Consistency is key 

The archery team competed in the pre-state tournament at Eastern High School Feb. 11 and the Annual Bullitt East Archery Tournament Feb. 17-18. At pre-state they came in second out of six teams and scored a 3,331 overall. At the Annual Bullitt East Archery Tournament they placed third out of 10 teams scoring a 3,300. Emily Hendricks was the highest scorer in both of these events with scores of 284 and 287. 

Although they finished in the top three at both tournaments, both the players and coach feel that their performance could have been better. Head coach Alden Stidom is happy with the overall team score, but still thinks that they can improve by 50 points. “This weekend was not our best. This team has so much potential and we are currently ranked much higher nationally than we showed at Eastern,” Stidom said. Some archers had their season high at Pre-state, but others had a harder time mentally and got in a bad headspace which can make any archer struggle. 

Rachel Lagermann agrees with Stidom and thinks that the team is lacking a little bit when it comes to the mental aspect of the sport. “We have all the skills and techniques to be great but applying everything together on each arrow is where our team is trying to grow in order to meet our goals for the next tournament,” Lagermann said. Being able to have the focus and determination to be able to do this can be just as challenging as learning the skills. “Personally, I’ve been working on my focus, to tune out everything that’s going on around me,” Lagermann said. Learning to focus on every detail that goes into each arrow and then moving onto the next when that one is released is the next step the archers need to take. 

Overall, Stidom wants the archers to contribute to the team and all help each other. “We succeed together, we fail together. When you see something that isn’t right or needs work or even if you need help, you’ve got a whole team supporting you. Speak up, let’s work together,” Stidom said. There are freshmen this year that are still learning to open up and get settled into the team. 

The archery team’s next event will be Friday, April 21 and Saturday, April 22.