Butte Elementary Archery team hits the target with state championship win

For anyone who has ever picked up a bow, nocked an arrow back, and lined up the sights to aim at a target at ten or fifteen meters, then feeling the tension as the arrow releases knows the stamina and patience required in archery. It’s a sport that requires focus, concentration, and an ability to handle pressure in competition. And last month, the Butte Elementary Bandits Archery Team, led by coach and Physical Education teacher Amy Roberts, proved they have learned those skills as they took home the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) state championship.

The team of archers are made up of 4th and 5th grade students, but as Roberts explains, the students having been working hard to learn the sport since 3rd grade.

“I told them we’re going to try this for PE, and if it goes well, I’m going to have them start shooting at 3rd grade, and they took it so seriously,” she said, emphasizing to the students the seriousness of the sport, reminding them that they are utilizing weapons and the need for safety at all times.

It was so successful that she has expanded it to introduce 1st and 2nd grade classes, feeding their curiosity as they would see everything set up, but weren’t able yet to learn about archery. Instead, she has the students working with a string bow and absolutely no shooting yet.

“I started last year with the first grade, going over the range, navigating the range, the signals, voice and whistle commands, the 11 steps for archery success, and the reward is watching them build their excitement up about it. They are learning the exact same thing that the older kids are doing.”

She says that to keep the novelty of it as the students move into 2nd grade, the students review everything from the first year, but she lets them remove the arrows from the targets, and in 3rd grade, they graduate into actually shooting.

Roberts says that the entire gym becomes an archery shooting range, but there was work to be done to get the archers ready for the different distances they must shoot for the NASP tournament.

“The first year, we couldn’t compete in the whole tournament because our range was only on the short side of the gym, and we need to go all the way to 15 yards for one of the competitions.” She asked for the range to be turned to accommodate the longer required distances for the students, which helped them to prepare for the tournament.

Archery programs are not unique to Butte Elementary, as many schools throughout the Mat-Su Borough offer them. Roberts took the opportunity to get trained as an archery coach, even though she had never picked up a bow and arrow before. It was during her training that she learned about the NASP tournament.

“As long as I’ve been here, we’ve had an archery program. Then, hearing that there was a tournament, that was exciting!” says Roberts, who then began developing an afterschool program, which helped her qualify for the tournament.

She says there are a number of requirements for the school to qualify, including 10 hours in in-class archery, which can be a challenge when students only have Physical Education for 45 minutes two times a week, making for a very long unit.

“The kids actually love it.”

Aside from learning about the sport, Roberts has seen her students flourish as they develop confidence and other skills that will benefit them inside and outside the archery range.

“The confidence it builds. For a lot of them, this is their first time doing this, and they can see how their work is paying off, which can be harder to see in academics. But with this, the kids are able to see their progress from when they start to the end of the archery unit.

She says she has been impressed with the students’ maturity when it comes not only to handling the equipment, but also the willingness to accept constructive criticism.

“To take that and then be able to apply it and be successful with that, I’m very proud of them. I know a lot of adults that aren’t able to do that. You criticize them or give them feedback and they get defensive. These 10- and 11-year-olds, we tell them something, recommend an adjustment…they accept it and you see them start to grow and develop such a sense of accomplishment.”

Another import lesson Roberts works to instill in her archers is “The Archery Way,” which means competing with honesty and integrity.

“As archers, we strive to shoot our best while competing with integrity. Honesty is an expectation, sportsmanship and composure, an obligation. We encourage others and understand our responsibility to self-officiate and protect the field with an overall goal of bringing the archery way into everyday life.”

What’s next for the team? Roberts says that while they won the state tournament, the team was shy of reaching a minimum score to qualify for the National Tournament. Additionally, because any regional or national tournament is out of state, there would be a lot of cost associated with traveling, but she is hopeful that the students continue on after they leave elementary school.

“Archery is a much bigger sport in the lower 48. I am hoping with our school’s exposure this year, more schools in our district will think about participating in the tournament in future years. Or what would be even more fantastic is if it got picked up in the middle and high schools.”