MARSHALL - Spring is here and Southwest Minnesota State University professor Frankie Albitz's lifetime activities class took advantage of the weather to shoot arrows at targets mounted on the tackling sled on the football field Thursday.
"The class is designed for future physical education teachers," Albitz said. "We learned swimming, then tumbling, and now we're learning archery."
Most of the students are PE majors, but the class is open to anyone who is interested. Albitz tries to spend one-third of the course on archery, weather permitting.
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Students in Frankie Albitz’s lifetime activities class at Southwest Minnesota State University got out in the nice weather to practice their bow shooting skills Thursday.
"This is a lifetime activity we can apply to our physical education requirement," said sophomore Dani Beekman, who is majoring in PE. "It's fun, it's different, and it's not something I do every day."
None of the students are bow hunters or have had any significant exposure to archery before.
"It's a fun experience and it's great to learn something new," said junior Michael Appel. "It's good for my major and I might want to take up bow hunting someday."
The bows are Genesis compound bows that are especially designed for education, Albitz said. They have a one-size-fits-all frame, unlike commercial hunting bows which must be fitted to the archer's height and reach.
To teach the students, Albitz recruited Ryan Michaelson, the archery specialist at Borch's Sporting Goods.
"Frankie just came down to Borch's and asked if I'd like to volunteer," Michaelson said. "It's pretty exciting having an actual archery program again. After a lot of school shootings, people tended to shy away."
Albitz said she is hoping to raise support for the archery program at SMSU, and indications so far are that it could grow in popularity as word gets around about how much fun it is.
"They're pretty good already," Michaelson said. "I'm impressed with just how fast they catch on."