We're always looking for sports to be successful in. Sports where we can be on equal footing with the south.
That's what we want. Sure, we go and participate but that's all we do half the time. That's not a knock but rather a fact of life. We end up being blown out of the water because, whether we want to admit it or not, we simply cannot compete in some sports against the provinces.
But archery is going to become a sport where we can take on the provinces and succeed.
The second annual NWT Archery Championships happened at the Yellowknife Ski Club last weekend and the future already looks bright. Katie Genge put on quite the show as she won everything there was to win in the U14 division, both traditional (recurve) and compound, sprinkled with a few bullseyes for good measure.
Easy enough to say you can hit the bullseye but try it from a distance and you'll find out it isn't as easy as it looks. Much like any other sport, you need to practise and practise. I said the same thing about curling when I first tried it – it's on ice and I'll slide right out of the hack just like Ed Werenich does on T.V.
You can guess how that went.
Genge has already shown that she will be a start for the future. She already has experience in big competition having competed at the 2017 North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) and while she didn't win a medal there, I know one is coming at some point.
3-D archery is where she impressed over the weekend and the compound competition was where she nailed her bullseyes. 3-D archery differs from target archery in that effigies of animals are used and the targets are located where the kill shot would be if you were out hunting the real thing. The bullseye is located near the heart and lungs area and is very small.
In fact, if you look at Genge's scorecard, she didn't miss once and that's hard to do when you're a young archer. She had several 10-point shots, which means she missed the bullseye but only just.
Cassandra Adamache is another young archer coming through and could be someone to watch out for. She managed to win everything in the U19 division – traditional and compound – and like Genge, she managed to hit some bullseyes in the compound competition.
You haven't heard a lot about Adamache because she hasn't really broken out like Genge but I wouldn't be shocked to see her at or near the top as time goes on in major events.
Another reason I say archery will become big is the fact that it will be an official ulu event, along with freestyle skiing, at the 2020 Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse. I'm of the belief that it will turn out much like table tennis in that people will try out for it if they can't make any other sport thinking it will be an easy way to get the uniform.
Not a chance, I say, because you can expect that whatever the team looks like will be based off of the 2019 Canada Winter Games. Part of the territorial championships included an identification camp for next February in Red Deer, Alta., which will have target archery. Expect Genge and Adamache to be part of that team in 2019.
(Don't ask me why archery is a winter sport, much the same as squash and synchronized swimming are. That's just the way it is.)
Will we have success right away at the Canada Games? In a perfect world, absolutely. All it takes is being on target on competition day, much like any other sport. It only takes one good day to be a hero. Ask Brent Betsina.
The reason the archers will be in good hands is because of the coaching staff of Eugene Roach and Cynthia White. They were the coaches for the NAIG squad and will be again for Red Deer. Both are avid archers – Roach himself competed in the open division at territorials – and both love the sport. You need to have people who love the sport to be successful and it will rub off on those they coach.
The Aboriginal Sports Circle of the NWT should get a lot of credit as well for getting the sport off the ground in the territory. They laid the foundation by hosting community coaching courses and were the lead organizers for the territorials again. I'm with Beth Hudson, the Sports Circle's events manager, when she says she's excited about where the territory's youung archers will go in the coming years.
Unlike with judo, I won't make any wild predictions of one of our best and brightest being on the podium in Red Deer but 2020 looks like a strong possibility. Red Deer will be a learning experience for those who go and Whitehorse is where they should think about winning. Success breeds growth and if other young people see that there's success, they'll want to do it as well. Is your heart all warm because I said that?
Not mine. I just have heartburn. I'm going home now.