Archer Profile: Janice Walth. Lack of sight doesn’t hold her back

This is an inspiring story. Ms. Walth doesn’t let blindness stop her from enjoying the sport of archery. Take a look at this interview.

For years, Janice Walth accompanied her husband, Courtney to practices at the Sacramento Archery Club and to local tournaments. Then one day, despite being blind, Janice wanted to try shooting a bow and arrow. “I just wanted to experience what that was like,” said Walth.

Using photos and descriptions from the British Blind Sport website, Courtney built a tactile aiming device that afforded Janice entry into a new sport and provided a new level of confidence.

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NZ Archery Machines Own Bow in Bid For Olympics 2012

Stephen, who lives in Glen Eden, is one of seven machining apprentices at Buckley Systems Ltd in Mt Wellington, producing a range of steel objects that require high concentration and precision to give exact, smooth and flat finishes.

He uses the same skills to design and make his own archery equipment. A new bow costs about $5500 but isn’t always a good fit.
Stephen, 20, started developing his own gear to overcome the problem and gain a more competitive edge.

Read more here:
Stephen eyes up Olympics

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First archery practice of 2010! 01/02/2010

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and will have a great New Year!

Archery practice resumes tomorrow (Saturday) from 4pm to 5pm. If you are an archery team member (you’ve received an invitation to be on the team) then that practice is from 3pm to 4pm.

It looks like a sunny day, but it will be cold. Please dress warmly for the practice. We often have the kids take off their coats while shooting, and put them back on again while they’re waiting and pulling arrows.

We hope to see you there!

- Coach Kevin

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Photos from our 2nd Annual Charity Archery Shoot

Photos from our 2nd Annual Charity Archery Shoot. Thanks everyone for all of their help and support!

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Wounded veterans try out archery

“I’ve only shot a bow about three of four times in my life and I’m not too bad at it,” said the marine. Lafitte, 25, is paralyzed from the waist down. He was involved in a terrible bus accident about a year ago. He says it’s been a tough recovery, but is thankful to be alive and ready to move forward.

This weekend, he and several other wounded marines are at the Olympic Training Center trying different sports and learning about the Paralympics. “They’re showing me that and giving me hopes and ambitions that I can still accomplish anything I set my mind do,” he said.

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Magazine: The Tournament Archer

A new magazine has been announced and is supposedly in production as we speak. I’m checking with the company to see if it has come together or not but you might want to check it out yourself.

Read more here:
http://www.thetournamentarcher.com/

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Beginner archery coarses are taking off in Australia

Last Saturday saw 20 beginners and juniors line up for training. The beginners course is now in its second week with Archers being coached by World Class Archers in Pat Coghlan and Sherry Gale.

Beginners courses are a great way to start Archery as a sport. The course consists of four coached lessons on Saturday morning fortnightly.

Sherry Gale has just returned from success in the Pacific. She competed in the Oceania Archery Championships held in Tahiti. Sherry is now the 2008 Oceania Champion. Taking 1st place in that event.

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For the archer with everything: Archery Shoes

Adidas Adistar
Hard to believe. It’s virtually impossible to get your hands on a recurve bow in the United States without ordering through a catalog, but two competing companies are selling archery shoes. Both Nike and Adidas have a shoe for Olympic archery. Adidas has the “Adistar” archery shoe. It looks like a (very) high top cross training shoe. Nike’s contribution is more subdued with their Nike Akribis used by many archery teams. USA had a different design in mind however.

Team USA’s archery technique was so different from the rest of the competition that Nike designers built a custom shoe specifically for the Federation. The US asked for footwear that facilitates a more grounded stance, with the heel less elevated than that of the Nike Akribis. The answer was a modified version of the Nike Dunkesto, Nike’s hybrid between the iconic Dunk basketball shoe and the Nike Presto trainer. Taking the best of both shoes – Dunk’s flat sole and Nike Presto’s lightweight breathability – the Nike Dunkesto archery shoe adds customized abrasion-resistant leather vamps for each athlete, dependent upon where they rest the bow on their shoe. The colors and graphics used on the upper are also designed to compliment Team USA’s uniform. The style is Sport Red, White, and Obsidian Blue and the sockliners are decorated with tattoo-inspired detailing featuring a torch and the number “1776.”

Read more here about the Nike Akribis:
Nike Akribis (Greek for “Accurate”)

More about the Adidas Adistar:
adidas adistar Beijing Archery – Mens Cross Training Shoes

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Team USA Junior Women’s Archery Team recognized

It’s nice to hear about about our archery team getting recognized. Great job ladies!
Samantha Pruitte

Third place in the team voting went to the Team USA Compound Junior Women’s Archery Team, who won the team gold medal at the 2008 Youth World Championships in Antalya, Turkey, Oct. 7-12. The Compound Junior Women’s Team was made up of Seneca Francis (Smithfield, Utah), Kendal Nicely (Gorham, Maine), and Samantha Pruitte (Harlem, Ga.). Nicely and Pruitte also captured the gold and silver medals respectively in the individual competition of the Compound Junior Women’s category.

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The country of Bhutan has a rich history of archery

Here, at home, bhutanese archers shoot over a distance of 140m, different from the Olympics of only 70m.

Also quite different from the Olympics, archery competitions are a riot of colour and excitement. Team members yell accross the field to give directions or indicate how far the target was missed, often accompanied by howls and jokes. The opposing team may shout back and make ribald remarks while the successful shooter proudly tucks a coloured scarf into his belt. At major tournaments each team brings his chearleading party of girls in their colourful Kira dresses, they dance or shout provoking and disparaging comments about the opponents.