Six Blackshear Elementary School students are trying their hand at a sport that’s new to them — archery — thanks to PE coach Sally Torres.
Torres was certified to teach archery by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department about seven years ago.
On a recent Monday, fourth-graders were just in their second week of trying the sport in the school gym.
They use Genesis bows endorsed by the National Archery in Schools program as safe for adults and kids.
The arrows are also NAS products.
Torres, who offers the program after school, takes students through the archery steps from where to stand to letting their arrows go, picking them up and putting them away afterward. She has a list of 11 steps to archery success up where the students can see it: Stance, nock, set drawing hand, set bow hand, pre-draw, anchor, aim, shot set up, release, follow through and reflect.
Reflection, she said, is the most important part.
“That’s what I like about this program is that it’s very structured down to the whistle commands. They know where the waiting line is. They know where the shooting line is. They know what to do in case a door is opened up. … They know what to do in any situation,” Torres said.
Through the years, she has worked with pre-K through 12th grade students and she tends to gravitate toward sports you can do your whole life such as archery, disc golf and tennis.
She plans to add ping pong, as well.
“Last week (the week of Nov. 6), we did golf for two weeks,” Torres said.
Torres had never participated in archery before, but she knew she wanted to be able to implement as many different activities into her program that you normally don’t see.
“I knew archery was a big one and I knew kids would enjoy it. I know how much confidence it instills,” she added.
Julian Aiza, 10, said he thinks archery is a fun sport and he likes the after-school program.
Aiza said shooting the arrows makes him feel good.
Paulo Hicks, 10, said the sport is fun and shooting the arrows makes him happy.
Hicks said he had tried it before and it makes him feel good to hit the target.
Joanna Olivas, 9, is probably the smallest one of the group. This is the first time she has tried archery.
“The first time I did it, I was nervous. But I got used to it, so I just felt good about it. Every time I do it, I think about how I shoot. … I feel good after I felt nervous after I shot because I was the first one to shoot. That’s how I felt, and how I feel about archery, I feel good about it,” Olivas said.
