National Archery Day aims at recognizing one of the oldest sports
This year, National archery Day will be celebrated today, May 11. This day serves as a time to recognize one of the oldest sports that is still in existence as archery has been around since before 2,800 BC when bows were used for hunting and combat.
In 1900 modern Olympic games introduced archery as an official event. In recent years archery has seen its popularity grow as the National archery in the Schools Program began in 2002 in Kentucky.
Since this program began, it has expanded to 47 states and 10 countries.
There are over 2.1 million kids that participate each year.
National archery Day was submitted by the NASP in March of 2015. Because the second Saturday in May is generally the time the NASP tournament is held it now stands as the National archery Day as well. This tournament is the largest archery tournament in the world.
Hannah Gordon, the social media and Event Marketing Specialist at Swan Lake Resort, is a local archer. She has been involved in archery since 2013, she first began competing in archery in 2014.
She shared that growing up her family lived near an archery range. Her dad got her a bow and had her try out shooting.
“Once I started shooting, I fell in love with it,” Gordon said.
She explained that her dad had at one time been into archery but became more interested in guns and hunting. She stayed focused on the competitive side of archery.
When Gordon first got into archery, she was not aware that there were competitions. as she spent more time at the archery range people there began to tell her what she could get into.
“It’s my whole life. I just go, start shooting and
it’s like a different world. I just turn into something else,” Gordon said when talking about what archery means to her.
Over her time competing in archery Gordon took part in many competitions. She went to State and National competitions and won scholarships.
She ended up not using these scholarships as she focused on starting a family as she got married and got pregnant.
“Even though I didn’t follow a career with it, I want to start a career. I want to market an archery company,” Gordon said.
She explained that this interest led her into the field of marketing which she works in today. She had a few interviews with archery companies but due to their location they just did not work for her at that time.
Looking back on her success at competitions, Gordon shared some of her top achievements. She placed fourth in Nationals in 2017. She has won at least 20 State indoor and outdoor championships. She also holds over 12 state records.
“It not just about my accomplishment but the people I met too. It’s my archery family. I started in high school, and I was struggling with a lot, and they just got me through so much. I’m still in touch with a lot of them now,” Gordon said.
Gordon was homeschooled as a kid. She said this was nice because she could go to the range when all the other kids were in school. She said this helped her to have one on one time with her coach.
As she has taken on the responsibilities of her job and as a mom Gordon does not compete as often, but she will still shoot for fun. She recently bought a Mathews bow. This encouraged her to shoot more often. She most recently competed at the NFAA Trail Shoot at Bass and Bucks.
She said that Bass and Bucks is her go to place. She works at these events and then shoots them. She has been a staff shooter with them. She was also once a staff shooter for Eagle Creek Firearms and Dead Center Archery.
She decided to lessen her archery again when she found out that she is pregnant with her second child.
Her first daughter is now four and has already given archery a try. She has a little bow that she is able to shoot in the basement. Gordon and her husband do not want to push this on her so that she can find her own activities that she enjoys.
Gordon’s husband used to be involved in archery too. They shot at some of the same competitions. Since then, he has sustained a rotator cuff injury and cannot shoot anymore.
“I wouldn’t be here today without my coaches,” Gordon said.
She explained that Brook Stevens and Jon Ringer were both instrumental in her archery career. She started with Ringer who taught her how to shoot. Stevens was her coach for competitions. She said that she also received help from so many people over her years in the sport as everyone wants to help each other.
“It’s very therapeutic. You focus so much. It’s not just pulling a bow back, it’s how your hand is, how you’re supposed to shoot and how the arrow is. It is a mental game so it is very therapeutic where you can just go out in the woods and focus about that rather than worrying about everything else,” Gordon said when talking about why people should give archery a try.
Information about National Archery Day was collected from Nationaldaycalendar.com.