GALAVANT MAGAZINE Issue 1: May/June 2014 | Page 26

caters to adults and children of all ages and also embraces people like us, newcomers, who are just curious about trying the sport. “It’s all a fluid motion, your bow is like another limb,” said the instructor as we observed a group of students on the shooting line. When we were given an opportunity to hold it in our hands for the first time, we did not immediately become one with the apparatus. Legolas sure made it look easy in the Lord of The Rings! Due to our lack of knowledge about archery, we weren’t allowed to shoot unless we were given a crash course and some fundamental rules. Safety is always first! Some of the lessons we learnt included the correct form and stance for archery, the three lines on the turf and the meaning of various numbers of whistle blows. The first line, or equipment line, is where the archers check and adjust their equipment. The second line is the waiting line where you step up and wait for two whistles before you shoot. At the third line, the shooting line, one whistle is blown signalling time to shoot. There are also three sets of whistles, which indicate when to retrieve the arrows. We were trigger happy and the children were more than happy to run and remove our arrows from the target mat, after we shot and the retrieval signal was given. After a few tries, we quickly got the hang of it, so, the