A two-day archery clinic was held late last week in Hay River with the goal of growing the traditional sport in the community.
"Essentially, we're trying to revitalize archery across the NWT in as many communities as we can," said Yellowknife's Beth Hudson, the events manager with the Aboriginal Sports Circle NWT.
Hudson said there have been efforts to promote archery in the past through workshops, and through other organizations and archery clubs.
"But it hasn't been around for a long time," she said. "We're trying to get it going again."
The introductory clinic was the result of efforts by Dale Loutit, the recreation programmer with the Town of Hay River.
"I actually had some parents come up to me and say, 'Hey, you should do archery,'" she recalled.
Loutit said she worked on organizing the clinic for two years to get a coach and to find the right venue, which turned out to be the Hay River Shooting Range.
"The stars had to align properly for it, so it finally did," she said.
Loutit was pleased with the interest, noting about 20 children participated in one or both of the two days of the clinic on July 27 & 28.
"The feedback has been amazing," she said.
One of the young participants was 15-year-old Shanelle Moore, who noted she had tried archery a few times before and enjoyed it.
"It's pretty good," she said.
Moore said she came to last week's clinic for the fun and to participate.
The clinic was coached by Cynthia White, director of community services with the Town of Fort Smith.
White said it is part of a revitalization of archery in the NWT.
"Archery is a great sport in that it's an individual sport. So you don't have to rely on a team," she noted. "We can give a kid instruction and send them back to their community to practise the skills, and then they can perform at a higher level without having to be from a big community, which is one of the reasons I think it's a great sport for our territory."
White said archery can be indoors or outdoors, and can involve target shooting or 3D simulations of animals, such as a wolverine, skunk, turkey, rabbit, hyena, toad or fox.
"There are so many options and so much fun," she said.
"This is a great sport in that you can compete against anybody," she added. "The bows are slightly different sizes depending on your age and your strength."
Plus, she noted it's a great family sport, which is why parents were invited to the clinic on July 28.
Overall, the clinic offered basic information on the bows and arrows, and shooting technique.
Plus, safety was stressed.
"This is a sport with some risk much like any shooting sport," said White. "Range safety is very, very important."
Hudson of the Aboriginal Sports Circle NWT said her role is to support archery at a grassroots level, as well as trying to support higher performance if the desire is there for the youth who really love it.
She noted that archery is a sport in the Canada Winter Games and the North American Indigenous Games, and will be in the next Arctic Winter Games.
"So there's so much opportunity for youth archers to really get involved and be able to grow with the sport, which is really exciting," she said.
The Aboriginal Sports Circle NWT is the territorial sports organization responsible for archery.
"We're really taking on the job of trying to promote it, trying to create these pathways for youth to get involved across the territory," said Hudson. "Our mission is really to provide all communities in the Northwest Territories the opportunity to participate in all sorts of traditional games, and archery, of course, is one of them."