The Observer, October 21, 2005
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8
Archery team is a quiet force in Case club athletics
During an interview with archery club president Alan Baribault, a friend walked in and asked, "Wait, we have an archery team?" The answer to that is yes, and the guys and girls on the team practice regularly and compete in events in and out of the state.
Not many people know much about the archery club, or even archery itself. The team has only 15-20 regulars. But the members are dedicated and work hard to make themselves more competitive, always trying to beat their own top score.
The team meets three times a week for two hours in the basement of Adelbert Gym. There they stretch, tune their bows, and practice.
What is archery, though? According to Baribault, archery is generally the use of a recurve bow to hit a target. A recurve bow has three main parts – the riser, or handle, two limbs, and the string. The riser is the part of the bow the archer holds onto. The limbs are above and below the riser. In a recurve bow, the power comes from the bending of these limbs when pulled back. The string is made of a strong material that won't break, such as Kevlar or Dacron. Recurve bows are the type that the team owns, so most team members use them.
Of course the archers have to be shooting something with those bows. The arrows are made of aluminum or carbon, or a combination of the two. Aluminum arrows are thicker than carbon/aluminum composite arrows.
Archers compete in both indoor and outdoor events. Indoor events are shorter distances, either 18 or 25 meters. Outdoor events can be as long at 90 meters.
The targets at the events have a two-centimeter radius center target that is worth ten points. Two centimeter rings are around the center, with each increase being worth one less point.
At an event, archers are separated into lines and have three shots per line in a two minute period. Each line shoots 10 times giving a maximum score of 300 points.
On the Case team, Baribault says that most people are above 200 with some above 250. In a competition the archers compete individually, not as a team. Some of the best archers on the team are Mike Shaylor, John Newbrough, Kevin Engel, and Baribault.
This year Baribault has set a goal of consistently shooting 270, but doesn't think it is a realistic goal.
He says that along with practice, tuning bows is an integral part of archery. A well tuned bow is important for success. Strength is also important. He says that he does workouts for his arms, mostly pushups and pull-ups, and it shows in his handshake.
Case will be holding its indoor competition, the Caskey Classic, on Nov. 12. The indoor competition is open to anyone from ages eight to 70+ and is the team's main fundraiser.
"One of the great things about archery is that anyone can compete, tall or short, big or small, guy or girl," Baribault said.
In indoor events, Baribault says, aluminum arrows are better because of their thickness. Indoors, there are no problems wiht the wind due to arrow thickness. The targets are scored based on the highest scoring area that the arrow touches, so the thickness helps.
Case holds an outdoor event at Squire Valleevue farm in the spring. Outdoor events such as the state championships differ from indoor events. The state championships are a two-day event where 60 arrows are shot per day. According to Baribault, the better college shooters shoot above 1000 and the elite college archers are above 1100.
The team is coached by Mike Rossiter and Carol Fondaran, its faculty advisors. They are both NAA level-two certified coaches, as is Baribault.
The team doesn't just shoot at circular targets all day. In order to liven things up, they sometimes have castle shoot where instead of competing individually, there are teams, each trying to defeat the other's castle, Baribault said.
The archery team members will be competing throughout the year, carrying their weapons of choice with them, each hoping for a 300.
