DALLAS – Will 2012 be archery’s big Olympic year?
At the Team U.S.A. Media Summit here, an event with hundreds of media members from around the world and 110 Olympic contenders, the sport is having a big moment.
And archers may have Katniss Everdeen, the fictitious protagonist of “The Hunger Games,” to thank for the buzz. But it’s still unclear if or how the popularity of the books and film will translate into deep interest in the sport.
Archery is still far from being as popular as more traditional sports. In the 2010-2011 school year, fewer than 1,000 high school students competed in the sport, spread across programs in only six states, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Competitors in the sport say they’re not sick of the “Hunger Games” comparisons, questions or trend stories.
“I think it has translated to more involvement, especially for young girls,” Jennifer Nichols, an archer training for the London Games said. “I think it has opened up a sport that may not have even considered before until they saw a young woman on the screen or in the book and thought about it for the first time. And I’m hoping that they realize that it’s something that would be really fun and that girls can actually be really good at it.”
The hope is that the pipeline is being filled with the Olympic hopefuls of tomorrow.
“I think we have yet to see the fruit of all of that since the movie is so young,” Nichols said. “We haven’t seen as much yet. But we’re hearing, especially with the junior clubs, that they’re having an explosion in attendance.”
Often seen sporting a bow and a batch of arrows on her side, Nichols said she still isn’t tired of the inevitable Katniss comparisons. She said she liked the movie.
“Some of them just ask if I’m able to relate with Katniss, if she was my inspiration,” Nichols said. “But this started way before Katniss was involved for me.”
She has an answer already prepared for the first half of that question.
“I say a little bit,” she said. “It’s just I don’t shoot anything that’s alive. I aim at a colorful target and that’s it.”
Original post By MARY PILON, to view the article click here
