British Virgin Island Archery Association took home the NevTor(Nevis Tortola) Challenge Cup after scoring 1416 points against Nevis Archery Association’s 1377 points at the friendly Archery competition held on Saturday, 17th December and Sunday December 18th , 2016 at the Bath range and along trails at Montravers.
This was the first competition Nevis Archery Association has hosted since the association was launched in
The two teams competed in four categories among them shoot distances of 15, 30 meters, federal 50 meters and field shoots along a bushy trail that leads to a heritage site, Mount Travers in Nevis..
In the 50 meters category(seniors) Dane Sandiford(245) was first, second place Winnette Lawrence(208) and third place Edmund Blackette(129). In the 18 meters category(seniors), Winnette Lawrence scooped 200 the highest points, second place Dane Sandiford(199) and third place Pam Barry (139).
In the 30 metres category(juniors) Adriel Singh had the highest score (244). The second place went to Jahmaine Liburd (236) while Teanja Donovan was third (200) points.In the 18 meters(juniors) the winner was Adriel Singh(297) points, second position went to Jahmaine(273) points and third position was taken by Shaine Daigmault(270) points.
In the Field Shoot, Winnette Lawrence was first(30 points), Dane Sandiford second (28 points) while Adriel Singh was third(26 points.)
Trinidad based coach , Colvin Chin who has offered training to Nevis archers in the past was accompanied during this trip an archery judge, Pat Price also from Trinidad who explained how archers scores are judged.
She explained that shooting the arrow and having it land at the center of the target enables the archer to get high scores. “ Inside of the centre is a little X and sometimes a high score is determined by the arrow hitting the Xs. In a competition, three people from different countries are assigned to one target.”.
Ms Lawrence who led the BVI team described the competition as “a great experience for the kids”. She said her team had competed in St. Thomas, St. Croix and Barbados. “Archery motivates the youths. It boosts those who may have low self esteem . The loners are able to express themselves better”, she said.
Junior archers interviewed spoke about the uniqueness of the sport. A secondary school student, Zoe Bendeto from Nevis who joined the Nevis Archery Association last year, found the competition challenging but her experience with archery has made her love the sport. “It is not like a sport you could find anywhere and it is very unique. It encourages youth to try new things. .
Jarette Greene had this to say: “You do not need intense physical training to be good in archery. You do not need to be in the gym working out daily.”
Jonathan Ward says archery helps him to be accurate. “It is very interesting. It helps me to be accurate and keeps my brain focused. Britney Wilkin finds archery fun, “It is fun, it is relaxing. It is a good sport.”
The President of the Nevis Archery Association, Dane Sandiford was impressed by the outcome of the competition: “The tournament came out really well and it was a success. We were able to achieve our objectives. This is the catalyst for future competitions with other islands that have archery clubs.”
Catherine Joseph, a Nevis archer found the competition an adventure especially the field shooting held at a heritage site. She is optimistic that Nevis will take back the trophy in the near future,”Tortola took back the trophy but next year we will go back for it.”
Pam Barry the founder of the Nevis Archery Association believes archery on the island of Nevis is making great strides : “I feel great. We have met some very nice young people and team from Tortola and they have taught our young people. We have about six people signed up to begin to learn next week. I am going to be very busy.”