MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Olympic archers Khatuna Lorig and Vic Wunderle held an archery camp at the Youth Center on MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, June 19-23, 2017.
This event was part of a summer program consisting of camps and activities designed to improve and maintain the physical, social and mental well-being of the youth.
“When we received the opportunity to come and teach archery to the kids, we jumped at the idea,” said Wunderle. “We gave them a good introduction to the sport, as well as our perspectives of life as an Olympic athlete and what it takes to excel in both sports and life.”
The students learned how to properly hold a bow by determining their dominant eye and selecting the appropriate gear to match. The dominant eye is more accurate in aiming and judging distances, which makes it more important than hand-dominance when it comes to shooting arrows.
After selecting suitable equipment, the children learned how to assume the correct shooting stance, which is positioning the body perpendicular to the target with feet shoulder-width apart before pulling the string toward the face, drawing back and releasing the arrow.
“You could see the difference between Monday and Friday,” said Kayla Johnson, a child and youth program assistant at the Youth Center. “You could actually see their progress and how they learned to encourage their teammates. I was proud of them.”
“Archery teaches a lot of life values to the kids,” said Wunderle. “It has been found that on days when they have it in school, there is higher attendance, better participation, and the kids score higher on test scores because it helps with their focus. There’s a lot of great benefits for youth to get involved in sports in general, and especially archery.”
Wunderle, a three-time Olympian and 44-time national champion who has been shooting since the age of five, hoped to impart the importance of respect, eating healthy and education during his time with the students.
“I’m hopeful that many of them took home some good lessons and some good values that they can carry on to help them become better people in life,” said Wunderle. “If I can be a positive influence to these kids, I would consider this camp a success. I have big hopes that they will go on and do great things.”