New archery club aims for inclusivity

By Grace Bertrand

Rider’s new club sport’s target is to embrace inclusivity and provide a safe space for archers of all skill levels to practice and potentially find a unique pastime. 

“It’s not like a lot of the other sports around here that are super competitive,” said sophomore chemistry major Evan Mickle, founder and president of the archery club. “The main focus is to eliminate as many barriers to make sure anyone can join if they want to.” 

Drafting the idea for the club last spring, Mickle explained how it started out as a joke between him and his friends. Over time, the group began to contemplate how they could actually bring their club to life, having to overcome a handful of obstacles when establishing safety protocols and finding a meeting space.

The club quickly got into contact with Public Safety regarding where to store their equipment and where they can practice after being denied access on campus. 

The bows and arrows used are regarded by the university as potential weapons, leading the club to have to store the equipment at Public Safety if they were to bring them onto campus, which Mickle described as being difficult. 

Iron Peak Sports and Events, a sports complex in Hillsborough, New Jersey, worked with the club to provide training space, coaches and equipment to use. 

Simple compound bows are just some of the equipment available to use with no charge. For those interested in purchasing their own bow and arrows, Iron Peak will also provide suppliers from whom players can buy. 

“One of the biggest factors we had to consider was that we had so many people interested in this club,” said Treasurer Kaya Basatemur, a sophomore behavioral science major. 

Basatemur, who uses they/them pronouns, was brought onto the executive board as a friend of Mickle, who also had experience in the sport. 

They explained how the wide-scale interest served as both an aspect to account for and an advantage for getting the club approved to run.

“I would like to give other people the opportunity to fall in love with the sport and have the chance to practice,” Basatemur said.

The club currently has 43 members on BroncNation with more joining each week. The first general interest meeting was held on Sept. 9 with around 15 to 20 people in attendance, according to Mickle.

Moving forward, the club has plans to branch out to include a competitive team for more advanced archers, while still maintaining a non-competitive team for amateur archers.  

“Our goal is to really have an archery club for anyone of any kind of experience level,” said Basatemur. “The two groups aren’t mutually exclusive, so there’s not going to be a strict barrier to do one or the other.” 

The club currently has an upcoming competition in February at Iron Peak to potentially qualify for the Novice Rec Archery League. The specific date and time for weekly practices was still undecided, according to Mickle.