SPORT
Right: Michael Higashi demonstrates how to hold a compound bow at Paseo Vista Recreation Area's archery range in Chandler. Below: Joe Goncalves, Maricopa Trailblazers 4-H Club shooting sports leader, sorts through arrows during an archery practice at his Hidden Valley home. Goncalves has worked with the club for approximately six years. Bottom: Goncalves assists Dimitri Larsen during a practice.
“I’ve been shooting since 1973,” he said. “I bought my first bow because all my buddies were talking about hunting a deer with bows. That never happened, but I just instantly fell in love with it.” In 2020, the Archery Trade Association estimated 17 million Americans participate in some form of recreational archery and more than 5 million shoot competitively. Bow with the flow Joe Goncalves first entered the world of archery in 2017 when his son was exposed to the sport through the Maricopa Trailblazers 4-H Club. “I do like archery the best,” he said. “It's very relaxing. You have to remain calm and put out the bad shots and just relax and breathe and take that next shot.” His son, Asher, agreed. “It's very meditative when I'm doing it alone because I know where I am, where I can stand, what I can do,” Asher said. “Guns are cool but they’re loud and don’t make me as happy.” Despite Higashi’s failed first attempt at archery, he also finds solace in the sport. “This is my meditative time when I can think about my breathing, I can think about my stance, I can think about releasing the arrow and letting it go,” he said. “And that's all I need. I don't even have to hit anything. I just have to be there in the moment.” Feickert agreed. “With archery, you have to know how to relax and how to breathe,” she said. “You can't shoot an arrow when you're all tensed up. You've got to relax, you got to drop your shoulders, you got to drop your forehead.”
Rise, fall and rise again Pickleball may be the country’s fastest-growing sport, but archery has slowly picked up the pace. In 2021, archery ranked the seventh-most popular sport on social media platforms and this year’s Vegas Shoot set a record attendance with nearly 4,000 archers registering for the event. It’s all part of a rise and fall trend archery has seen over the centuries. Initially a toll of hunters and warriors throughout the world, the oldest known arrowheads date back at least 64,000 years. Arrowheads, bow fragments and art depicting various forms of archery have been found in Europe, Asia and the Americas. However, once firearms entered the picture
in the 16th century, archery’s popularity took a hit. More powerful and more deadly, guns became the preferred weapon for hunting and warfare. It took a couple of centuries, but eventually archery gained a modest popularity as a leisure sport for Europe’s aristocracy. It slowly trickled down to the middle class and its fashion wavered in the decades since. It seems that tie to tradition entices some to the sport, as it did for 16-year-old Maricopa resident Asher Goncalves. “We always see it in movies,” he said. “We see Legolas in ‘Lord of the Rings’ where he turns his bow, and it just looks so fun and easy.” It was a similar draw for local resident Henry Turner.
InMaricopa.com | December 2023
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