SPARKS AND RECREATION: Area archers stay on target

Apr. 9—After the enormous success Brennan Stephens has experienced with a bow and arrow, the Rose Hill Christian senior always has his sights set on something bigger.

The aim remains the same — to see the sport of archery grow in our area and beyond. Stephens believes the sport can offer a student so much more than finding a bullseye.

"Archery is a great opportunity for everyone," Stephens said. "All sports can teach you a lot but so many people are not able to compete in every sport. I've seen kids that use their mouth to shoot an arrow because they were not able to use their arms. It's great to see so many kids play and have that opportunity to play a sport and learn how to compete."

"It gives you a great hobby that you can use for the rest of your life," he added. "This year I've been helping with the elementary team at Rose Hill. You see a lot of kids gaining confidence and if you put the effort into it, you can get better. It's a little bit different than most sports because you to have a mental edge. You can learn so many life lessons through archery."

Stephens has the resume and a vast experience to share. He just won his second consecutive Region 11 title and will compete in the state competition for the sixth straight season.

Stephens has been a part of the Royals' archery program since his inception before his fourth-grade year. He has accumulated 33 championships, according to his father and coach, James.

James Stephens said archery should have the same considerations as any other sport. It takes technique, focus and a high level of concentration to achieve a high score.

"I've played and coached sports all my life," James Stephens said, "and I would challenge anybody that thinks that they can do it to go out and try it. It's probably one of the most mentally challenging sports that I know of in our schools. To even shoot in the 290 range, it is very hard to do. It's even harder to stay at the top than get to the top."

Alisa Borders has seen several ups and downs during her 17-year tenure as the archery coach at Boyd County.

The interest in the sport keeps rising. Borders has found that archery also provides a self-esteem and a confidence boost for young kids. Most students want to be part of a team and experience the thrill of competition but may not have an athletic outlet to find it.

Archery has become a sport to solve that issue. Borders said a past conversation with a teacher made her realize that mindset extends beyond the gym.

"Archery is cool because you go for your individual score, but you are also working to help your team," Borders said. "It gives kids something they can be proud of. Once a teacher approached me about one of our players. She said he never spoke up in class, never asked questions and walked with his head down. Now, he is speaking up, he's happier and has more friends. Archery is the only thing we can see he's doing differently. He was starting to believe in himself. Archery is a great encourager for kids."

COVID-19 hit archery hard just like it did with every other sport. Many kids don't have the resources at home to practice and prepare for the next season. Archery bounced back and continues to show growth in its numbers.

Russell coach Everett Clark witnessed his roster nearly double from last year and the Red Devils have responded with stellar results because of their team effort.

"In every event that we competed in this year, we finished in the top 3," Clark said. "They're all doing pretty darn good. It's the second year after COVID. We got a couple of seniors who came back from the team before COVID. They give us a little more experience and a little more leadership that wasn't there last year."

"Last year we only had 23 archers on our high school team," he continued. "This year, it's almost 40. Archery as a sport is a good thing. It's made for everybody. It doesn't matter if you're an athlete. If you can pick up a bow and shoot, you can play. To watch the interest explode like this, it has been amazing."

The KHSAA recognizes archery as a sport but only holds two postseason events, the region and state tournament.

The archery season starts in the fall and competes in area events that are part of the National Archery in the Schools Program. The organization was become worldwide but it originated in Kentucky in 2001.

It was co-created by the Kentucky Departments of Fish & Wildlife Resources, Department of Education, and Mathews Archery, according to ky.gov.

NASP gives archers an advantage that most sports do not offer. A chance to compete in two separate state and national tournaments.

KHSAA will hold its state competition in Bowling Green on April 18. NASP just held its state meet and Rose Hill, Russell and Boyd County all advanced to the Eastern Nationals in Louisville on May 11-13 at the Kentucky Exposition Center. The Lions will not be attending but Borders said Summit Elementary advanced and will be at the event.

Area events allow the archers to gain experience and improve their skills for the postseason push. Borders said they also serve another important purpose.

"The schools can treat the tournaments they host as a fundraiser for their program because of NASP," Borders said. "They've also recently let the tournaments become state qualifiers."

Archery enjoys spirited competition, but James Stephens believes the sport can become a support system for everyone.

"Our local coaches work together more than any sport that I've ever been a part of," Stephens said. "Every school comes together and helps each other in their tournaments. The Ashland coach, Ramona Bellew, and Doug Burke are legends. They started this so many years ago and they've been Brennan's biggest cheerleaders. They just want to see kids excel."

Teams offer to share equipment because the size of entrants at archery competitions keeps increasing. Many coaches work and help out shooters from other schools during tournaments.

"Yeah, we have rivalries, too," Borders said. "We've had a rivalry with Elliott County, but we still try to help each other out. When we host tournaments, we need lane officials. We've had to loan each other equipment when we have a big tournament, it takes 40 to 45 quivers to hold the arrows we need. We need bow racks. We like to help because we are a close-knit group."

Clark loves that colleges have picked up the sport and it allows arches to have options after graduation. Even if the opportunity doesn't work out, you have a new talent that you can enjoy forever.

"It's a lasting skill that you can even do in your backyard after your school competitions. You can continue your archery career at the college level. KCU and UPike have an archery team."

Brennan Stephens has grown accustomed to the big stage that will meet him in Bowling Green next week. The senior has two top 10 finishes at the NASP nationals under his belt. He placed fifth as an eighth-grader and recorded seventh-place finish his sophomore year.

"I really like the competition itself," Brennan Stephens said. "I love being able to constantly push myself to shoot a little bit better each time. You can never really master archery. I love to compete and when I win a tournament, I immediately turn my sites onto the next one."

Stephens shot a 295 to claim the Region 11 crown on his home floor. A perfect score is 300. Archers start their competition at 10 meters. They get five practice arrows and follow with three scoring rounds of five arrows each. A bullseye is worth 10 points and the point total decreases as your landing point moves farther away from the cherished circle that's four inches in diameter.

The archers move to 15 meters and repeat the same process.

Clark was pleased with the region performance by his team. The Russell girls team finished third at the region event. The boys team placed fourth. Unfortunately, only the top two teams advance to the state competition along with the top three scorers not on those squads.

Red Devils senior Ava Grace Long scored a 283 to advance to the state tournament. Clark said her leadership has been a valuable asset to the team.

"She was our team captain this year," Clark said. "Our shooters look up to her. She has always brought in her natural shooting ability. She helps some of our newer shooters and she has stepped up at meets when we needed her.

"I couldn't be more proud of all of our players. They go in and do what they have to do. They leave it all out there on the range."

Borders is happy with the progress of her team this year. The Lions produced two state tournament qualifiers at the Region 11 meet.

Freshman Miko Lester collected a 277 which secured her spot at Bowling Green. Junior Isaac Adkins shot a 287 to finish in the third spot in the boys field.

Brennan Stephens hopes that he has left an important impact on the sport. He said he never turns down the chance to pass on what he has learned over the years and proudly wears the moniker of archery ambassador. Stephens is a contributing writer to the NASP website.

James has seen the sport have a profound effect on his own son and wishes the same to all that get the opportunity to experience archery. He said he shares that same gratitude to his co-coaches.

"It's been great to see some of the young kids that started out and how they stayed with it all the way through," James Stephens said. "It's the amount of work they have put into it. Most of the preparation work is at home. Brennan has probably shot a half million arrows in his basement. It's a sport that anybody could play no matter your athletic ability or disabilities."

"The two coaches that helped me out, Anita Hensley and Rebecca Smith, they are the real nuts and bolts to the whole thing," he added. "I'm around very sparingly. I travel out of town for work and coach baseball. Those two ladies are absolutely the glue to our program. We couldn't do it without them."

Ashland's Skyler Smith will also compete at the state competition next week. He scored a 286 to finish fourth out of 106 archers at the Region 11 meet.

Russell's Aaron Williams (283) and Rose Hill Christian's Hanzhe Lucas (281) ended the region competition at sixth and 11th place, respectively.

Elliott County's Haliey Lawson placed seventh on the girls side with a 276. Russell's Lacey Isgett was 10th with a 274.

S'More Sports

— Rowan County's Haven Ford scored 19 points in the Kentucky-Ohio All-Star Game on Saturday night at Thomas More University. The newly crowned Miss Basketball was one of three Kentucky players in double figures as the team defeated Ohio, 117-94.

Danville's Love Mays led all scorers with 23 points. Cooper's Whitney Lind had 18 points.

"You win with guards," Kentucky All-Star coach Joey Thacker said on linknky.com. "If you've got good guards and if you've got quick guards, you've always got a chance. They make it easier on us in transition with their speed and make it easier on defense because they push people out of the lane with their athleticism."

Kentucky made it a clean sweep as the boys won their game, 93-83, outscoring Ohio, 58-43, in the second half. Ashland's Rheyce Deboard played in the game and recorded four points.

— The Daily Independent's 2022-23 All-Area basketball teams will be in print soon with the girls team scheduled to be in the weekend edition on Saturday. The wrestling team and the boys roundball will be released the following week.

Reach MATTHEW SPARKS at msparks@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654. Follow @SparksWillFly35 on Twitter.