Yahoo has an article about Archery in the spotlight in time for the London 2012 Olympics thanks to the success of the “Hunger Games”.
Two-time Olympian Jennifer Nichols’ eyes light up with she talks about her sport finally climbing out of the shadows.
“The Hunger Games” has shined a bright light on the ancient sport of archery and fueled interest across the country in picking up a bow and arrow…
Read the entire Yahoo article here.
Check out this article published by The Telegraph in the United Kingdom. It provides an overview of Olympic archery including Tactics and Techniques. It also has a very nice introduction to archery video by 5 time Great Britain Olympian, Alison Williamson.
A sport’s guide to the archery event at the London 2012 Olympics.
On May 16th to May 17th 2012 Richmond Green Community Sports Centre again hosted the Ontario High School Archery Invitational Tournament, a sanctioned Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) event.
Once again, I was able to compete on behalf of my high school Kingston Colligate and Vocational Institute alongside my sister Sydney. We had a great time meeting up with several of our archery friends from all over the province.
This year, well over a hundred girls competed in Olympic Individual division which produced a close competition, a difference of only 34 points separated the top 10 finishers. I was fortunate to capture the Silver Medal between friends Odelia Wong of Parkdale CI and my MICA teammate Lindsay Fulmerton of St. Michael’s School. My sister shot extremely well and improved on last year’s performance to finish 17th. The new KCVI Archery Club, for which we are founders and I am the coach, has been making progress towards participating in the annual OFSAA tournament. Next year we should be ready to enter a team in the Girls Olympic & Standard Divisions. I hope that we will have enough interest to have a Boys’ Teams as well.
This tournament was a lot of fun and hopefully, the results for the entire tournament will be posted on the Ontario Association of Archers shortly. Any high-school that has or is thinking of starting an Archery Club should really consider participating in this OFSAA sanctioned event. It is an awesome event to gauge your archery club’s development and it is a lot of fun.
Have you seen the new marvel superhero blockbuster movie, The Avengers? If not, put it on your agenda to see, the movie is awesome and totally lives up to the hype.
The Avengers movie is the continuation of the four other Marvel superhero movies including Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and Captain America. The plot centers around Earth being a threatened by another realm spearheaded by Thor’s revengeful brother Loki. Earth’s S.H.I.E.L.D. (or Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) recruit and assemble the world mightiest superheroes into a supreme team to battle the threat. This is a classic Marvel comic book style through cross-pollinating multiple superhero paths into an extra special super series and contains the perfect amount of action, drama, and comedy. (That’s right comedy.)
Director Joss Whedon really brings together this collection of stars Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark / Iron Man), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers / Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner / The Hulk ), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow), Jeremy Renner(Clint Barton / Hawkeye), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) into the ultimate superhero spectacular.
The popularity of this movie, which broke Hunger Games opening weekend record with over 200 million, will add another shot in the arm for the sport of archery. Although, actor Jeremy Renner who portrayed Hawkeye does not have the best archery form, the story line around him and his use of the bow and arrow to help save the world are another feather in the cap of archery.
If you have not seen The Avengers, make sure you see in 3D. Even if you have no knowledge of superheroes you will still enjoy this movie. I can not wait for the sequel.
If you have ever competed outdoors in a field, 3D or target tournament you can understand the importance of being able to zoom in on the target to see how you are shooting. Although using a telephoto scope on your bow is not allowed in competition, you can use some after-the-shot magnification with binoculars or a spotting scope which can be extremely valuable.
For field and 3D, most archers use binoculars, since they are portable and much easier and quicker to align with the target and can be positioned quickly, which is important since you are changing targets often. The use of a spotting scope would be cumbersome to carry and setup from target to target. Although binoculars are allowed in field and 3D tournament, range finders are usually prohibited.
For target, most archers use a spotting scope (also known as a sport telescope, fieldscope or minocular) because once setup the spotting scope does not need to be changed very often. Although you can use binoculars, the value of a spotting scope over binoculars is the magnification and the angled eye-piece which reduces the need to reposition your shooting stance to check the location of each arrow. The rules allow you to set-up a spotting scope within your shooting line space of 80cm. The challenge is making sure it is set up so it does not interfere with your or your opponent.
If you are new to outdoor competitions, consider investing in some type of magnification, since no matter how good your eyes are, the distances become farther and farther as you get older. Understanding how you are doing during each end, instead of after it can be the difference between standing on the podium or admiring it from a distance.
Canadian archer, Jay Lyon, interviews with the Toronto Star as he prepares to take aim at the Olympic Games in London.
Check out the article : Shooting is a breeze for Olympic archery hopeful Jay Lyon
