Sir
As you might have noticed archery is an age old Classical Sport, that has one of the lowest injury per person of ANY Sport, far lower than Football, Base ball, Swimming ( just look at the pool child drowning numbers ) Tennis and even lower that GOLF. Yet archery is demonized by persons who equate archery with hunting. Archery is archery and hunting is hunting ( archery is the type of equipment used by SOME hunters ). The Sport of Archery is so much more than hunting , Field Archery , Target Archery , Archery in the schools program , Little Bear Archery ( inner city Archery camps for needy children ) 3-D Archery ( golf with Archery equipment ) and also OLYMPIC ARCHERY ( as seen on TV! ) . Archery is also used to help rehabilitate our Wounded Warriors . So why are there so few public archery ranges? ( anti hunters and animal lovers equate archery with hunting , a very small but loud group with non mainstream views: anti meat/leather ect… )
In every school district that archery has been added the” Archery in the Schools Program” , the grades of the participants has gone up . The Sport is not based on Strength, Speed or Endurance, but Self Discipline , Concentration , Self Motivation to improve and succeed . Everything a great student needs to reach for their goals in life. The Sport is more of self improvement, than competition against others . A sport to be enjoyed by the young and old ,who can play and participate as equals (with no limits put on them by age ,(the equipment is sized to the archers). No one is throwing a ball at another child ( base ball ) crashing into each other (football, soccer, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse rugby ) all sports embraced by the public. Why?
Archery is a now on the up swing with the public , as seen in the movies- Hunger games – Brave – Robin Hood - Olympics and colleges still give scholarships in archery. Archery is one of the classical sports – Very popular in Europe in all forms ( they don’t even have hunting ) and in 1920s-1930 s as a ladies / gentleman’s sport along with tennis and golf. The biggest drawback to archery is lack of public ranges where a family can explore this wonderful sport ( we have thousands of golf ranges that take far more space and money to build ( and even a higher injury rate ) But almost NO public archery ranges. WHY?
The need for More public Archery ranges is clear (we would not hit golf balls off our front lawns into our neighbors house, nor have our children play football in the street). We in NJ are falling behind other states in our recreational opportunities , thus handicapping our children’s future ( possible Olympians ).
Why limit ourselves and Children’s futures to a state where the SPORTS CHOSEN BY a VOCAL FEW . We can all enjoy archery, fathers and Mothers with sons daughters and even Grandparents and Grand children as EQUALS (how many sports can say that?).
EVERYONE CAN DO AND ENJOY ACHERY truly a sport for ALL !
Please don’t let the few outside the mainstream dictate to the rest of us, the PEOPLE OF NJ ,what sports we can and cannot play!
(if it’s good for THE OLYMPICS why not the New Jersey PUBLIC)!
Thank you for your consideration,
( the above is the letter/email I sent Please feel free to copy & paste to your email & address to the above listed
[email protected] Please add your name and address thank you