Now at Bob Jones is a new archery program! Brought in by Chief Master Sergeant Clark, archery is now a team brought in for the junior reserve officer training corps (JROTC). Chief Clark said, “I think we have a good chance for our first year. Our team has a lot of good archers, and I think we can do a good job.”

Archery dates back to the times of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. It was used as a weapon for war the bow is a long ranged weapon used to take out opponents; eventually, archery was used for means of competitions and picked up by legendary empires, such as the Mongols and the Huns. Around the time of the 5th century BC, the crossbow was invented in Europe. The last recorded use of the bow and arrow in warfare was used by Lieutenant Colonel Jack Churchill; he used a longbow and sword to capture forty-two German soldiers. 

Because of today’s modern weapons, the bow and arrow are not used in the military anymore, but competition has picked up archery. At the 1900 Paris Olympic games, archery made its debut. In 1904 at the St. Louis Olympics, archery was one of the first sports to allow women to compete. Today we have an archery team for Bob Jones JROTC and the first team competition will be this semester. Archery team commander Kayla Sawyer said that she has a lot of hopes for competition season. “I think the season is going to go pretty great; we have a lot of excellent archers.”  

In a recent survey, 47 percent of Bob Jones students have never picked up a bow and arrow, so maybe this is something new for students to try.