Introduction
Are you worried that your child’s routine is lacking much-needed physical activities? Today children have become the victims of digital screens. As a result, healthy practices like sports and games, art and craft sessions, and dancing or yoga regimens are becoming scarce. However, it is fortunate that various institutes still hold kid’s archery sessions and competitions. Schools have thought to dedicate special classes for archery practice mainly for the kids’ physical and mental well-being.
According to research, physical activities after school provide ample wholesome and favorable growth opportunities. Though various evidence supports the fact, the dilemma is not all kids between 6 to 17 enroll in such activities. Some are not encouraged enough, while others do not find them entertaining.
Reasons to consider teaching your kids archery
Kid’s archery sessions are fun-filled and entertaining. They come with a lot of lessons and benefits. Here are some reasons why every parent should encourage kids to learn archery.
1. For everyone- no particular entry requirements
Many parents juggle over the question, “is archery for kids?” or they may ask, “is it safe?” While it is natural to have concerns when giving your kid a bow and arrow, there is nothing too much to stress. Archery is safe as football, basketball, or cricket. Like with all these sports, you need to be careful and look over the player while learning. The same is valid for archery. It is a safe sport that hundreds of disabled kids have taken archery as their major sport in schools and colleges. As long as the kid is under the supervision and follows the safety tips, all is good and safe.
2. It can be practiced everywhere indoor & outdoor
The best thing about teaching your kids archery is that you can have an instructor and set a target anywhere. It can be practiced indoors in a confined space or under an open sky. You can arrange a practice session even when it is raining. However, when it comes to mastering a special form, there may be a need for a dedicated space and equipment as in field archery, target archery, or 3D archery. Archery is often practiced indoors in winters. Fields are set outside once the season moves towards spring, summer, or autumn.
3. An all-year-round sport
As already said, it is possible to have an archery setting indoor or outdoor all year round. It is weatherproof and is undoubtedly not a seasonal sport.
4. Safest, yet the coolest sport
A little motivation and encouragement can persuade your kid to hold a borrow and arrow. Many kids who already have digital exposure to shooting will love to try it physically. It is exciting and inspires a kid to sharpen his skills further and improve his aim.
5. Improves mental well-being and focus
The best part of shooting targets or hitting an aim accurately is enhancing focus and improving cognitive skills. This requires accurate positioning and posture. In doing so, a child learns to control, concentrate, and attack simultaneously. When a kid masters the skill of hitting the proper aim, he also becomes more focused, and thus, his mental health improves.
6. Strengthens physically
When a hunter shoots, his muscles flex. He tries different body movements and adjusts different postures to hit the target right. The same is true for novice archers. They work on hand, shoulder, chest, and neck muscles to get their aim right. This greatly adds to muscle strength and stamina, further enhanced through practice.
7. Makes the goal-oriented
Kids’ archery sessions are all about hitting the bull’s eye, and they teach both classroom and life skills. While they teach kids always to chase the target on the field, they also make them goal-oriented in life. These sessions educate them to set targets and try to achieve them with all the effort and energy.
8. Enjoyable and fun
There is no use of an extracurricular activity if the education and entertainment do not coexist. Therefore it is understood that archery for kids must be enjoyable and entertaining. To do so, sessions are designed keeping in view the children’s age and physical strength. They ensure that the kids always want to try the next shot after a failure. Starting from closer targets and broader aims to set achievement levels and rewards are some ways how archery becomes very entertaining for the kids.
9. It brings calm and poise and teaches patience
Calmness, poise, and stillness lie at the heart of learning the step-by-step method of drawing a bow and shooting an arrow. Even beginners understand that slowing down is the only key to targeting the aim properly. This teaches kids a life lesson that “haste makes waste” and brings tranquility and poise to them.
10. Teaches self-control and reduces the fear of failure
Self-control and discipline are two of the most important traits that your kid learns in archery practices. To put arrows to the middle of the target, an archer needs to control his mind and body fully. This, therefore, allows archers to enhance self-control with practice. Archery also teaches that failures are a part of life. Therefore, one should learn from the mistakes continue chasing their goal.
11. Provides a chance of developing social interactions and friendships
It provides your kids with the opportunity to interact with other kids, socialize and master teamwork. In addition, these sessions teach sportsmanship and the importance of winning as a team.
12. Opportunities for college scholarships
There are a lot of organizations offering lucrative scholarships to archers. One such organization is the National Archery in the Schools Program. Their championships are potential grounds where archers performing well are granted cash and college scholarships.
The Bottom line
Archery for kids is a win-win situation, whether helping them utilize their extra hours or teaching them life lessons. Kids’ archery sessions allow an archer to excel in all dimensions from health, physique, sociability, concentration to self-discipline. In addition, it brings more confidence and resilience and makes a kid more goal-oriented.
