Breathe in, breathe out, and let the arrow fly. And that’s archery in a nutshell.
It’s one of 17 sports at the Penticton 2016 BC Winter Games, and will see 73 athletes from around the province find their targets in three days of competition.
Archers compete in three categories based on their bow of choice: barebow, which has no sight or mechanical assistance; recurve, in which bow limbs are bent at rest towards the target, thereby adding power; and compound bow, which uses a system of pulleys to increase arrow speed.
All competitions see athletes shoot 10 rounds of three arrows at targets 18 metres away. Targets are marked with 10 spaced concentric rings, which are assigned scores from one to 10. Scores are then added up to decide the most accurate shooter.
“There’s not a lot of strategy. You just try to stay calm and do your best,” said Shawn Hiibner, a 14-year old Oliver archer who’s one of six representing Zone 2 Thompson-Okanagan. “You just kind of stay focused on what you’re doing.”
He trains twice a week and only took up the sport three years ago as an after-school activity. He’ll be joined on the Zone 2 team by fellow Oliver archer Delaney Wise, 14, with whom he practises regularly. Since boys and girls compete at different times, Wise said she and Hiibner can support each other and try to keep each other calm during what will be the most pressure-packed test they’ve ever faced. And if all goes well in Penticton, the sky’s the limit for her and the rest of the athletes, although Wise isn’t getting ahead of herself.
“If I do good at the BC Games, I’d like to try to go further, but for now I just want to have fun and do my best,” she said.
The Penticton 2016 BC Winter Games will prove to be a memorable event for BC’s best developing athletes, coaches, and officials from Feb. 25 to 28. Competition will take place in 17 sports. This will be the fourth time Penticton has hosted the BC Games. The city was the host of the inaugural BC Summer Games in 1978, the 1990 BC Winter Games and the 1995 BC Summer Games.
For more information, visit www.bcgames.org.