I was very proud of all of the Forsyth County Archery Club archers this past weekend. There were struggles and successes. The archers made great progress and it seemed that everyone had a good time. I’d like to thank everyone at the Gainesville Archery Club for putting on an excellent tournament once again.

Rewind back about a year and our club was driving down for the 4-H Outdoor tournament at Rock Eagle, Georgia. The weather opened up with buckets of rain, and eventually quite a bit of lightning. Our kids didn’t handle that very well and I blame myself. During the past several years, if it was raining we would cancel practice. No one wants to set up, or tear down the equipment in the rain. We would have to dry out equipment, targets, arrows, canopy tents after practice. That’s why we would often postpone practice. We weren’t doing ourselves any favors. Our archers never learned how to shoot in the rain. The archers with feather fletchings didn’t know how to prepare for their fletchings “wilting” in the rain, or would it even matter?!?!

This year, I promised that we would push on through. We would gain that archery-rain experience that we’ll need if it rains during a tournament. After all, it’s not really the kids that rain bothers … it’s the adults. Once the archers shoot in the rain, it becomes no big deal. It’s the adults that don’t want to bother. Am I right?!?

We’ll shoot in the rain, and we’ll shoot in the cold. Our limit is shooting in the cold plus rain. We’ll cancel then, or when shooting isn’t safe. (Lightning) Otherwise, we’re there. The kids did great yesterday and next time, they’ll be better equipped with the skills to shoot in the rain.

– Coach Kevin