Wednesday, May 14, 2008 • School is in session today
Instructional day 167 • 10 days left in school year • Calendar
¡Nuevo! Información en Español
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Wednesday, May 14, 2008 • School is in session today |
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¡Nuevo! Información en Español |
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Feature article Beaumont students are right on targetArticle and pictures by Tammy Lane Landing arrows dead in the bull’s-eye takes practice, discipline and precision. And eighth-grade archers Mimi Aldabbagh and Tommy Harlamert have the right stuff.  Tommy Harlamert and Mimi Aldabbagh, a pair of Beaumont Middle School eighth-graders, will compete March 18 in the NASP state archery tournament. View a slideshow of more pictures. “This is really a growing sport. The thing I like about it is anybody can do it. You don’t have to be a traditional athlete,” said Betty White, a health and P.E. teacher, who helped organize Beaumont’s archery team. To prepare for the state tourney, Mimi and Tommy are practicing as much as possible, though scheduling time in the busy school gym can be dicey. “If you shoot more than 50 arrows or so, your hand starts hurting,” said Mimi, who has been around archery all her life. She was about 7 when she picked up the sport back in Iraq, where her father was the national archery coach. “I just wanted to be like my dad,” Mimi said. Pretty soon, she could shoot as well as many older competitors. Though Mimi hadn’t practiced in the 2½ years since her family moved to the United States, she rediscovered archery at Beaumont. “Mimi was shooting really well in (P.E.) class, and I said, ‘You should be on the archery team,’” White recalled. So she joined, and just in time for the regional competition March 1 in Frankfort. There she scored 233 out of a possible 300, finishing fifth among middle school girls and qualifying for the state tournament. For now, Mimi is focused on her bow technique as she takes aim at the familiar round target as well as an NASP prize. While she and Tommy each already had team sports experience (she with soccer, and he with track and field), both say they enjoy the solo element of archery. “I’ve done a lot of other individual sports, too,” added Tommy, who said scoring 10’s is one of his favorite parts of archery, which he first tried at summer camp. When Tommy’s father saw how much he enjoyed it, he got on board, too. Henry Harlamert, a physician at Saint Joseph Hospital, completed six hours of NASP training to be a certified archery instructor. And after attending Beaumont practices to support Tommy, he signed on to be a co-coach with White. “People of all different athletic abilities can do this, and with some practice and appropriate coaching, can become very proficient at it,” said Harlamert, who saw Tommy shoot a 265 and finish third among middle school boys at the regionals. While archers compete against themselves, trying to improve their individual scores, “it’s beneficial for the kids to be part of a team,” Harlamert said. The students have to learn not only the proper technique but also the rules of archery, including safety precautions. NASP, Harlamert noted, “wants people to follow the rules so no one gets hurt.” THE BACK STORY FCPS purchased archery equipment for PEP (Physical Education Promotion) grant schools last summer, and interested P.E. teachers received training from experts with the National Archery in the Schools Program. The district has about three dozen bows and two safety nets, which are shared among Beaumont, Jessie M. Clark, Leestown and Lexington Traditional Magnet middle schools and Lafayette High School. Each school has its own targets and arrows. These schools incorporated archery into their P.E. classes this year, but Beaumont was the only one to organize a team for the NASP regional tournament in Frankfort. “There’s something about it that attracts kids. They can’t get enough of it,” said Betty White, the co-coach at Beaumont. Beaumont, whose team practiced twice a week, had 24 students and two alternates sign up for the March 1 regionals. All are in grades 6-8. More than 1,800 archers – including Beaumont eighth-graders Mimi Aldabbagh and Tommy Harlamert – were expected at the March 18 state tournament in Louisville. NASP actually began in Kentucky, in 2002, and Beaumont was among the first schools to add archery to its P.E. program. The Bluegrass Sportsman League bought equipment for Beaumont’s startup and has continued to support the school’s efforts. More than 800 schools across the state have since adopted the NASP program, which has grown steadily every year. DID YOU KNOW? • The colors on the target -- starting from the outer ring of concentric circles -- are white, black, blue, red and yellow. Each color band has two sections with assigned point values. White is worth 1 or 2 points, black is 3 or 4 points, etc. • Students must use a Genesis compound bow, whose pulleys and extra string enable an archer to hold the pull longer for a steady, true aim. • In competition, an archer shoots three rounds of five arrows each from a distance of 10 meters, then three rounds of five arrows from 15 meters. • An archer shoots a total of 30 arrows, accumulating 0 to 10 points with each one. Only by squarely hitting the yellow bull’s eye with every shot can a competitor secure a perfect score of 300. Online: www.nasparchery.com/activea.asp
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