Rise of the Female Archers

By: Emily S.

From Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games to Merida of Brave, girls all over the United States are trying their hands with a bow and arrow. After watching the hail of arrows, girls of all ages are eager to head for the archery camps to show or find their shooting ability. According to the informal survey I did at my school, 80 percent of students have a female sibling that has become hooked on archery. It isn’t because of Hawkeye from Avengers or Robin from Robin Hood that’s for sure!

The obsession over archery has even hit the newspapers! The Atlanta- Journal Constitution states that “Camps all over the state have seen a dramatic increase in the registration for archery camps.” Some of the campers are even younger than expected. The newspaper states in one article that “A second grader that was interviewed during archery practice stated that her love of archery came from her dead-center bulls-eye that she got with her first time handling a bow.” “People started calling me “little Katniss” after that.” The girl said grinning.

Girls have also been portrayed as archers in some book series. Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson has mentioned that Artemis, goddess of the Hunt, uses a bow and arrows as her weapon. The books three and five in the Percy Jackson series state that Artemis recruits young girls to be in her “Hunters of Artemis” group. These girls hunt monsters in packs with bows and arrows as their weapons. Basically, it is an eternal girls’ club with no one underestimating you. Cool, right?

Female archers don’t have to be myths or movie characters to have mad skills with a bow. Take the female Olympic archers from the London games as examples. They put Robin Hood to shame.

Guys all over the state sometimes underestimate us girls at sports. However, if there are guys reading this article you should know that we kick butt!! One thing’s for sure. This truly is the rise of the female archers.

An Olympic Dream

Jessica C.

Lena in a match. She is on the right.

          Every girl has a dream. Some girls dream to be doctors. Some dream to be singers. But for Lena Johnson, her dream is to be an Olympic athlete. This dream is now becoming a reality as Lena prepares to tryout for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

          Lena started fencing when she was eight years old. She grew more serious with it in middle school and within one year of fencing, she had become the U.S.A. national champion for her age division.

         Fencing is a sport where two opponents use swords to fight against each other to earn points to win.

         Not only is she able to stay in shape with her fencing (she simultaneously plays soccer), but she has the opportunity to travel the world for competitions. She has been to Poland, Germany, France, Italy, and Hungary with her fencing.

         The idea of being able to compete in the Olympics came when many of her friends went to London on the U.S.A. fencing team. Lena knows that making the team won’t be easy, but she’s willing to work hard. She’s spoken to Daryl Homer, 2012 fencing Olympic athlete, about her chances, who has reported that her chances of making the U.S. Olympic team are extremely good. She keeps a picture of Daryl Homer on her binder as well as pictures of the Olympic rings. This is a meaningful symbol to Lena, who states, “Every time I drive past the Olympic rings that hang next to the Braves Stadium in Atlanta from the 1996 Olympic Games, I think to myself "One day that will be me." I just want to show that it's possible.”

Unknown Sports

By: Savannah F.

We all know the common sports played in the United States on TV, but do we know the sports played in other countries? Most of you don’t look at other sports but there are millions out there. That’s why I’m going to explain three so you can try them out.

            The first is Octopush. It is played just like regular hockey but underwater. Each team has six players and they wear goggles, snorkels, and have hockey sticks. It is very popular in other countries, especially Belgium where they have many college teams and professional training as well.

            Another sport is wife-carrying. It originated in Finland in the 19^th century and was based on men stealing wives from other villages. Today men race each other with their wives on their backs. The winner is crowned. Traditional wife-carrying is only played in countries that have villages now. This sport is becoming more rare because countries are going away from the village type environment.

            This sport is last and for a good reason. It is my favorite! It is called Man vs. Horse Marathon. Men or women race against horses to see who is the fastest. In its 10-year history, the race has only been won by humans twice.

            That’s pretty interesting right? I didn’t know this wonderful world had so many interesting sports. I hope that you look into more of these sports and try them.