Charla Isaiah-Marcellais, left, Fiona Yendo, Garey Ekotla, Destinty Ekotla, Sydney Hope and Qualin Matou stand beside the new targets and hold aloft some of the new recurve bows that the Aboriginal Sports Circle of the NWT gave the community of Nahanni Butte as part of its archery community program. The organization held an archery clinic in the community from Feb. 6 to 7. - photo courtesy of Derek Squirrel

TTHENAAGO/NAHANNI BUTTE
The sport of archery has been given a boost in Nahanni Butte thanks to a day and a half of training and some new equipment.

The Aboriginal Sports Circle of the NWT brought its community archery program to Nahanni Butte on Feb. 6 to 7. All 13 students at Charles Yohin School learned the basics of the sport with Derek Squirrel, a program co-ordinator with the organization, and Gary Scarfe, an archery instructor from Fort Simpson.

The 10 oldest students spent the most time at the clinic, coming throughout the school day on Thursday and returning that night for the community evening session. They also practiced Friday morning.

"With such a small group he was able to work more one on one with the kids," Squirrel said about Scarfe.

"You could see quite the change from when we started to the Friday afternoon we left."

As part of the program the Aboriginal Sports Circle gave the community eight wooden recurve bows – the same kind used in Olympic archery - as well as arrows, foam targets, netting, an instructional DVD on how to teach archery and two 3D targets, one fox and one porcupine.

"Pulling out the 3D targets, the kids really love that," said Squirrel.

The students seemed to really like the clinic, said Sara Gordon, Nahanni Butte's activity co-ordinator. Gordon had done some archery with the limited equipment in the community gym, but said the new equipment will make a big difference.

"They love that," she said about the student's reaction to the new supplies.

"The bows are beautiful."

Squirrell and Scarfe even put hooks in the gym wall to make it easier to hang the net that catches stray arrows, which Gordon said will make it easier to set up for the sport. She now plans to include archery as one of the activities that are rotated through on a regular basis.

That is exactly what Squirrel likes to hear.

The Aboriginal Sport Circle started its archery community program approximately three years ago. No program for the sport had been offered previously in the territory, despite the fact it is a traditional practice, he said.

"It was a way of life," said Squirrel.

The program has now been delivered in the majority of the communities in the NWT.

The hope is that with the instruction and the equipment archery programs will continue in the communities after the Sport Circle leaves, he said. The next clinic will be held in Fort Providence from March 11 to 12 with both of the Sports Circle's archery instructors, Scarfe and Edward Landry of Fort Providence.

To support and promote the program the Sports Circle will be holding an NWT Archery Championship outdoors in Yellowknife this September. Squirrel hopes that every community that has received an archery clinic will participate in it.

Landry will also be taking an archery team to the North American Indigenous Games in July.

The selection process that will be used for the team is still being decided.