The Kamsack River Valley Archery Club has reopened with new COVID-safe plans for this year鈥檚 archery season and is inviting anyone aged 5 to 85+ to join them.
鈥淚 was in a club over the years in Estevan and thought there wasn鈥檛 enough for the kids to do up here and figured they would enjoy the sport of archery,鈥� says Scott Green, club volunteer. 鈥淕et them off the street and out of the house!鈥�
The Sask Archery Association has given the club the go-ahead with COVID rules to follow to ensure the safety of all participants. They will be operating out of the Veregin Rink to do the archery club as a winter activity. Last year there were 25 members and the club organizers are optimistic that this year they will continue to see a rise in numbers.
鈥淲e will be sanitizing our equipment and our targets are set up 9 feet apart, it is a COVID safe activity,鈥� says Green. 鈥淔or the first bit, we will provide the equipment for anyone who wants to join us but eventually we would want them to have their own archery equipment. It鈥檚 a very COVID friendly sport, it鈥檚 non contact, you鈥檙e on your own. If there鈥檚 a sport out there that鈥檚 not going to get you with COVID it would be this one.鈥� 听
As a non-profit organization, the club has to fundraise and has been successfully hosting fundraisers in the Veregin Rink, the most recent of which raised $1000 and will help repair the roof.
鈥淲e took over the Veregin Rink to do the archery club and they gave us the rink to use as a winter facility,鈥� says Green. Green and his girlfriend Rhonda have been renovating the building, including building a new kitchen for the wing night fundraisers they have hosted drawing guests from Yorkton to Foam Lake, Benito and Swan River. 鈥淲e are very fortunate to have all of that for fundraising, we have upgraded the facility by insulating the door and we have been trying to find the funding to spray foam insulate the roof. When it鈥檚 -22 outside we just can鈥檛 heat the building and it鈥檚 too cold to shoot so we are down for two weeks. We want to use the facility year round.鈥澨�
The club will host a junior Olympic program for youth 5 to 21 teaching club members to shoot at different distances and score off targets.
鈥淭he club鈥檚 youngest archery student was a little girl shooting with her parents, she was 3 years old,鈥� says Green. 鈥淚t鈥檚 throwing that at the kids, they鈥檒l pick up some hunting skills.
Archery, it hones your hunting skills. You鈥檒l learn the proper kill zones on an animal, hand eye coordination and the concentration it takes for archery.鈥� 听
鈥淚t鈥檚 about teaching the kids, coaching the kids, the looks on their faces, when they鈥檙e having fun!鈥� 听
Anyone is invited to watch the club Facebook page, or come out and see what archery is like.
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