Archery Added To Water Valley Schools
Patrick Hines (front) is among shooters taking aim during an archery match in the inaugural archery season for Water Valley High School. The Yalobusha County Soil and Water Conservation District donated $1,000 to help the Water Valley School District fund the sport. – Photos by Keli Lindsey
Archery Added To Water Valley Schools
By David Howell
Editor
WATER VALLEY – Water Valley High School and Junior High have joined one of the nation’s fastest growing sports with the addition of AIMS (Archery in Mississippi Schools) in the current school year and coach Steve Lindsey reports the team has already earned enough points to qualify for the North Half State Qualifier scheduled in April in Coffeeville.
AIMS is designed to introduce 4th-12th grade students to the sport of International-Style Target Archery as an extracurricular team sport and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) is the driving forces behind the program. AIMS started in Mississippi in 2005 with 10 schools and has grown to almost 500 schools in 50 counties with more than 70,000 students participating each year, mirroring the national trend as one of the fastest growing sports in the nation.
MDWDP coordinator of archery and bowhunting Waldo Cleland traveled to Water Valley High School last week to sign two athletes to compete at the collegiate level (see related story, page 1) and reported archery is expected to pass all other school sports in the state as it continues to grow.
Cleland explained that every student competes on a level playing field, shooting the exact same equipment.
“It is entirely skill, everybody shoots the exact same stuff. Your young’un may drive up in a BMW and mine may drive up in an old, beat-up pickup, but when they get on the archery floor they are on a level playing field,” Cleland told the Herald.
The sport has now grown to include more than a dozen colleges and junior colleges in the state.
“It’s absolutely huge, it forms a bridge-type program for the Archery in Mississippi program, to continue their careers. Especially for the top students,” Cleland told the Herald about the introduction of archery at the collegiate level.
Twenty-four students, male and female, are listed on the roster at Water Valley and the students have competed in four matches.
“We have seen significant improvement with each match,” Lindsey said about his young team. The students shoot three rounds of five shots at 10 meters and again at 15 meters. The score from the top 12 shooters are tallied to compose the total score for the match, but there is one restriction.
“At least four of the top shooters must come from one gender,” Lindsey explains. “That means the team must field competitive males and females,” the coach added.
After the first two matches, Clayton Waites has the top male score and Lillian Lindsey the top female score on the team.
The team roster includes Rob Mitchell, Payden Surrette, Lillian Lindsey, Elizabeth Mitchell, Joseph Washington, Brandon Washington, Austin Scott, Patrick Hines, Brittany Adams, Katelin LaCook, Chase King, Nick Faust, Benson Dunn, DJ Douglas, Keaten Burns, Ray Turner, Millie Eubanks, Nate Griffin, Keegan Faustin, Haleem Jones, Clayton Waites, Reagan Shaw, Anna Clair Shaw, Olivia Pratt, Winnie Zheng, Hunter Moore and Tabby Dunn.
