When people mentioned my name in high school, the first thing they thought of was archery. I remember people coming up to me and asking, "You're the girl who shoots, right?" I would give a sheepish smile and respond back with a "maybe" along with a light laugh. Archery has been a sport that I not only invested countless of hours in, but also saw as a passion of mine. It was something that I envisioned myself taking part of as a possible career. I remember my fellow teammates and I being excited for our very first training session of us earning our coaching licenses. We all took our sport very seriously, so of course, we considered our four week coaching training as one of our top priorities at that time.
I remember gaining so much more knowledge during my lessons: familiarizing with the specifics within the anatomy of the bow, memorizing each step of proper techniques to shoot an arrow, and understanding the history behind archery. They were things that enhanced my skills in regards to being an athlete and being a step closer to earning the title as a coach. Within Dennis Baron's article, "From Pencils to Pixels", he made some very important statements that stood out to me: "Today when people read books, they still read conventional printed books, not the relatively small number of electronic books..the conventional book continues to thrive (Baron)". Baron is essentially claiming that even though the use of technology is rapidly increasing, conventional books are still just as popular. I completely agree with his assertion because during our sessions, our instructor handed each of us a booklet, that we used as a "textbook". He could have easily given us an e-book of it so we can access it on our mobile devices, but we used the traditional paper book in order to be able to highlight key terms and facts for future references. Additionally in Joseph Harris' article, "Coming to Terms," he pointed out that, "texts don't simply reveal their meanings to us; we need to make sense of them (Harris)". Harris is saying that there is no significance in reading the given texts. It is necessary to completely acknowledge the true meaning behind the given text. This is another statement that I could relate to; because I wasn't accustomed to all the linguistic words in the booklet, I couldn't simply just memorize the important facts and words. I had to actually understand and take ownership of what I was being taught.
Although the weeks of training weren't easy, it still was definitely worth all the efforts that I gave. Receiving my license really augmented me as an athlete, and even as a person in general because it made me realize that there's more to just shooting an arrow. The process of shooting, from your breathing to when you release the arrow all matters and can all impact your end results. Even though, my career as an archery athlete has ended for now, the memories and knowledge that I gained throughout still lingers in my mind. Not many people will understand, solely because it is a sport that is not as active as others such as soccer or water polo, but it is still a sport that was and always will be a part of me.
REFLECTION
Throughout the Unit 1 assignments, there have been many moments where I’ve felt that my understanding of the assignment topics has augmented. This particular assignment pushed me to enhance my introspecting skills and have a better perspective within myself.It made me really value archery even more, even thought I’m not an active shooter anymore. During my competitive years, I used to take archery for granted, because it was such a daily routine for me. Now that I look back to it, however, I’ve come to realize that I should feel blessed for having the opportunity to try such an uncommon sport.
Regarding understanding literary analysis, I learned that when understanding literature text, you have not just read the words but also completely understand what is being shown to you. Taking ownership of the texts is vital in order to completely understand what the author’s message is. The role of the readings were to help us understand how to analyze text in a deeper fashion and mature perspective by having an open mind. These essentially bolstered us with our literacy journeys because of it being a constant reminder for us to not read with narrow perspectives but also to really think what the author is trying to say.
If I were to have more time to continue writing my essay, I would probably write more about my experiences in archery, such as the tournaments and how my shooting experiences as a whole grew onto me as a person. Archery genuinely taught me so much not just as an athlete, but as a person. Additionally, I met a great team of archers, competitors, and coaches who also supported my shootings and taught me important morals.
Archery is a really cool and interesting sport that I have always wanted to try. I really liked your the flow of your essay. However, I would have liked to see a little more on your progress from being a shooter to being a certified coach. Other than that, well done
ReplyDeleteI read through your entire blog and I like it a lot. Your words are very fluid and because of this I didn't lose interest in what you were conveying through your writing.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is very well-written. The transitions of ideas is smooth and your ideas are all very concise. Archery is very different and I like how you choose to centralize your literacy journey around it in this blog post. The post was very personal and a well-thought-out response for Unit 1!
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