In October, the Maricopa Archery Club contacted the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee for assistance in moving forward with a municipal range. An initial proposal for the range would allow archers to shoot upwards of 100 yards, which could allow the group to host competitions. “We have plenty of land,” Turner said. “We’re not shy of land. We just want it to be something for the community to start out with.”
“I’ve seen people shooting in the washes around town, all over the place,” Higashi said, conceding, “It’s not the best practice." At the Maricopa Veterans Day Parade last month, the 4-H club’s float was decked out in archery targets. Maricopa’s 4-H club uses Goncalves’ land for a makeshift range, but even he said an official range would be beneficial. “I think a range would help open the sport up to a lot more people,” he said. “I kicked around the idea, but I wasn’t sure who to talk to.”
That relaxation is partly what Goncalves said helps 4-H “make championship kids,” but also the excitement in hitting a target. “You get that immediate gratification of seeing where you hit,” he said. “And there's always that little possibility of that oddball shot where you stick in another arrow. The Robinhood shot.” Bringing it home Higashi estimates Maricopa is home to at least 200 archers based on a callout he made earlier this year. “I posted on Facebook asking if anyone was interested in starting an archery club,” he said. “I got 145 responses at the time.” Since then, the Maricopa Archery Club's scrappy but robust membership is attempting to draw new members and eventually acquire an archery range for city residents. Unless they have safe access to a wide swath of land to properly set up targets, archers in Maricopa are usually forced to travel to Chandler or Casa Grande to use outdoor and indoor ranges. But that’s not always the case.
FAST FACTS
• The oldest-known
• In 2015, USA Paralympian Matt Stutzman broke a Guinness world record for longest accurate shot by any athlete, hitting a target from a whopping
arrowheads date back 64,000 years and were found in South Africa.
• Although no longer
common terminology, archery lovers are called toxophilites. This comes from a combination of the Greek words toxon (bow and arrow) and philos (loving).
• Watch out! Arrows can travel up to 200 miles per hour.
310 yards. That’s over three football fields.
• In 1904, archery became the first Olympic sport to include a women’s event.
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December 2023 | InMaricopa.com
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