Out & About: Archery at Detroit Archers of West Bloomfield - Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com

By Jessica Starr
FOX 2 News Reporter

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. -- Archery is a competitive, recreational sport against yourself that is fun for all ages and has been around for thousands of years.

"It's a sport that anybody can do," said Ronald McLaughlin, president of the Detroit Archers Club.  "It's a family sport.  We have kids from six years up to adults over 70 that are participating in this sport.  Men or women, there's no reason why a woman can't be just as good if not better than most of her male contemporaries in this sport."

McLaughlin introduced me to the basics of archery.  First was picking out the correct bow and arrow.

"You will be using a recurved bow and carbon arrows.  Because you're a tall girl, longer arrows are necessary, but there's a great variety of bows.  We have the longbow, which is (what) the English... generally used in their wars and fights, and we have the recurved, which is a modification that actually adds a little bit more speed and power to the bow.  And then there's a compound, which is the most prevalent today, and the compound uses a wheel and pulley system to give you an additional advantage.  You don't have to hold the entire amount of draw weight back when you're shooting," he explained.

"My competition's me.  If I shoot better today than I shot yesterday, then I'm improving and that's why I'm here."

You gain points by shooting at a target, but before I could shoot, there were four main steps that I needed to learn.

"Stand with your feet about shoulder length apart.  Stand square out from the target to where when you point your arm out to hold the bow in it, it's going to be pointed straight at the target," McLaughlin explained.

"The nock, which is the end of the arrow that fits on the string, will click onto the string so that you know it's secure.  You draw back with three fingers and you come to an anchor point.  The further back you pull it, the more poundage you're building up."

If you would like to try archery, be sure to check out Detroit Archers of West Bloomfield.  You can learn more about them by visiting www.DetroitArchers.com.