Leahurst College

Leahurst College is a new Kingston high-school that just opened it doors in September 2013. As a new private high-school they started up with only grade 9 and have plans expand adding grades each year until they can accommodate grade 7 through grade 12 by 2017. The school is taking a very unique approach teaching advanced placement with very high academic standards while introducing hands-on learning through practical application and experience. My younger brother Joshua was given a unique opportunity to attend and is enjoying it very much.

As part of their practical application, they visit universities, research facilities, try different sports like rowing, rock climbing, slack line etc…. With this in mind, on Wednesday, I was given the opportunity to introduce archery to all of Josh’s classmates. One of the reasons, they wanted to introduce Archery was because Josh became the school’s first competing athlete, when he attended Ontario OFSAA championships in Toronto.  The school wanted all his classmates to understand and appreciate what it takes to not only shoot archery but to compete.

We covered the basic 10 steps of archery, safety, basic tournament rules, and some physics of archery. The students had a lot of fun in the sun shooting arrows in to the target. They all started at 5m working their way to 15m for about an hour.  At the end of class, they sat back and admired as Josh shot from 45m.  I believe they all now have an appreciation for the level of skill and consistency Joshua has developed in the sport. Little did they know, this was all with his indoor setup and feathers vanes.

There were about seven students in total, which is the most amount of students that I have personally coached at once but, it was a lot of fun. They even talked to me about doing another group lesson in the future and the possibility a Leahurst Archery club that could attend OFSAA in the future. Leahurst’s students are currently doing exams, and I want to wish them all the best of luck and I look forward to teaching them in the future.

If you would to learn more about Leahurst College check out their website or facebook page.

2012 OFSAA Archery Invitational Tournament

On May 16^th to May 17^th 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 17^th. 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.

2011 OFSAA Archery Invitational Tournament

This year’s OFSAA Archery Invitational Tournament in Richmond Hill was awesome. It was a real thrill to compete on behalf of my high school Kingston Colligate and Vocational Institute alongside my sister Sydney.  I had a great time meeting up with several of my archery friends including my Canada Winter Games teammate Janeen Howie who I have not seen since we departed at the airport.

The Girls Olympic division produced a close competition and I was fortunate to capture the Gold medal, finishing just ahead of Hannah Brunet and Tessa Lehmann who each won silver and bronze respectively. Hopefully, the results for the entire tournament will be posted on the Ontario Association of Archers shortly.

Although my sister didn’t finish in the top 3, she shot extremely well and had a great time, which is exactly the purpose for this tournament. We were fortunate to be able to travel with our full-time coach Kathy Millar and several other school teams she supports. We would really like to thank Ms. Montgomery who allowed us to ride with them to and from Toronto.

This tournament was a lot of fun and any high-school that has or is thinking of starting an Archery Club should really consider participating in this OFSAA sanctioned event.

OFSAA Archery Invitational Tournament

On May 18^th to May 19^th Richmond Green Community Sports Centre will host the 2011 Ontario High School Archery Invitational Tournament, a sanctioned Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) event.

This is a great tournament for high school aged archers, divided up by gender (male and female) and bow class (Standard, Olympic, Compound Limited and Compound Unlimited).  This is a double 300 shot on a 60 cm face at 18 meters with the compound classes shooting the first day and the recurve archers shooting the second day. The winners receive a medal for gold, silver or bronze.  For those schools that are lucky enough to have three or four athletes in the same division (e.g. Female Standard Class) participating, there is also a team event, for which the winning team receives a championship banner to be displayed at their school.  All full-time high-school athletes are eligible to participate. A minimum qualifying score for 175 of 300 on a 60cm target face is required however; this may vary depending on the number of archers in your high school archery club.

Last year was my first time competing at the OFSAA High School Archery Invitational Tournament and I was very fortunate to win the silver medal. Molly Solc of LaSalle Secondary School in Kingston won the Gold and Chantelle Petrie of Regina Mundi College won the Bronze.  This year I have the great pleasure to have my younger sister Sydney compete with me for our high school, Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute (KCVI).  KCVI is one of the oldest high schools in Canada and is the high school of our first Prime Minister Sir John A Macdonald.  Together, Sydney and I hope to represent our school well and we are investigating the possibility of starting our own KCVI archery club to compete as a team at next year’s event.

With over 400 high-school aged athletes competing every year, it is a great opportunity to meet new friends and re-unite with old friends from all over the province of Ontario.  If your school has an archery club or if you are interested in participating in next year’s event , please contact OFSAA and/or the OAA (Ontario Association of Archers) for more details including necessary signatures, coaches and principal’s permission.