ACHO DENE KOE/FORT LIARD - A sport that's being promoted as an activity for the whole family is being introduced to Fort Liard.

Jamie Walls, right, gives Stan Bertrand some pointers as he uses the new archery equipment during a Sports Day in Canada event held in Fort Liard on Sept. 18. - photo courtesy of Roslyn Gardner Firth

The Hamlet of Fort Liard's recreation department is starting an archery program. An archery club, under the guidance of coaches Jonathan Yeo and Jamie Walls, began on Sept. 28 and will meet every Tuesday night from 7 to 9 p.m. in the school gym.

"For me it's a neat sport that I think is really good for building community," Yeo said.

The young and old, men and women can do archery which makes it a sport that spans generations, Yeo said. Archery is also based on skill so participants aren't limited by their energy levels, he said.

To promote participation across age groups the club has seven recurve bows with draw weights ranging from 15 to 35 pounds. There are bows for both right handed and left handed shooters.

Starting an archery club is also a way to give back a skill that might have once been in Fort Liard but updated with modern equipment, said Yeo. With practice and the right equipment participants could use their new skills to go bow hunting, he said.

As a coach, Yeo will be sharing the skills he's learned since picking up the sport while in junior high school. Already there's quite an interest in archery in the community.

The interest and the idea for the archery program sprang from an archery workshop the Aboriginal Sports Circle of the NWT held in the community a year-and-a-half ago. The workshop was very well attended by both youths and adults, said Roslyn Gardner Firth, the hamlet's manager of wellness and recreation.

Gardner Firth hopes to see all age groups come out on Tuesday nights.

"It's the kind of sport anyone can do," she said.

Community members got a preview of the new archery equipment, which includes circular targets, a backdrop net and graphite arrows, during a Sports Day in Canada event held on Sept. 18. Archery was one of the more popular indoor sports offered during the event, Gardner Firth said.

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