Steady… aim… FIRE… the arrow.
- Archery is the practise of shooting arrows using bows made from flexible materials.
- The word ‘archery’ comes from the Latin word ‘arcus’ which means bow or arc.
- Ancient Egyptians practised archery and used it commonly in battle.
- The arrows are normally made from either wood, fibreglass, aluminium alloy, or carbon fibre, and the bow string, from dacron or kevla.
- Traditionally bows were made from sap wood, however, today they are usually made from layers of composite materials, including fibreglass, wood and carbon.
Target Archery
Image courtesy of Kongsky/ Free Digital Photos
- Archers use special equipment (a bracer, finger tab and thumb ring), to protect the bow and arrows and the archer’s body.
- When shooting a bow, you should be perpendicular with your target and your feet should be a shoulder’s width apart.
- These days, archery is mostly used for hunting and target shooting, and is normally done in a standing position or mounted on a horse.
- Archers compete in competitions that test accuracy including the Olympic games, where it was introduced in the program for the first time in 1900.
- In the United States, approximately 9 million people practise archery every year, according to surveys from the Archery Trade Association.
Bibliogaphy:
Archery 2 November 2012, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archery>
