These three members of the Osoyoos Traditional Archery Club, including club founder Brock Paton, and new members Sarah Martin and Alex Rousseau, will be travelling to Lethbridge, Alta. this weekend to compete in the 2014 Canadian 3-D Archery Championships. (Keith Lacey photo)
His two brightest students will join the founder of the Osoyoos Traditional Archery School when they compete at the 2014 Canadian National 3-D Archery Championships this weekend.
Brock Paton, the Osoyoos man who is a three-time national indoor champion and four-time outdoor champion in target shooting, is being joined by Sarah Martin and Alex Rousseau, who joined Paton’s club only eight months ago.
All three will be competing at the national championships this weekend in Lethbridge, Alta.
Martin grew up in the Yukon and became good friends with Rousseau’s parents.
When Martin and her family settled in Cawston 16 years ago, Rousseau’s parents followed and young Alex, 17, has remained a good family friend.
When Martin decided to join the archery club last summer, she quickly talked Rousseau into joining her.
“I joined because I’m a hunter and I wanted to improve my archery skills,” said Martin. “I had a couple of friends who live in Osoyoos and they mentioned this new archery club, I checked it out on Facebook and got in touch with Brock and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Paton, who has twice competed at the world 3-D archery championships, including last fall in Italy, said his two new students have come an awfully long way in eight short months since joining the Osoyoos club.
“They are both hard workers and I saw their potential early on,” he said. “I talked both of them in to continue shooting indoors at the air cadet building in Oliver this past winter and they remained committed and continued to improve.
“When I told them they should consider coming with me to nationals … they both thought they would take a shot at it and they’ve been coming out every single night for practice the past three weeks.”
Instead of shooting at targets to score points, 3-D archery involves shooting at life-sized animal targets ranging from small rodents right up to larger creatures like moose, elk and deer, said Paton.
Martin has shown tremendous progress since joining the club and competed in two indoor competitions over the winter and winning both events against female competition in Abbotsford and Semiahmoo First Nation near Surrey a few weeks ago.
Rousseau finished second in his age division at the event in Abbotsford.
Rousseau, a Grade 12 student at Similkameen Elementary Secondary School in Keremeos, has also qualified for the North American Indigenous Games, set for Regina in the middle of July.
There are no shortcuts to success in a sport like archery, said Martin.
“It’s all about practice and commitment,” she said. “I also find it very peaceful and relaxing, so it’s something I enjoy and that’s why I’ve been willing to put in so much practice time over the past few months.”
The fact the target range at the Osoyoos Traditional Archery School, which is located near Strawberry Creek, is one of the best practice facilities in the province is a big reason some of his students are ready to excel on the national stage, said Paton.
“Our practice facility is a 30-target walkabout and there isn’t another facility like it within 500 kilometres,” he said. “If you’re willing to practice hard, like these two have done, then you can improve in a hurry.”
Rousseau said he’s excited about competing at nationals.
“I have friends who have qualified for provincials in other sports and it’s quite exciting to think I’m going to be competing at a national championship in a sport I’m really just getting started in,” he said. “Because I’m so young, I don’t have any real expectations except to go there and do my best and learn from the experience.”
Paton is confident he will be able to win another gold medal at nationals.
He’s more excited about bringing two club members with him to expose them to high-calibre competition, which will hopefully get more Osoyoos and area youngsters to join his club and get involved in a sport that continues to grow in popularity, he said.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
