Students ranging from fourth to 12th grade stood in a line, raised their bows, pulled back their strings, took aim and fired.
More than 80 students from six area schools competed Saturday in an archery tournament in the main gym at Sacred Heart School in East Grand Forks. The schools included Sacred Heart, which had about 26 shooters, Grand Rapids, Minn., Wahpeton, N.D., Hankinson, N.D., Gwinner, N.D., and Hawley, Minn.
Sacred Heart began implementing archery in its physical education classes and started an archery club last year through the National Archery in the Schools Program. This was the first time the school hosted a tournament like this, Wayne Pietruszewski said.
"The kids had a blast," he said.
Pietruszewski helped get archery into the school, and he ran the tournament Saturday.
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He hopes archery helps students connect with the outdoors, as well teach them lifelong skills, including self-esteem, discipline, self-confidence and structure, he said.
Archers stood in a line, shooting at their respective targets with colorful bows when a whistle was blown. When everyone was finished, the archers scored the rounds and removed the bows.
Will Rohrich , 15, and his brother Kaven, 10, participated in the archery tournament together.
Will Rohrich, who has competed for two years, said archery takes focus.
"It's really fun," Kaven Rohrich said, adding he hit the bull's-eye three times.
Madison Armstrong, 11, agreed. Archery is fun, but archers have to concentrate, he said.
"It's fun to compete and compare scores to see how you can improve," he said.
Sacred Heart shooters will compete in some upcoming local tournaments, Pietruszewski said.
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"We're going to try to grow it and keep it going for the kids," he said.
