One of the fun activities at Cub Scout camp is archery. Each of the boys is given an opportunity to shoot with a bow and arrows. First the boys are given a set of safety instructions. They put on three things: goggles to protect their eyes, a wrist guard to protect their arm, and a finger guard to keep their fingers from hurting when they pull back the bow with their fingers. One finger goes above the arrow, and two fingers go below. The arrow is notched into the bow string right below a white dot. You pull back the string to the edge of your mouth, which is a lot harder than it looks. Then you let the arrow fly, hoping it lands somewhere in the target.
I tried archery for the first time this year, and I realized that I have no upper body strength. I had no way to aim the arrow because my arm was trembling, making the bow and arrow tremble. Three of my six arrows went into the tarp behind the bulls eye. I had always envisioned archery as a fun Robin Hood activity, but it would be much more fun if I did pull-ups and push ups for several months before I try it again.
My boys did much better than I did. My one perfectionist son was upset that he didn’t hit dead center every time like he does with BB gun shooting. My husband told him that archery was much more difficult. I think each of my boys got all their arrows in the target, but they had help. Nobody put their arms around me to help me steady my bow. I’m just saying.
