Sports : VS High School students aim high in the sport of Archery

Coach Sara Rommann and archery athletes Izzie Birker and Megan Schlitter spoke about the newly formed VS team

Sara Rommann teaches 4th Grade at Tilford Elementary in the Vinton-Shellsburg School District for her "day job" and has also taken on teaching archery to high school students after school. It's been a long journey to get the program started Rommann said. She began her efforts to get the archery program started before COVID hit working with then-superintendent Mary Jo Hainstock. Then, of course, COVID changed the plans for everyone.

The program is not funded by the school, so the sport is dependent on donations from the community and grants to purchase equipment for the team. A grant just came through which they hope to be able to open the sport to the middle school next year. One of the things they always need more of is targets, and repair kits for the arrows. She said that any donations would help because they are starting to build this from the ground up. The sport is only available to high schoolers simply because there are only enough bows, arrows, and targets for one set of athletes at this time.

The archery season starts practicing in November with competition in December. The state competition is held in March. For the team to make it to state-level competition, they have to have two combined scores of 530 from two competitions and then it depends on their ranking to make it to the state competition.  

Rommann works with five other parent coaches to lead the archery program. She said if there are any adults that are interested there is a course online that takes a couple of hours and then they train a little bit while the kids learn. Currently, there are 18 high school athletes on the team. 

The equipment the students are using was acquired during the time that Rommann herself was in high school, so it is not new equipment. Some of the athletes have chosen to purchase their own approved bow for the sport, a Matthews Genesis compound bow and aluminum Easton arrows. The bow has no sights on them to assist the athletes, the shots they take are all simply the athlete's instinct and talent. The only thing the students are allowed to adjust is the weight on the pull of the string.

Archery is a national program so it requires the participants to take a two-week program in the school. The classes are taught each semester as part of the Physical Education class for the athletes.

The students have participated in five meets so far, which are held in area gyms. To begin they start with a practice shoot from 10 meters, followed by  three scoring rounds from the same mark. They are responsible for scoring the athlete next to them who could range in age from anyone 4th grade through high school. Following that round of shots, they back up and shoot at the 15 meter line, starting again with a practice shot followed by three scoring shots. A perfect score in archery is 300.

Rommann said that the sport is one of the all-inclusive sports allowing children of any ability to compete.

Izzie Birker and Megan Schlitter two of the team members came along with Rommann to speak with area Kiwanis. They talked about working to improve their skills and the various ways they help each other. Sometimes it comes down to the technique in how you grip the bow, or where you hold the string to aim the arrow. Birker said that she had to adjust to the bow that they use at the school because she worked with a different type of bow before training at the school, so most of her work was in adjusting to the different type of bow. She said the one that they work with on the team is more like a toy compared to the one she had worked with at home. 

Schlitter said that she first thought, "how hard can it be to hit a bullseye?" Then she realized once she started shooting that it is pretty difficult. Both agree that it is a sport that takes a lot of time and practice. Someone asked if they thought that they might use a bow to go hunting, and both agreed that they thought that would be a possibility. 

Rommann explained that the team listens for whistle commands. Two whistles mean they are to retrieve their bow and then the team lines up with the bow resting on their toe as can be seen in the picture. One blast means they can shoot their five arrows at will, and then rack their bow and wait for the others to finish in the "waiting line." Three whistles mean, "Go Get Arrow" and they go to the "target line" to retrieve their arrows.

The athletes score the person on their left on a bubble sheet. The Kiwanis had a chuckle with Coach Rommann as she explained that this generation had no idea how to use a bubble sheet. Some of the schools that the team has competed against so far include Jesup, Independence, Center Point-Urbana, Oelwein and Cedar Rapids Prairie.

Right now the team needs a facility where they can practice. They are limited to only being able to practice one time a week, on a Sunday. If anyone has a facility available or has a suggestion, it would need to be able to accommodate the 15-meter distance for shooting competitions. The team does have a net to catch the arrows that might miss the targets.