Amongst the shopping centers and wide streets in the borough of East Long Beach is an archer’s temporary oasis, drenched in greenery littered with arrows known as El Dorado Park.
As I reached to my quiver for another arrow, a tall, amazon-like woman advised me to limit my release time and settle an anchor point.
“If you don’t understand the form, it doesn’t matter what aiming I tell you to do,” said Faith Hundtoft, a junior double major in German and linguistics at California State University, Long Beach and avid archer.“Not knowing the right technique is going to screw you up more than not knowing how to aim,” she added.
With successful blockbusters like “The Hunger Games” series, “The Avengers” and Disney’s animated film, “Brave,” archery has resurfaced as a contemporary trend.
The ancient sport’s national governing body, USA Archery, has seen youth membership increase 212 percent since November 2013, according to archerytrade.org.
On Saturday afternoon, only a handful of El Dorado Park’s 21 haystacks were vacant.
She grabbed the deep-sapphire colored handle of her 68-inch, recurve bow named Samuel and instructed me on proper technique. “He” is one of three in her collection.
Predating the trend, Hundtoft picked up archery in her senior year of high school. Her fascination peaked while watching archers at an outdoor range on vacation in Kassel, Germany as part of a foreign exchange program.
“The weekend after I [got back from Germany] I spent three hours [at the shooting range] the first day,” she said. “I didn’t take any breaks, so at one point I started seeing black spots everywhere; that’s when I [knew I] wanted to be there as much as I [could].”
Since then she’s competed on intercollegiate levels, travelling about three to five times a year as far as Utah to contest.
“Once I started getting an idea that I was getting it, it wasn’t a question of whether I was going to a tournament,” Hundtoft said. “I was going to go.”
In 2013, the United States Collegiate Archery Association awarded Hundtoft’s talents with both All-American and All-Academic honors, making her one of the top ten female shooters nationwide.
Hundtoft’s said that her proudest moment of her archery career was during the final championship of the collegiate season in 2014 where she went head to head with Jennifer Nichols, a three-time Olympic archer for the United States.
Despite sustaining a wrist injury and several rounds of defeat, Hundtoft caught a glimpse of glory by prevailing in one of three rounds during shoot-offs against her gold-medalist adversary.
“I cried a little; I didn’t care what happened the rest of the day,” Hundtoft said through a smile. “She’s like shot in front of millions of people watching her!”
Now, archery has subsided with Hundtoft as a fond hobby. Although she’s toned down the will to win, working as an instructor at The Archery Outpost keeps her bow in hand.
Her job involves coaching private lessons to full-blown parties of 20 members or more and preventing clients, sometimes children as young as eight years old, from playing the fatal version of cowboys and Indians.
“It’s definitely getting bigger [with a noticeable] increase amongst the young female demographic,” Hundtoft said. “We’ve got birthday parties of 10-year-old girls running around yelling “I’m Katniss!””
Trends aside, Hundtoft doesn’t plan on neglecting Samuel anytime soon.
“There are so many different styles to archery,” Hundtoft said. “I plan on spending years learning the intricacies on how to shoot all of them.”
HOW TO
For 52 years, the Long Beach State Archery Club has carried on the tradition of being the longest running college archery program in the country, according to their website.
Before getting started, LBSAC’s vice president Amy Guan noted that form is the most subjective part of the sport, and preached the importance of an archer’s mental game.
“What helps me the most is clearing my mind,” said senior aerospace engineer major Amy Guan, the current vice president of LBSAC. “Archery isn’t as much of a physical sport as it is a mental one.”
- Determine your dominant eye
Extend both hands and create a triangle. While focusing on a distant object in the center of the triangle, slowly bend elbows in to bring the triangle shape toward face. If correctly remaining in alignment with the eyes, the triangle will end up over the dominant eye. If it is determined the archer is right-eye dominant, then the archer will be equipping the riser with their left hand and using their right hand to draw the bowstring. In rare cases, an archer will be ambidextrous and be able to shoot using either side of their bodies.
- Assume shooting stance
Archers should stand perpendicular to their target with their feet about shoulder width apart. Stance must be firm yet comfortable. When at full draw, the archer’s body will form a “T.”
“Setting your stance will make the rest of your shot more consistent,” Hundtoft said. “If you’re aware of that, then you can remember to do it the same way every time.”
- Nocking the arrow, finger placement and raising to target
Place the front end of the arrow onto the arrow rest located on the riser and nock the arrow by clipping it under the nocking point, a metal ball located roughly halfway up the string. Make sure to have the index fletching, marked by a different color, pointing away from the bow. Place three fingers, index, middle and ring finger, under the arrow as the shaft rests on your thumb. There are other styles of grips, but Hundtoft cites this one as the most reliable for the straightest shot possible. When comfortable, raise bow to target.
“The thing I pay attention to most is my hand position,” said junior English education major Dale Gima who has spent the past three years with the club. “Since I have a few medical issues with my shoulder, I have be careful with where I draw.”
- Draw, anchor and release
With both eyes open, pull bowstring back as close to the face as possible to draw, ideally in line with the cheekbone. The archer should take note of where their hand touches their face as this is known as an anchor point and should be used as a point of reference when modifying form. Draw the arrow by pulling the bowstring to full extension and aim using the point of the arrow and release. The hold shouldn’t last more than five seconds.
“Personally, I just stare at the gold center of the target and settle into my form,” said LBSAC secretary Jacqueline Linares who is studying creative writing in her second year at CSULB. “I’m trying to work on [holding my draw], which should be about two to three deep breaths.”