MOHAMMAD ALAVI Archery President Nicole
Stull, a computer science student, focuses. The class
meets near the Sycamore Tennis Courts.
By Will Whitehorn
Daily Bruin Contributor
Every year, the archery program at UCLA encounters the same
highs and lows in its attempt to establish itself as a club.
Interest in archery starts to peak when there is a go-ahead for
the club to compete, yet the club is ultimately forced to disband
because the main proponents behind the program are
upperclassmen.
“One of the biggest problems we’ve had is people who
get involved with archery their senior year,” said Nicole
Stull, organizer of the latest attempt to bring archery to the
university for good.
“Every year someone comes to (the administration) and
says, “˜Hey, I want an archery club,'” Stull said.
“Then they go to all the effort of putting it together, and
the person graduates and it’s done. There’s no more
archery club.”
This is the challenge Stull faces in her effort to assemble a
long-term archery program at UCLA, while avoiding at all costs the
rent-a-club position archery seems to find itself in annually.
“I’m trying to get a lot more undergraduates, some
of the freshman and sophomores,” said Stull, a fifth-year
senior who is staying on an extra quarter, in part to make sure the
archery project gets off the ground. “I’m really hoping
to get a lot of them involved, that way the club will go
on.”
“We’ve hit a couple of roadblocks, to say the
least,” said Dave Dolbee, UCLA alum, former archery national
finalist, and current instructor for the program, which tentatively
meets Tuesdays at 4:30 p.m.
Because the program missed the deadline for filing as a club, it
is currently being taught as a recreation class at the university.
Its state of limbo prohibits the class from excessive advertising,
so it has relied heavily on word-of-mouth to boost
participation.
Two problems that have further hindered turnout for the program
are the misconceptions that archery is a hazardous sport, or that a
person needs to be fairly skilled in the sport to compete.
“Archery is a very romantic sport. It isn’t a
dangerous sport. There are strict rules and if you follow them,
you’re safe,” she said.
“I’m guessing that 99 percent of the people (who
start class) have never picked up a bow before,” continued
Stull, who has been shooting since August. “And you
don’t need to have a certain body type. You can really
progress very quickly.”
By this time next year, Stull hopes to have the program
established among its fellow UCLA clubs.
“We have everything set and all the paper work is in
order. We’re just crossing our T’s and dotting our
I’s, so that next year we can have a club ““ a
team.”
Creating an archery program would fulfill the wish of Jim
Easton, CEO and chairman of Easton Sports, and an archery
aficionado. The construction of the softball field, Easton Stadium,
was made possible by his company’s donations, but with a
provision that the university accommodate fellow archery buffs with
a program. Easton has also donated a large amount of equipment
(bows, targets, arrows, etc) in an attempt to jump-start it.
Besides UCLA, there are only two schools in California that
consistently compete in archery: CSU Long Beach and UC San Diego.
But, Stull sees an advantage to the narrow field of
competition.
“At the least we can get third place,” she said,
jokingly.
Stull also points to the sport’s gender neutrality as one
of archery’s greatest assets in an attempt to encourage women
to participate.
“It’s not one of those sports where women’s
archery is boring and men’s archery is exciting,” she
said.
She cited the Korean Women’s Olympic team as the closest
example to perfection in the sport: “They’re
amazing.”
Ultimately, the biggest obstacles to the sport’s longevity
at UCLA, both for the program and its participants, are patience
and time.
“The people in our class have progressed very well in just
five classes,” Stull said. “I’m hoping
we’ll get more people who say, “˜Yeah, that sounds cool,
I’d like to try it.’ If they don’t know anything
about it, great. Just come and want to learn.”
Those who are interested in learning more about archery at UCLA
can visit www.recreation.ucla.edu/asp/recsections.asp?courseid=164
for the class schedule.