Archers take aim at Poland competition
POLAND
Katie Mims laughs and agrees with her mother that the “Pocahontas Effect” had everything to do with her love of archery. For Kristi Nelson, it was sitting around the middle school lunch table, hearing the boys talk and knowing she could do it just as well.
Theirs were two of the countless stories that brought more than 100 archers of all abilities and ages to the grounds of Poland Regional High School on Saturday for the Maine FITA (International Archery Federation) Challenge.
Camp Fernwood, also located in Poland, sponsored the event.
“I was totally into Pocahontas when I was five,” said Katie Mims, now 12. “I wanted to try archery because of the movie. I’ve been doing it ever since.”
Making the family’s trip from Bow, N.H., even more interesting is that not only was Katie competing, but so was her father, John. And it was not a case of daughter following Dad.
“I knew nothing about it at all before Katie got involved in it,” said John. “I started having to take care of her equipment and learn all that end of the stuff. As she went on, it got worse and worse, so finally I realized that some of this I wasn’t going to understand unless I tried it myself. I’ve a lot more respect for what she’s done after trying to do it myself.”
For John, the competition in Poland was his first time shooting outdoors.
“It’s been interesting and fun,” he added.
Joey Hunt III of Minot found himself at the end of the line after the reorganization caused by a heavy downpour and thundershower. The 11-year-old was in Denver last weekend, where he won the JOAD (Junior Olympic Archery Division) National Championships in the Bowman Divison for both individual and team.
“It was hot there, but I was challenged,” said Hunt. “I got to compete against people from other parts of the country.”
This is the second year for the Maine FITA challenge, according to Tournament Director Jim Gill. The event came about, he said, to meet a specific need.
“I’ve been involved in target archery for about 10 years,” said Gill. “I’m also the archery person at Camp Fernwood. When we played the other camps in the area, even the one two hours away, we would smoke them. Especially the boys. So we decided to take it to another level, but I couldn’t provide anything else as a camp tournament. So I told them, ‘I will create a tournament that you guys can be competitive in.'”
Camp Fernwood hosted the event on its own campus last year, but Gill quicklyu realized there wasn’t enough space.
One attractive quality about the sport is that it is open to anyone at any time, from youngsters trying to master a bow bigger than they are to Olympic hopefuls and those with the medals to prove it.
“It’s a great family sport,” said Gill. “You will see this at any tournament. At any archery event, you will find from the youngest to the oldest.
For eighth-grader Zach Rich of Windham, not only was he competing after only picking up a bow two months ago, he had to deal with the kids his age that have done it for years.
“They group kids by age and not ability,” said Zach’s mom, Kelly. “That makes it tough for him to be out there like this.”
Zach got involved with archery through friends at school and went to Nicely’s Precision Archery in Gorham to learn.
“Kids have to have an interest to do it for themselves,” said Matt Nicely. “It can be hard if they have their expectations too high, but with the JOAD they have qualifiers and tier levels. That gives them a goal, and they have other kids there with them. If they have an interest and they stick with it for the 10 weeks, they will be far different shooters than the day they came in. There will be plateaus, and there are some things we can do to help with equipment, but they have to want to do it.”
On the right end of the line of 30 targets were the adults, including Nelson, of Loudon, N.H.
Nelson will be a sophomore at Texas A&M this fall and is an archery All-American.
“My guy friends were talking hunting at the lunch table. I knew I could be better than them, so my dad got me into the New England School of Archery. I started competing in national tournaments when I was a freshman.”
Even top people in their sport need time to regroup.
“Gaining confidence was my main goal today,” said Nelson. “I recorded two personal bests today, and maybe that gets me out of my slump. I’ve had a pretty tough time the past couple of years. I try to come away from every tournament having learned something.”
Where does she want all this knowledge to lead her?
“The Olympics are my ultimate goal,” said Nelson. “I am going to work every small step to get there. I am going to work as hard as possible for 2004.”
Having already been there and symbolically even farther down the line was Olympic champion Butch Johnson. Johnson won a gold medal at the 1996 games in Atlanta and a bronze in 2000.
“Any event or tournament like this is good practice,” said Johnson. “I’m trying some new equipment out today that I just got to see how it works. It’s not going real well, but this is where you have to try it. Before the competition gets tough, you have to know how it’s going to perform.”
Johnson got involved in the sport when he was 15. A new shop opened where he lived and he checked it out.
He also sees positive signs when competing in an event like the Maine FITA Challenge.
“There are a lot more kids, it seems, getting into it now than there was a few years back,” said the gold medalist. “The sport keeps changing, but a lot of new people get interested.”
Johnson hopes there are more Olympics in his future and plans to try out for the 2004 games.
Shooting next to Johnson was one of the top archers in the world, Dave Cousins.
“The only reason Dave doesn’t have an Olympic medal is that he shoots a compound bow, and they only allow recurves in the Olympics,” said Gill.
“Confidence and concentration are the key,” said Nicely. “To have the ability to know that the only thing that matters is this arrow and not the last one that wasn’t good is key. It’s a tough competition, but if you can master that you will do alright.”
Come to think of it, archery might not be the only place that advice might work.
pmullen@sunjournal.com
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