As the indoor archery season winds up, the team travelled to the US Indoor Nationals and JOAD Nationals held on Feb. 22 and 23. The Green Creek Archery Club is still waiting for the final national compilation of results from all of the sites. However, in the JOAD nationals at the Georgia site, Rachel Roberson earned a bronze medal following her Georgia state championship the previous weekend. Phil Burney came in fourth in his division, and Rick Burney fifth.
In the US Indoor Nationals (separate tournament from the JOAD Nationals) for the Georgia site, Rick Burney came in fifth in his division, while Phil Burney and Coaches Jim Vennera and Steve Burney all came in fourth in their divisions. It was an exciting weekend since the team was able to shoot with some of the best archers in the world, including current US Olympic team member Jake Kaminski, Para-Olympic team member Lee Ford, former Polish olympic team member Elzbieta Tworek and professional archer Roger Willett.
The main highlight of the season, though, was the trip to Barefoot Archery in Charlotte

for the NC State Indoor JOAD Championship on March 9. The team had four archers participate and had an unprecedented success with all four winning the gold medal and title of state champion in their division. Rachel Roberson won the girls 12 and under recurve division with a score of 439 out of 600. Josh Streacker won the boys 12 and under recurve division with a score of 376. The Burney twins each won their division for boys 13-14 with Rick scoring 558 with his compound bow and Phil scoring 545 with his recurve bow. It was an especially fun victory for the boys since the day of the tournament was their 14th birthday and they were able to celebrate with their teammates in the parking lot during the break with delicious homemade chocolate cupcakes baked by their grandmother.
The coaches are especially proud of their team since Phil and Rick have been shooting for less than two years, and Josh and Rachel have been shooting for less than one year, yet all four were able to out-shoot kids with more experience in the tournaments they attended this year. Coach Vennera attributes their success to hard work, diligent practice, and paying attention when he tries to correct their form so they can learn to identify problems with their shot for themselves during the tournament and correct it.
Coach Vennera’s motto is the more the merrier and we are always willing to add new members to our team. Now that the days are getting longer (and warmer) we will be moving outdoors and preparing for the summer outdoor tournaments. The JOAD club is for kids from 8-20 years old and meets from 7-8 p.m. on Thursdays on the ball field at the Green Creek Community Center. Adults are welcome and encouraged to attend, too, and are invited to shoot on Tuesday evenings from 7-8 p.m.
For more information about the club, contact Steve Burney at Medicap Pharmacy in Columbus, 828-894-6112. To learn more about JOAD and archery in general, information can be found at http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Archery.aspx.

– article submitted by
Steve Burney