By Kevin Marasco
Fernie Rod and Gun Club
The Fernie Rod and Gun Club’s (FRGC) Youth and Ladies Archery Programs have started. For the winter months the programs run inside at the indoor archery range located at the Elks Hall in Fernie.
The ladies shoot on Wednesday evenings at 7 pm at a variety of different targets and compete for a FRGC sweater or Kootenay Archery gift certificate. Last week the ladies had to pop two large balloons and two small balloons to win the prize. In the first round it was Angela Harry popping all the balloons first and in the second round it was Krista Harry taking the prize. Previous weeks winners were Kayleigh Cook and Leeann Watson. Great shooting ladies! During the next few weeks there will be a surprise sticker shoot incorporated into the shooting games with some great prizes available. Everybody shoots from 20 yards when competing for the prizes.
The Youth Archery Program runs on Thursday evenings starting at 6pm with the beginners and kids that cannot shoot 18 meters. The kids are taught the basics of shooting and the rules of the shooting range and then shoot balloons at a variety of distances. For the last 10 to 15 minutes the kids get to shoot at a 3D archery target, usually a dinosaur, with balloons all over it!
At 7 pm the more advanced and Junior Olympic Program (JOP) shooters take aim and shoot at a variety of different sized targets depending on their abilities. Everyone in the JOP has to start shooting at an 80cm wide target and score 10 arrows. Scoring rings are 1 to 10 and a 10x in the very center. Once the participants achieve two scores greater than 160 out of 300 they move onto a 60 cm target. Shooters then need to shoot two scores of 200 or greater to advance to the next target, a 40 cm wide target. The 40 cm target is the smallest target and shooters can obtain 15 different rankings on the 40 cm target. This is the sized target that is used in all indoor 18 meter shoots all over the world for all shooters. In total the shooters can obtain 24 different individual awards when achieving certain scores. All shooters receive an 8 x 10 plaque to record their achievements. Last week’s high scores were Alisha Garlock with a 250 on the 40 cm target and Kirkland Eldridge with a 249 on a 60 cm target. Close behind Alisha on the 40 cm target were Bailey Cibulka with a 230 and Kayleigh Cook with a 225. Great shooting everyone!
All youth FRGC members that want to participate in the JOP are registered and paid for by the club and its sponsors. For the past four years PJB Crane (Mike and Anita Palmer) have sponsored the Junior Olympic Archery Program and this year R & K Contracting (Richard and Kim Garlock) are also becoming sponsors. All participants are registered with the B.C. Archery Association and could possibly attend regional, provincial or national events. The FRGC and its sponsors believe in participation and opportunity for all youth, so there are no costs for any of the youth programs with the club. The club has a couple dozen bows on hand for new shooters – for both the youth and adult programs! For more information, please contact Kevin at president@ferniergc.com or come and check it out!