Monthly achievement shoot yields many happy students!

We had our monthly achievement shoot yesterday.  Twenty different students shooting at a variety of distances shot two matches to qualify for pins in the USA Archery youth and adult achievement program.

The achievement program provides a great structure in which to keep yourself challenged as you improve your archery skills.   Talk to a coach about spending the next month identifying and preparing for your next goal.

On a personal note, I think everyone knows that its quite a bit of work to run the achievement shoots monthly.  It has grown to the point that I didn’t even shoot yesterday more than 12 arrows until the tournament was over.  I’m ok with that.

I love watching kids take up the sport and grow in their confidence as they get a reward that acknowledges their accomplishment.   You can see it in the looks on their faces.  Sure, they get a bit of swagger, but they earned it through the hard work of practice.  As a parent I understand the incalculable value of getting something that only your own hard work can provide.

One student earned his pin yesterday and I took his photo holding it.  His dad was standing beside me.  His son had worked really hard to get his pin.  After I snapped the photo he said, “Can you  take some more photos of me?”  I turned to his dad and said, “As a parent, I know your dad will take lots of photos of you with your new award.”   His dad was beaming.