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The Yukon Aboriginal Sports Circle held an indoor archery tournament recently.

The winter shoot took place Saturday at Takhini Elementary school in Whitehorse.

A recreation shoot took place in the morning, followed by a registered shoot in the afternoon.

The recreation shooters are younger archers that don鈥檛 shoot at the regulation 18 metres from the target that the registered shooters do.

鈥淚t gives them a chance to have a competition and get a feel for what it鈥檚 like,鈥� related Yukon Aboriginal Sport Circle archery coach Warren Kampaniuk.

The afternoon event was registered with Archery Canada.

The registered shooters had their scores recorded and then submitted to Archery Canada for rankings purposes.

鈥淚t鈥檚 more of the competitive shooters that travel Outside and compete for the Yukon,鈥� explained Kapaniuk.

鈥淲hen they need archers for a national event, the first thing they do is look at your rankings. The more events you get in and the better score you do, the higher up you rank and the more opportunities you have to shoot.鈥�

Kapaniuk said the Alaska Juneau Arctic Sports team joined in on the recreational shoot, since they were in town.

He said the morning shoot had a full range and went well.

As for the afternoon, Kapaniuk said he thought it was 鈥済oing good for all of them. Most of them shoot against each other all the time in practices and stuff but we have an adult recurve and an adult compound, so there is a few new people that are shooting against them.鈥�

In total, each archer shot 600 arrows in the afternoon session, 20 rounds of three arrows each.

The Star spoke with Sheori Manzo and Daniel Mead during a break. Manzo, 13, was asked what her goal for the competition was. 鈥淗itting the yellow,鈥� she replied, referring to the middle of the target.

Manzo, of course, competed in Brazil in August as part of the International School Sport Federation 2023 U15 High School Multi-Sport Competition.

She said it was 鈥渁mazing. But I think the thing that got to me was the heat because my body was not very used to it. And it was way hotter there than over here.鈥�

Regarding her shooting Saturday, Manzo said she was 鈥渄oing good.鈥�

Manzo got into archery as a result of a school field trip.

Mead, 15, said he felt 鈥減retty good about the day鈥檚 shooting. I鈥檓 shooting really well but I screwed one end over.鈥�

Mead had a mishap on one of his shots.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just one shot and then it鈥檚 kind of gone. My goal is 261, so even dropping down two points from a 7 to a 5 could be the difference between getting the next badge and not getting it.鈥�

Mead was inspired by the Elfin archer Legolas from Lord of the Rings.

鈥淚 thought he was pretty cool and signed up for archery.鈥�

Mead added he鈥檚 like to try out for the national team one day.

鈥淏eing the best at something is always a good goal.鈥�

Manzo and Mead won鈥檛 be competing in the Arctic Winter Games, since their recurve bows aren鈥檛 included in the competition. Their next competition they鈥檙e shooting for is the B.C. Indoor Championships, which take place Easter weekend, March 29-31 in Maple Ridge.

The Star also spoke with Delia Therriault and Finn Pearson after the competition.

Therriault, 15, said, 鈥淚 had a rough start but towards the end, I started picking up points and it turned out pretty good.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really nice to do registered shoots because it gets you ready for competitions, so I try and treat it like a competition as much as possible, so it does stress me out a little bit more, because we don鈥檛 do it as often, and we are sending our scores in to Archery Canada. But I think it鈥檚 a really good prep when you鈥檙e going to bigger competitions and even smaller competitions out of the territory.

鈥淭he more competitions you do, the better you are and the less stressed you are.鈥�

Therriault also competed in Brazil, where she won bronze in the Compound Girls category.

鈥淚t was an amazing experience. A huge culture shock. I鈥檝e never been outside of Canada before, but it was super-fun.鈥�

Therriault will be competing in the Arctics in Mat-Su, Alaska, in March.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 all I have planned right now, but I鈥檓 sure there will be a few more competitions after that.鈥�

Pearson said he鈥檚 an alternate for the Arctics.

鈥淚鈥檓 not too happy about it because I鈥檝e been doing this a long time but I haven鈥檛 really 鈥� there was nationals, but that鈥檚 really the only big competition I鈥檝e done. I worked hard but I just choked at the last hurdle, but I did better today, so I鈥檓 quite happy with that. Today鈥檚 gone quite well.鈥�

Pearson, 17, attributed Saturday鈥檚 success to good coaching and experience.

鈥淚鈥檓 at the point where I know what I鈥檓 doing and how I can change things to improve.鈥�

Pearson also has his sights set on the upcoming B.C. Indoors competition.

鈥淚鈥檒l be going off to university next year, so this is the last bit of competition I鈥檒l be doing for a while.鈥�

Pearson added, 鈥淚 had a really fun competition. I鈥檓 friends with everyone here. Great archers. It鈥檚 nice to shoot with them in a more serious environment than just practice. It鈥檚 nice to compete with your friends.鈥�

Since 2017, there hasn鈥檛 been one competition that the archery team has gone to where they haven鈥檛 won a medal.