LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - A desire to see more activities for youth has led one Fort Simpson resident to add archery to the list of sports offered in the village.

Every Wednesday Gary Scarfe can be found in the recreation centre's gym overseeing two hours of archery practice. Scarfe started the archery nights on Nov. 18.

Dan Quevillon, left, gives Deborah Stipdonk some pointers during the second archery night in Fort Simpson. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

"I was interested in getting it started as something for the kids," he said.

There are not a lot of activities for youth in the village and they often end up wandering the street. The archery sessions offer them a more constructive option, said Scarfe.

Scarfe's own interest in archery only started a few years ago.

"I picked up a bow and I was hooked on it," he said.

"It's a good individual sport that a person can do at any age."

Scarfe said he'd been talking for awhile with Dan Quevillon and Roger Pilling, two other local archery enthusiasts, about the idea of starting an archery program. Part of the support to get started came from the Aboriginal Sports Circle of the Northwest Territories.

Scarfe participated in two coaching clinics offered by the Sports Circle in Hay River. The organization also donated a net to be used for the practice sessions.

The Sports Circle wants to build culturally relevant programs and we discovered no one was promoting archery, said Greg Hopf, the organization's executive director.

"When you think about archery it has some huge cultural ties to our people," Hopf said.

The Sports Circle has been promoting the sport for the past three years. Beginning two years ago the organization hired Larry Kelly, a top level archery coach from Edmonton, to instruct introductory archery clinics. Nine communities in the territory, including Fort Simpson, participated.

The next step was to develop coaches so two coaching clinics were held in Hay River last spring and this fall, said Hopf.

Fort Simpson is the second community in the territory to develop a dedicated archery night. Fort Smith started a program approximately six months ago. A number of other communities are also doing archery but on a sporadic basis, Hopf said.

So far things are going well in the village, said Scarfe. Approximately 12 youths and six adults attended the first two sessions. Even if between three and five youths become dedicated to the sport it will make it worthwhile, he said.

The younger archers can join the sessions every Wednesday from 7 to 8 p.m. Adults are welcome to start early too but their dedicated time is from 8 to 9 p.m.

Anyone can do archery, said Scarfe. Bows can even be modified for people who use wheelchairs.

"You're competing against yourself," he said.

"No matter how good you are you can always get better."

Deborah Stipdonk, who's learning how to shoot a recurve bow with sights, attended the first two archery sessions.

"I thought it would be fun to come and try it out," she said. Stipdonk said she enjoyed the archery clinic that was held in the village in November 2007. Apart from the clinic this is her first time trying archery as an adult.

"It's a nice social activity with adults and older teens," she said.