Friday, December 18, 2009

The Joy Of Archery

source

My oh my, where do I start with this topic. I rarely bring up the subject of archery on the blog as I never really felt that it was a suitable thing to talk about but it really is a big part of my life.

The UL Archery club is where I met Mr T, and it was where I built up a new group of friends when I first moved to Limerick. I am still friends with nearly every one of those people now. Yea.

I can never figure out why so few women join our archery club and why archery is such a male dominated sport at the best of times. We have 3 regular female shooters this year, and 2 more coming back after the holidays, but we have dozens of guys shooting with us.

I really don't get it.

Archery is not a physically demanding sport. You do not need to have huge, over developed arms. Almost all of the strength needed comes from your back and shoulders. It is not a cardio intensive sport. It is just a calm, repetitive sport that needs good mental concentration and discipline. I would have naively thought that this would be something that a woman would be good at. To excel competitively it does become a whole other kettle of fish but as somewhere to go for a few nights each week and somewhere to meet a nice bunch of people it really is fantastic.

Do women think that we're elitist? Do women thaink that it is too hard? Do women think that it will be very expensive? I really don't know, but I do know that I wish I had more female company at training.

Are you in a male dominated sport? Do you enjoy it? How do you deal with it?

2 comments:

  1. I liked archery. Despite being dreadful at it. But the guys focused all of their attention on helping 2 specific girls, not that there's anything wrong with that, but I never got anywhere with it and lost any encouragement when my friend stopped going. I'd still be there if I didn't have so much work out in the hospital. I'd like to go back in January when I start getting more time off. So, you might have some more female company soon enough.

    I was one of 2 girls in mountain biking too. I seem to like male dominated sports. Possibly because of my dislike of women, for the most part.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice post. I have been searching for articles about valves and actuators and your post really helps. Thanks a lot for posting this. archer supply

    ReplyDelete