On April 8th, the West Lauderdale Archery Team competed in their state competition at the Mississippi Trade Mart in Jackson, Mississippi. The team closed out the season with a bang, coming in fifteenth for the entire state, racking up an impressive 3,122 points.
Mr. and Mrs. Calvert, the coaches, shared the highlights of the season: Nathan Baziari placed twenty-fourth at the south state meet out of thousands of contestants. Joseph Brooks placed one-hundredth at the south state meet, and also scored 284 points out of 300 at the state meet. The team as a whole came in sixth at south state.
Nathan Vetter, a member of the team, shared his thoughts about the season, stating “I believe that we did pretty good this season, [considering we made it] to state for the second year in a row.”
The coaches advocated for more students to join the team in coming years. Mrs. Calvert said, “It’s a great individual sport. You’re shooting against yourself; you’re trying to beat your best score.” Mr. Calvert added, “You don’t have to [come in with] any kind of skill to shoot a bow. If you can pull the string back and let it go, you can do it.”
When asked about why she joined archery, Alexis Richardson said, “I did archery because it was a relaxing sport for me, and I just like the overall aspect of it… it made me feel like I was in my own little fantasy world.” She shared that her favorite part about archery was simply shooting, and “feeling the arrow [being] released and hitting the target.”
Mrs. Calvert was adamant about encouraging more girls to participate in the sport. Currently, she explained, there are only five girls on the team, and with each match, they are required to take their top four males, top four females, and then the next four. So, she would like to see more girls show interest in the sport.
Richardson encourages peers who may be interested in participating in archery next year, saying, “Do it. It’s [not a] very strict scheduled sport; it’s very chill. You don’t have to rely completely on your team to produce a good score; it’s entirely your own progress… [and] the coaches are really understanding and sweet.” Vetter also encourages new members, saying, “Try it out; we would love to have more people join us.”
As the team celebrates their accomplishments from this season, they look forward to a new season next year.
