Ritseeniyah Georges-Houghton takes her bow out to shoot nearly every day, and if she could she’d do it more often.
The ability to focus is a requirement for any good archer, said Patrick Smith, the VIAA’s public relations officer.
“I’m involved in martial arts, and the levels of concentration you need are similar,” Mr. Smith said.
Although he began shooting a bow and arrow while in college, he has done so in his spare time in the VI for about three years. In the last year or so, he noticed via social media that other residents were also interested.
Soon, Mr. Smith and others had begun meeting regularly at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College campus, where he works as an information technology officer.
“The college is kind of our home base,” he said, adding that the group has visited other locations, like the Tortola Sports Club, for demonstrations.
Growing interest
As interest in archery grew — the VIAA mailing list now goes out to about 80 people — so did the group’s desire to offer more formal training.
“I really wanted to see us get an Olympic training programme going,” Mr. Smith said.
To that end, the VIAA brought Kevin Dixon, vice president of the Kentucky-based National Archery in the Schools Program, to the territory last week for a three-day training session.
By the end of the programme, four residents had achieved basic archery instructor certifications, while the VIAA’s five board members got certified to train others to become basic archery instructors.
In discussions so far, Education Ministry officials have supported the group’s efforts to offer archery in the VI public schools, Mr. Smith said.
“We had hoped to train some of the PE teachers before the school year started, but the timing just wasn’t right,” he said.
In the schools
According to the NASP, learning archery helps students improve their motivation, attention and behaviour in the classroom, and for Ms. Georges-Houghton, this claim has been valid.
“I have son who is 14, and before he started shooting he was really down,” she said, adding that the sports offered at school just didn’t appeal to him. “Now he’s smiling again; I think he’s back to his old self. His grades have even improved.”
Archery supporters frequently tout the accessibility of the activity.
“You really don’t have to be in the best physical shape,” Mr. Smith said. “Anyone can do it.”
For Ms. Georges-Houghton, the only challenge to beginning archery is accessing equipment.
“You can’t really get it here, so you have to ship things in,” she said, adding that it hasn’t been a difficult hurdle. “There’s just so much stuff out there. It’s not hard to find.”
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