The Family That Shoots Together................

As you might have noticed from some of my slideshow photos, my kids and I like to shoot archery. We're not hunters. We just shoot for fun.

My kids are both members of JOAD (Junior Olympic Archery Developement) here in Glendale.

My son also works at an archery shop part time. What a cool job for a high schooler. I was stuck working fast food most of my high school years.

Once both of the kids got involved I had to learn myself. I bought a PSE Shark bow. I have it set at 60 lbs with a 30 inch draw length. Once I got the bow I started spending money on equipment. Because I'm nearly 40 I bought a Tru Glo lighted site. I have a True Ball Cyclone release, no finger shooting here. A nice stabalizer and a wrist loop and I was ready to go.

Here's a couple pictures of my bow:

I really enjoy archery as a family activity. My son is the most involved, working at the archery shop and all. He was the first one to get involved.

We found the JOAD program at a local archery shop. They have three class levels, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. You don't even need to own any of your own equipment. They only charge $8 per week and if you don't show one week, you don't pay. I was excited because most of the activities there are to get kids involved with make you pay a lump sum up front and if you don't show up you lose your money. This is great because they can take a break for a few weeks for vacation or some other activity they are doing and it doesn't cost a thing.

Kilter is in the advanced class now. He's been involved for about 2 1/2 years. He shoots a Browning Rage bow at 55 lbs and 29 inch draw (he's a big kid). The class scores once a month and he usually shoots around 210.

Even my 7 year old daughter has her own bow. When she was five and Kilter was going to JOAD every week she would come along. I asked the coach how soon I could get her involved and her response was "two years ago". So Luckygirl started out with a very small bow that almost looked like a toy. After about 6 months I bought her a real compound bow. A PSE Spyder with a draw weight around 15 lbs. She likes it but is not as in to it as Kilter.

Here's a picture of Luckygirl's bow hanging on her wall against the pink wallpaper:

Like I said, it's alot of fun. If you're looking for a family activity archery is a good one. It's something that the whole family can get involved in whether indoors our outdoors. I highly recommend it.

We're still working on SheBoss but I'm sure she'll come around.