compete (in a friendly way of speaking) in the archery club with the rest of the kids. They won’t need to go to a special club. However, you may want to call (or go personally) to the club and talk to the instructor to see if they need (and have) any special equipment for them.
Great opportunity to make friends
Archery is not only excellent because it’s inclusive. It’s a great opportunity for making friends. Some kids (like me in my youth) have trouble making new friends. They are very shy, or introvert (or both), and has some difficulties to start conversations. Nevertheless, kids have fewer restrictions to start talking to other kids. Archery is a very social activity. Each shooting round is relatively short, and you have dead times, for instance, when you wait for everyone to finish shooting to go to the target and pick the arrows. During those times, kids have an excellent opportunity to talk to the other kids, compare their shootings, sharing some laughs for their mistakes. Then, with time, they will love to compete with the other kids, to see which one does the best shot, engaging them even further. So, they can all gather in the club and enjoy this activity while making friends.
Teaches taking care of their equipment
This one is, probably, one of my favorites. Usually, kids don’t take care of things (not on purpose, they still don’t get fully the concept). Here, they’ll be assigned a delicate piece of equipment, and the instructor will teach them how to take care of it, how to handle, the do’s and don’t when practicing, where to put it when they go to fetch the arrows from the target, etc. They’ll learn how to take care of them, and how to treat it. They will also learn the concepts of responsibility, knowing that there is (luckily) one bow per children and, if they don’t take care of it and it breaks, it’s over, they can’t shoot anymore. In a more realistic situation, there would be one bow for 3 or 4 children. This situation is also great because they’ll learn about shared responsibility, and how the acts of one can affect the rest.
Being humble
There are kids, as well as adult people, that are used to fail in, nearly, everything they try, mostly sports. But they come to the archery range and advance at an astounding rate, even being able to compete in a short period of time. There are also those who succeed in almost everything, which is good for any sport you face them too. They might be the star of their class in sports (some are even cocky about it), but come to the archery range and have great difficulty to manage the basic forms.
As archery is not about fitness and good body shape, but more about finesse and focus, tables might be turned for them. They’ll encounter a challenging activity and they’ll have to learn to be humble and understand that they’re not always the best at everything. And that’s not bad. That’s not bad at all.
Respect and taking care of the other
When you see kids playing, more often than not you see them running, pushing others, struggling among themselves to pass. This will not only don’t happen, but they’ll learn in no time how to avoid it, through a series of easy-to-follow guidelines. For instance, when they shot, they are all aligned in the shooting line. If someone is beyond this line, they are strictly forbidden to even load the bow. Doing so, a bow might have a malfunction and the arrow will fly in any direction, and that person might get hurt. Then, they’ll all shoot the full round (usually, 3 arrows). If anyone also fired his/her 3 arrows, they can’t go fetching their arrows for the same reason. They’ll be in front, probably, 15 to 20 loaded bows. They’ll have to wait until everyone shot to go all together to retrieve the arrows.
This will teach them two very important concepts. First, they have to be responsible and take care of their friends, their actions might hurt someone. And second, but not less important, they’ll learn that there are a lot of kids taking care of him, that he/she matters as a person. This might seems irrelevant or trivial for some people, but those with low self-esteem will find this a treasure, and finding out that the other kids are taking care of them will boost their self-esteem like a rocket.
Handle failure
Real-life, we encounter so many times with success as well as failure. In archery, they will encounter a lot of situations of success, for instance, when they hit their first bullseye, or when they start grouping their shots. However, they will also encounter a lot of failures, mostly in the beginning. They will learn how to handle it. They will learn to feel it as a personal challenge, and an opportunity to learn and improve themselves. They might probably fail in several things at the same time. But the most important part of this is that anyone of them they solve, they will improve, and they’ll notice it in their shot, so the facing of the problem and the solution can be addressed very quickly, and not through several classes, demotivating them.
Problem-solving techniques
This one is related to the previous one. When they fail, they’ll face a problem. They will be taught to face this problem as a challenge, and the joy of working the solution out. For instance, let’s imagine a kid is shooting and all the shots go consistently above the target’s center by, let’s say 4 inches. Then, they’ll learn that this can be solved aiming the same amount in the opposite direction (that is, 4 inches below the center). This fixing is immediate, and they can try it as fast as in the next shot. And they’ll surely make a hit. This will fill them with confidence, and show them that the problems don’t have to be avoided, but they have to be faced, and they’re good at it.
Managing anxiety
Kids tend to have high levels of anxiety. Doing archery, they’ll have the possibility to participate in competitions. Competitions usually raise anxiety levels and put a lot of pressure over the competitors (kids and adults alike). Concentration and focus will help them learn how to deal with pressure and lower anxiety. This lowering in anxiety will help them to gain more focus, building a feedback loop. Then, they’ll automatically extrapolate this anxiety control to other aspects of their life, turning them into more calm kids.
Self-control
In order to do become successful archers, they will need not only to learn to control the physical aspect but the mindset, too. They’ll learn self-control, to reduce anxiety, gain concentration and focus, obtaining a better temperament to deal with failure, identify the problem and, thus, finding the solution.
As you can see, archery is a great sport for kids. It teaches them a lot of things and, as I listed on this post, have nothing but beneficial effects on them. So, let them start. Then, you’ll see if they are into it.
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