The Woodford County High School Archery team, or the  Arrow Jackets, is a proud team that strives to be the best. The WCHS archery team is a big family and they all try their best to improve with each other and be the best archers they can be.

The coach of the archery team is Cindy Peal and the assistant coach is Amanda Howard. Cindy has been coaching for 10 years and said archery is everything to her. Amanda has been officially coaching for two years, although this is her first year at the high school. Amanda said, “I’ve been shooting since I was four and I’ve wanted to continue it and I love being here and being accepted by all of you (archery team) and being able to coach you.”  These coaches are always trying to help the team grow and become better. Cindy has described archery as, “A sport for everybody,” and will welcome anyone on the team and help them succeed.

On November 13th, practice tryouts were held for the official Arrow Jackets team. The results were recently given to this and to find out about this see one of the coaches or find out from one of the archers.

During a normal practice, archers sign up to shoot at 6:15 and get to the school fifteen minutes early to help set up targets and netting. They will then shoot a few rounds at 10 meters away from the targets and then move back to 15 meters. During the last few minutes of practice, the team will play knockout in which they are are asked to shoot a certain area of the target, and if you miss you’re out. A similar schedule happens with the 7:15 practice.  However, at 7:15 archers shoot and then at 8:15 archers help pack everything up and set up the tables in the cafeteria. In between shooting the archers will talk to friends and wait for the next round to begin. Even though the archers like to talk they are also respectful of those who are shooting and will stay quiet to allow them to concentrate. All the archers treat each other like a family and are willing to help each other grow.

Many of the archers were exited to give quotes. One of these quotes was from Morgan Murray (11) who said, “I do archery because it’s fun and i’ve made a lot of friends doing it.” Another archer, Julia Brillowski (9) said, “It’s more relaxed than other sports.” and, ” I enjoy it because I am able to shoot with friends on the team.” All of the archers say they do archery for there friends and to be a part of this sport but Caleb May (9) said he does archery because, “I get to be with my friends and it’s something you can show measurable progress on.”

Both Coach Cindy and Coach Amanda love being a part of archery. Amanda said, “I am very thankful to be a part of this team, and to be able to be around to help these people grow.” The piece of advice given to me by Coach Cindy is, “Don’t be afraid to try something new. Archery has been around for a long time, but it is still new to some schools.”

The next known tournament for the Arrow Jackets is on December 2nd and students are welcome to come spectate and encourage the team. An archery tournament will usually be quiet to allow the archers to concentrate and will take about an hour. It is often described as long but is important for the archers to have family and friends there to support them as they shoot.