by Haley Gunther, reporter

FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Angela Boyer brings hope within students, helping them continue the sport they love. In 2022 when the previous coach for archery resigned, the players were devastated that they couldn’t play or go to tournaments. 

A Fairhope Middle School teacher, Boyer picked up coaching the sport for her daughter Ellie. She has been coaching for two years now.

“I got into this [archery] because of Ellie shooting,” Boyer said. “I wanted her to be able to continue shooting and there wasn’t any teacher willing to sponsor.”

Boyer saw the joy when her daughter shot and participated in matches. She enjoys going on trips and seeing how much her archers have improved in their ability to shoot.

“I wanted to give all these kids [another chance to play archery]. I mean they have been doing it for years, an opportunity to continue on,” Boyer said.

Archery is considered one of the safest and most respected sports. There are procedures and rules that all students must follow in order to keep everyone away from harm.

“We always shoot with other schools and you’re usually not paired up with someone on your team,” Boyer said. “And they always support each other, especially because it’s fourth grade to seniors shooting at the tournament,  so they’re paired with little kids.”

Most of the students on the team have built up memories from tournaments or practices, some of those memories are quite funny.

“One time my hoodie got caught in my bow and it broke in competition, yea I had to re-string everything [I] was last shoot,” said junior Sienna Breivik.According to FAQs – National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP). The program was first launched in 2002, archers must attend a school where teachers provide NASP® archery instruction during the school day. Archers can go on the NASP website to see their scores.