The Hunger Games Makes Archery Popular
Via HuffingtonPost
“All of a sudden sales of bows have, like, tripled,” said Paul Haines, a salesman at the Ramsey Outdoor store in Paramus, N.J.
A manager there made a sign for the hunting department: “Quality bows for serious archers and girls who saw the movie,” he said.
Archery ranges around the country have enjoyed a steady uptick among kids of both sexes since the movie began cleaning up at the box office March 23, though heroine Katniss – a deadly shot with an arrow – seems to resonate more with girls.
“Katniss is so inspiring,” said Gabby Lee, who asked for archery lessons for her 12th birthday in February after reading the wildly popular book trilogy by Suzanne Collins.
“I’m not very sportsy,” she offers, but now she belongs to a youth archery league near her Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., home. “It feels really good because I’m usually the girl who sits and reads.”
Abbey Fitzpatrick in Sandy Creek, N.Y., turned 11 on April 10. She also asked for and received her own bow and arrows for her birthday. “It’s black. It really looks like Katniss’s bow,” Abbey said. “She was so brave and very heroic in the games.”
Like more than 2 million kids in nearly every state and several other countries, Abbey did archery in gym class this year as part of the decade-old National Archery in the Schools Program that trains teachers in the sport and offers discounts on equipment.
“There’s a lot of buzz among young people about archery right now. They want to shoot bows and arrows so badly they’re willing to follow the rules,” said Roy Grimes, the organization’s president.
In Hartland, Mich., enthusiast Robert Jellison teaches seventh-grade science and has incorporated archery through NASP into his lessons on kinetic and potential energy, eye-hand coordination and the properties of pulleys and levers.
Jellison was invited in March with some of his students to perform a demonstration at the local library as part of a “Hunger Games” reading.
“Some of the kids there went out that day and signed up for archery,” he said. “A lot of people look at archery as, `Oh, you know, is it a real sport?’ All of a sudden there’s all this excitement.”
Bobbi Bowles owns archery shop K.C.’s Outdoors with her husband in Spicewood, Texas, outside Austin. Sales of equipment have doubled in the last few weeks, she said, and they’re adding beginner classes to accommodate more new recruits young and older.
At the Austin Archery Club, “The movie is sending a lot of people our way who are interested in archery, the crossbow and survival skills,” said a director, Roy Wenmohs. “At a recent tournament we had about 10 young people, from ages 10 to 15,” he said. “About half were new. Last year we had three.”
“We’re thrilled with the awareness and the excitement that `The Hunger Games’ has brought to the sport of archery,” said Denise Parker, CEO of USA Archery, the U.S. training and selection body for the Olympics, Paralympics, Pan American Games and other world events.
“I like that it’s an individual sport but at the same time there’s other people around you so you can still socialize,” said Nicole, from nearby Fair Lawn. “It’s the only thing I’m good at and it’s really nice to do with my dad.”
She’s a Katniss fan, too. “I like that she’s making archery cool.”
Targeteers owner Rob Cerone said he averages five or six archery birthday parties a month, up from about half that six months ago. He’s filling up early for weeklong summer camps, where he teaches kids how to shoot, make their own arrows and put a bow together.
“The Hunger Games have helped, especially with the girls,” Cerone said.
At Hall’s Arrow Indoor Archery Range, where the younger Johnson is business manager, the Katniss bump is alive and well. “We’ve had a lot of parents saying, `Hey, little Johnny has seen this movie, what do I have to do to get him into archery?’”
The Johnsons are looking ahead to summer, hoping the profile will be higher for Olympic archery this time around and anticipating the Pixar-produced “Brave.” The fantasy in 3-D computer animation features another young, headstrong archer, Merida, who brings chaos to her kingdom in Scotland.
“We had such a good boost after `Hunger Games,’” Richard Johnson said. “The same thing could happen.”
What about you? Does archery interest you? Did Katniss pique your interest in the sport?
When I go away on my school residential we will be doing archery . I’ve only ever done it once and it was pretty cool!!! But my brothers doing archery too ….. I should fear for his friends lives….
I did archery before I even read THG, I also had braided hair before that, but now everyone is going to call me an obsessed fangirl.
… Crap. Not I also have to have people boasting about their “Archery”
Yeah. It’s ridiculous. I was shooting for years before the Hunger Games (which I mildly dislike)came out, but because I’m a teenage girl everyone thinks I’m a fan that started archery because of Katniss. UGH.
I think it would be fun to try archery
I have to say I am intrigued to try archery myself after reading the books and watching the movie.
I love katniss i love archery and wanted a bow but after i seen the movie and read the book i had to have one i begged and pedded for one but we live in town but now i have room too shoot 150 yards away thanks hunger games!
We suddenly have this Archery thing at our school.. and i want to try it out. (:
i had done archery a few times before i read the books or saw the film and it is really fun but my mum wont let me get a bow and arrow or do archery lessons.
I wanted to do Archery when I was 13 for a youth program. My mum looked into it and it’s ridiculously expensive. Definitely a rich-man’s sport. Plus you don’t use bows and arrows like Katniss’, you use modern, highly technical bows with lots of wires and strings and gadgets all over it. They actually aren’t very pretty :p
http://0.tqn.com/d/olympics/1/0/B/0/-/-/Archery-Stu-Forster.jpg