With the summer Olympics, every year there is a range of activities/sports held in different areas of the world that test athletes’ physical, mental, and behavioral skills. Archery is “the sport or skill of shooting with a bow and arrows, especially at a target.” (Oxford Languages) This underrated sport has been previewed in several forms of media ranging from video games, i.e., Horizon zero dawn, Shadow of the tomb raider, and Skyrim, and movies, I.e., The lord of the rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Hunger Games. Archery requires its participants to be level-headed, steady-handed, and precise as the aiming and timing of the bow and arrow can be extremely difficult to master.
I have always been a huge fan of archery and shooting bows, as I too have a bow and arrow, as it can be a fun way to role play with friends and increase your eyesight. According to backyardsidekick.com, “Archery requires focus and accuracy, improving your skills in archery will also improve your eyesight.” “Looking from the target to your sight and back to the target. Focusing on the target at a distance. Watching an arrow after it has been fired. Hand eye coordination. Focusing on the bow sight. Watching someone else fire an arrow.” (Sampson, 2021) Archery is such an adeptly experienced activity that tests your mind and body and if taken seriously can lead to a very useful skill and expertise.
Although, now used for Olympic sport, archery used to be a very commonly used hunting tactic as many native Americans/Indians used it to hunt animals and humans. “While it is difficult to determine the exact moment archery was born – some claim the discipline dates back almost 70,000 years – the trajectory of archery’s early growth, migrating out of ancestral Africa to the rest of the world, is clear. As mankind’s first piece of advanced technology, which has been refined and improved countless times over millennia, the bow and arrow offered practitioners an almost insurmountable advantage across a variety of disciplines.” (Stanley, 2020) Because of the distance, they provided, and the fact that guns were not yet created, bows, and spears, created an outstanding advantage in early battles allowing ones to fire arrows at their opponents, wounding them from far distances.
Archery has had its disappearance from modern history but is making a major comeback today and is proving itself to be an activity that should no longer be overlooked and respected. Because of archery’s recent reappearance in several forms of mass marketing media, I see it to become a highly respected sport that should hold its own right next to the likes of football, basketball, and tennis. When it comes to archery, I will always see it as a superior and very underrated sport because of its beneficial effects and the prevalence that it has in the media.
https://worldarchery.sport/news/178444/archery-history-tribal-use-bow-and-arrow-through-modern-day
https://backyardsidekick.com/can-archery-improve-eyesight-example-eye-exercises/
