Young archers aim for gold
In April and May, two archery schools/clubs had most of their equipment stolen. So, the shoot held at St George’s on Saturday was a bit of a comeback where the resilience of archery in Namibia was displayed. And back with new equipment, competitions continued as planned.On Saturday, 113 archers from all over the country gathered in the capital and after registration, the arrows began flying.
Each of the archers between 10 and school leaving age shot three Bulls’ Eye rounds (3 ends at 10m and 15m each) on targets with a big yellow inner circle showing where the 9 and 10 (best score) is. There after they also shot a 3D animal round, with six foam animals being placed at different distances and 5 arrows shot at each distance.
This means that the archer shoots for about 4 hours on the day of the competition, which is hard on fingers and very hard on mental fitness since you have to concentrate and motivate yourself for an extended period.
The adult archers have an easier time since they only shoot one round of Bulls’ Eye and 3D each. However, many of them are then busy with range duty.
After a long day in the sun where lots was learnt and much fun was had with friends, archers were rewarded at the prize giving and then the long trip back home started.
AGA Namibia thanks the archers who practice regularly to maintain great scores, their parents who drive them all over the country to attend competitions, the instructors who train these future athletes with love and lots of patience, St George’s for the use of their premises and the Tuck Shop for making sure no-one's energy ever dwindled. The Afro Pumps team needs a special mention for setting up the range on Friday afternoon and taking it down again on Saturday after the shoot. Their efforts are invaluable.
The next AGA Namibia shoot is the 7th AGA Namibia Nationals hosted on 10 September 2022 at Vegkop (Windhoek High School)
The top shots for the day were:
Junior boys: Wynand Olivier (Privaatskool Moria) Bull's Eye, Animal and combined round;
Junior girls: Danya Louise Laas (Pro-Ed Akadmie) Bull's Eye, Animal and combined round;
Senior boys: Burton Weakley (WHS) Bull's Eye, Animal and combined round; and
Senior girls: Marionette de Waal (Walvis Bay Private High School) Bull's Eye, Animal and combined round.