The slender youngster blocked out the crowd noise, even the cheers
of her parents and friends as she addressed the target. Brushing a lock
of brown hair from her forehead with the back of her hand, she took a deep
breath and lifted her bow. With excitement all around her, she felt calm.
Deep within she already knew the outcome.
Thirteen-year-old Melissa Kyle Ash stood on the shooting line of the
2002 Bluegrass State Games. Bow in hand; she was well on her way to winning
the coveted first place medal for her sport, archery.
Archery?
 One
of the most curious things about the games was Melissa Ash competing as
an archer. Only a few months earlier Melissa would scarcely have dreamed
she would be at the Bluegrass Games, especially competing as an archer.
In school Melissa played softball. And while her family enjoys shooting
firearms, Melissa's father had been dead set against her shooting a bow.
Yet, here she was. She was competing at the Kentucky version of a mini
Olympics games and she was competing as an archer. Not only was she competing
as an archer, she was waking to new ambitions for her life.
Melissa is the daughter of Jeff and Geri Ash, of Versailles, Kentucky.
It is bluegrass country, near Lexington and in the heart of one of the
largest concentration of racehorse farms in the world. Even so, it isn't
horse racing that captures her imagination. Her sport, too, has been the
sport of kings and it traces its roots even deeper into the past than horse
racing.
An honor student at the Woodford County Middle School, Melissa enjoyed
sports. She plays softball and enjoys Physical Education (P.E.). Her family
shoots firearms and she enjoys that. But the sport she sought to play most
was forbidden to her.
Each Christmas for as long as she or her parents could remember, Melissa
asked for an archery set. She wanted a bow and arrow set.
Her father declined.
Jeff had shot a bow when he was younger. He also knew a number of men,
boys and even a few women that shot bows. They shot in competition at local
3-D tournaments and they bowhunted. Jeff did not see competition archery
or bowhunting as very lady-like sports. He kept steering his daughter away
from the game. But, he was soon to learn that each person's life is full
of twists and turns and that you cannot curb or control the pattern of
another's life. Some things just seem destined to be.
And so it is with Melissa and archery.
Jennie Richardson personifies archery, for Melissa. Formerly a teacher,
Richardson now works for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Services
and with the Kentucky Department of Education implementing a new archery
program for Kentucky middle school P.E. classes. It has scarcely been a
year since the program's conception and only a few months since the introduction
of a pilot version of the archery program into 15 Kentucky middle schools.
Woodford County Middle School, Melissa's school, was one of the pilot program
schools.
The archery program is two weeks long, including both classroom work
on the history of archery games, the Olympics and techniques for good shooting.
The program teaches F.I.T.A. or international Olympic style archery and
uses universal compound bows. It is designed as a sport in which every
child can excel, not just those students gifted with outstanding athletic
ability.
Melissa was in her element. It was as if a dream she hadn't dared to
dream suddenly came true. She was permitted to shoot arrows from a bow!
Melissa lapped up the instruction like a kitten with a fresh bowl of
cream. She enjoyed archer as much as she had known she would.
She wanted more.
A club was formed after hours at school. Melissa got permission from
her parents and joined. And then she heard about the Bluegrass State Games.
At the Games Melissa was shooting well. After completing a perfect end,
Jennie Richardson congratulated her, offering encouragement as well. Jennie
continued to watch. Melissa learned Jennie was a ranking shooter on the
professional women's tour. The two formed the first bonds of what has become
a sustained friendship as Jennie encouraged her to set some archery goals.
Jennie introduced her to Olympic Gold Medallist Rod White. Suddenly she
knew that was what she wanted -- she wanted, one day, to become a member
of the U.S. Olympic Archery Team.
Geri Ash was seeing a tremendous change in her daughter's self-esteem.
Melissa used to have problems relating to her peers. She had been shy and
introverted. She had trouble seeing herself with the ability to excel.
Archery was helping her overcome all of that. By experiencing success with
archery, Melissa is becoming much more confident and sure of herself. She
was thriving on a sport where the competition is between individuals and
the most intense competition is with one's self. She was thriving in ways
that had never been possible with the team sports. She was also developing
new friends through her archery associations, finding it easier to relate
with others.
Jeff and Geri decided to support her archery ambitions. Melissa's mother
sought out a Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD) club. Kentucky offers
many opportunities for archers to shoot 3-D tournaments but there are no
JOAD clubs. Geri finally enrolled her daughter in the Middletown Spider
Shooters JOAD club at Middletown, Ohio. Her coaches have taken an interest
in her and given her more help and support than either Jeff or Geri could
ever have imagined.
Melissa is focused on her goal to one day make the Olympic Team. She
started shooting a Hoyt recurve bow two months ago and is receiving shooting
instruction each week from her JOAD coaches. Only one week after entering
the JOAD program she managed to capture the silver medal at the Ohio NAA
Outdoor tournament. Recently she claimed the gold medal at the University
of Dayton Indoor October Shoot. Her enthusiasm and dedication to the game
and her goal of making the Olympic Team seems to grow with each success.
Melissa's parents couldn't be happier as they watch their daughter mature
and grow in the sport. Both parents are intensely proud and enjoy watching
Melissa shoot and compete. Her father now realizes that archery is a sport
that can be as masculine as the toughest boy or as feminine as the most
graceful girl and everything in between.
Besides watching her daughter develop this interest and new goals,
Geri Ash is seeing the results of the Archer In Kentucky Schools program
affect
other students. She is a substitute teacher and does most of her work in
the middle school. In the past she was forced to send some of the students
to the office for discipline. Now, with the after school archery program
she has noticed these same kids are model students on those days the archery
club will meet. They want to go to archery and not to detention.
Melissa's story confirms the beliefs and expectations of Kentucky Department
of Education Commissioner Gene Wilhoit and Kentucky Department of Fish
and Wildlife Resources Commissioner Tom Bennett and his Deputy Commissioner,
Roy Grimes. Wilhoit felt archery in Kentucky schools would be an excellent
vehicle to motivate and stimulate students, at the same time giving them
a sport they can enjoy for life. Bennett and Grimes, both bowhunters, understand
the sport is versatile enough to encourage and promote participation ranging
from international competition to bowhunting whitetails along the oak-covered
ridges of Kentucky.
Jennie Richardson had few doubts about the program. She had seen it
work for the past six years as she taught archery as an extracurricular
activity at Whitley County Middle School where she was a math and science
teacher. Jennie's main concern is all of the kids, like Melissa Ash, who
miss the opportunities offered by the program.
Only time will tell if Melissa Ash makes it to the world stage as a
competitive archer. Regardless, she has realized a long held desire to
shoot archery. She has already gained self-confidence, found new friends
and is in the process of discovering a world much larger than Versailles,
Kentucky. The best part of Melissa's story is that it is just one of many
similar stories in a program that is less than a year old.
To find out more about more about this archery program, call Roy
Grimes, Deputy Commissioner, KDFWR at (800) 858-1549 or send him an e-mail
at roy.grimes@mail.state.ky.us.
* Reprinted with permission
from 3D Times & Bowhunting Magazine.
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