A group of archers from the area recently competed in the Alberta Indigenous games and in the first year of the local archery program the group brought home some hardware.
Haley Broadbent who runsThe National Archery in Schools Program (NASP) in Rainy River First Nations brought 10 young archers from RRFNs as well as Big Grassy First Nation and Onigaming.
The group drove from Ontario to Edmonton last week and spent six days traveling and competing in Edmonton.
In all, the group came home with two gold medals, three silver, and three bronze across multiple age groups in their Genesis bow category.
Coach Haley Broadbent was immensely proud of the group, some of whom had not traveled as far away from home before.
“[They’re] little champs,” Broadbent said. “They came out muddy, tired, sweaty and wet but they placed really well. Out of 10 archers we had eight place.”
Given the format of the event was totally new to each of the archers in the RRFN group, making the podium was a great success.
The group normally practices in the gym in Manitou Rapids but the competition took place at an outdoor trail range where they shot at 3D animal targets rather than the bullseyes they normally aim for back home.
Competition started with a chance to get a look at the site as well as having equipment inspected and then they practiced then there was a little time for fun.
“We took them to the West Edmonton Mall because when in Edmonton…” Broadbent said. “Then Thursday Morning was their first competition. There was an opening ceremony and then the first time on a trail range for our guys. They got to shoot one arrow each per target and that was their scoring arrow. It’s not as easy as it sounds, it was quite challenging. I’ve lost a lot of arrows in the bush somewhere.”
They received their first day’s scores that evening and all but two were in medal positions which boosted the group’s morale after a tiring first day.
“Friday, we went back for the third range in the morning, and that one was really challenging. A lot of the targets were down hills. There were three targets that were literally down a ravine,” Broadbent said. “So they had to scale this ravine. They had a rope to help them get down and up. So they had to shoot from the top of the ravine. For the first target, climb down, go get their arrow, and then hike to the second target, and then the third target, and then climb out of that ravine.”
In the end they ended up with eight medalists.
In the U17 girls division Cadence Smith Anderson from Ojibways of Onigaming FN won silver. In the U12 girls division Rylee Copenace of Big Grassy FN won bronze and Lillia Morrisseau from Big Grassy/Couchiching FN won silver. In the U17 division Xander Broadbent of RRFNs won Gold and Eddie Horton from RRFNs won silver. In U15 boys Billy Broadbent from RRFNs won Bronze. In U12 boys Eron Doggit-Connor from RRFNs won gold and Shaydon Kabestra-Joseph from Big Grass FN won Silver.
The weekly archery program will resume Saturday Sept. 14 at the gym in Manitou at 11 a.m.
Going forward, Broadbent says she’d like to offer the kids a more competition-like experience so she is hoping to explore creating a trail range like they competed on.
“I would love to set up a trail range, even if it’s just six to 12 targets,” she said. “The kids had a blast with it. It’s a totally different environment than in the gym. It was more challenging. It was harder to gauge distance. It’s harder to gauge, like the height of the target. And of course, different animals make it fun.”
