Every so often I go over to the Pasadena archery range, in the Arroyo park, where the Pasadena Roving Archers oversee regular activities. My friend Jim MacQuarrie and his wife Terri teach the kids and mentor the aspiring Junior Olympian archers. Because they’re dealing with a wide range of ages, they maintain a very relaxed atmosphere. And a shorter shooting range for the kids (20 yards). The larger range has more space for the 30 yard archers, but I admit … it’s more work. So when I do manage to get over there, I like shooting with the kids.
Recently, for the Geek Dad blog on Wired.com, Jim had done some analysis of the various movies this year that feature archery in them. His comments about Brave and the quality of the shooting in one of the trailers, earned him a spot on a bloggers press junket to the Pixar studio and an advanced screening (lucky dog!). He complimented the young star of the Hunger Games for the evident work she did in learning proper archery form. And then he had some fun criticizing the “movie archery” form of the actor playing Hawkeye in the Avengers movie, which got him some flak from fanboys.
In spite of the flak about his comments regarding Hawkeye, Jim has been predicting that this year there will be a high growth of interest in youngsters about archery – because of these films, and because the U.S. Olympic Archery team is the very best we’ve fielded in many years – he expects to see gold for them.
I hadn’t been to the range in many months (maybe even a year). Partly because many of my Saturday mornings are occupied with other scheduled things, and partly because driving over to Pasadena takes up gas – a consideration when you’re on a really short budget, unfortunately. But this last Saturday, time and gas-in-the-car conformed in a happy mixture, and I headed over there, to see how things were with the MacQuarries and their charges.
In the past, there was usually something under a dozen kids of all ages. But Saturday, there were considerably more. And even as the shooting went on, a couple of sets of parents (with children in tow) asked about the activity.
The kids are very eager, and the MacQuarries give them full attention, even in such large groups. They do a good job keeping everyone in order on the line.
Terri’s very good in getting them to follow her instructions.
I think the youngsters mind the instructions because the MacQuarries never make them feel that its not fun to get it all right. The kids are pretty patient, even with so many eager to shoot, and the necessity of waiting to take your turn at the line.
They wait to shoot ….
And then they take their turns at the target, pulling out their arrows. And some of them were doing a heck of a lot better than I was. (Yes, my excuse is that I haven’t shot in over 10 months. That’s it. Of course. Heh.)
All in all, I had a great morning at the range. It was delightful seeing so many kids seriously paying attention to the instruction and enjoying their achievements. And I got in some shooting myself, as well as some much-needed exercise.
If you live even moderately near Pasadena, you can contact the Pasadena Roving Archers for more information about shooting (they do have equipment for those who don’t own their own). The Park down in the Arroyo is where the Sherwood Forest sequences for the Errol Flynn Adventures of Robin Hood were shot, if Hollywood history appeals to you. There are two other archery ranges in the Greater Los Angeles area that I know of: Woodley Park in the San Fernando Valley, and Rancho Park in Cheviot Hills near the Fox Studios. I myself have never shot at Woodley Park, but it’s a nice wide open space. The Rancho Park range is perhaps the size of a tennis court, with careful fencing to keep arrows from flying astray off the range. It’s open all hours if you have your own equipment – I used to shoot there quite frequently on my way home from work at the Sony Studio in Culver City.
Archery is a great sport for low-impact stresses – if you can pull your bow and aim, you can shoot. It requires you to relax your brain in order to focus, so it’s a great way of getting stress and bothers out of your thoughts and system – at least for as long as you’re on the range. I really need to get back into doing it more often.
