By Steve Huffman
Salisbury Post
EAST SPENCER ó Michael King said that in many East Spencer neighborhoods, children know plenty about handguns.
“But they don’t know anything about archery,” he said.
King, the bishop of Damascus Church on Barbour Street, is working to change that. He and other church leaders have organized an archery club called “Christ in Action,” (its acronym is “CIA”).
The club has been organized through the church’s Damascus Ministries. The aim of the club, King said, is to give children an alternative to gangs.
“We’re brand new, but we’re getting a lot of young folks excited,” he said.
Last Tuesday, children were especially excited as Sonya Graham and her twin sister, Sionna, of China Grove’s S&S Graham Archery, visited to introduce them to bows and arrows and targets.
Sonya and Sionna said they visit a lot of schools where they give archery demonstrations. Safety is the most important part of their lesson, both women said.
“Even at just 25 pounds, an arrow can still penetrate flesh,” said Sonya, referring to the poundage at which a typical child’s bow unleashes.
By comparison, an adult’s bow fires an arrow at about 70 pounds of pressure.
Sonya said that when they’re first introduced to bows and arrows, most children want to rare back and fire ’em straight into the air.
Doing so can be dangerous.
“That arrow has to come down,” Sonya said.
After a 45-minute talk in which she pointed out the various parts of a bow and emphasized that arrows should be fired only at fixed targets, Sonya asked who was ready to take a shot.
The 10 or so children in attendance all thrust an arm skyward.
King said members of the Rowan County Wildlife Association built an archery target that they donated to the Damascus Church group.
On Tuesday, inflated balloons were attached to a huge chunk of foam padding that was used to stop the arrows.
King said he’s hoping that interest in archery grows to the point where the East Spencer club produces state champions.
The Graham women said archery is a popular sport in many high schools across the state, with a number producing competitive teams.
King said he’d like to start things on a smaller scale, perhaps getting a group on the far side of Salisbury to organize a club so members could engage in friendly competitions with the East Spencer bunch.
“Not everybody can sing, not everybody can play a musical instrument,” he said. “Archery gives you an outlet.”
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While the Damascus Church has had a number of bows donated for teens and adults, the church doesn’t have bows for younger children. The smaller bows cost about $250 apiece.
If you’d like to make a donation, send it to: Damascus Church, 502 E. Fisher St., Salisbury, NC 28144.