Archery related activities are becoming more widespread in Kentucky schools and in recreational settings.
Kenlake State Park will soon be the site of a new three dimensional archery course.
Archery is one of four sport activities sanctioned by the Kentucky High School Athletics Association. The other three are bowling, bass fishing, and competitive cheer. KHSAA Assistant Commissioner Mike Barren says three to four high schools each year add archery to their list of activities. He says the aim is to have diverse offerings for students to consider. "To allow that student that may not be the traditional athlete to find an avenue for them to connect to the school, to get involved," said Barren.
Barren says the Hunger Games movies certainly have helped to increase interest in archery. The National Archery in Schools Program puts on a statewide event each spring for elementary, middle, and high school participants. While the KHSAA continues a partnership with NASP, Barren says next spring they will expand activities. "To give the student athlete more opportunities to shoot, we're going to separate our state championships to a different weekend and a different venue so they can shoot at ours and shoot at NASP," added Barren.
Barren says the Kentucky High School Athletic Association's archery competition is planned for the last weekend in April.
Meanwhile, a new archery course opens in two weeks at Kenlake State Park. Manager Joe Mounce says a former golf course has been converted into a 30 target archery course with three dimensional features. "There's some pretty exotic critters in there. We've got some hyenas, a mountain lion, and just different things, you know, a ram," said Mounce.
Mounce says the archery course roughly follows the former golf course layout. He says it takes about three hours to complete. A ribbon cutting ceremony is planned for the last weekend in August.?
