Archery club’s first year in review

Santa Fe is home to many great sports and clubs programs. One of the most underrated of these sports is Santa Fe’s Archery Club.

This is Santa Fe’s first year hosting the Archery club. It’s coached by Lora Nall, who also teaches English 3. It is a one-semester course that is taken during 4th hour.

It being the first year, the Archery Club’s primary goal was to teach the basics. They made some mistakes, such as not bringing arrows to their first tournament, but quickly learned and moved past these mistakes.

The Archery Club’s major sponsor is the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP). This is a Program dedicated to teaching students archery and helps them connect with other students. There are even Olympic Archers like Mackenzie Brown who started with NASP.

“NASP is a great program because it is designed for anybody to learn archery,” Nall said.

Archery can be one of the most inclusive school activities. There is no background, body type or age that allows some people to excel above others. It has one of the most level playing fields of any sport, and it can also be multi-generational. Nall herself got into archery because of her son’s involvement with the sport.

The team did not enjoy much competitive success, earning last place at every tournament they attended. This is to be expected when competing against schools that are much more experienced. They were never drastically behind the person directly above them at any tournament. Some Santa Fe Archers consistently scored 260 points or more, which is very close to the perfect score of 300.

Despite a lack of competitive success, the team has great potential for future years. The first year of trying anything is a learning experience, and with a great coach and a dedicated team, the archery team can see great success in future years. Nall would like for archery to be a full-year class next year, and this could help the team out greatly with the extra practice and team bonding.