Camp Rockmont is a private Christian boy’s camp and I have had the privilege of being the head archery instructor for the past 4 summers there.  It’s setting is tranquil to say the least, the lake, the mountains the lush forest that surround it make it a place that you can’t wait to see again and never get over once you have been there.

As the head archery instructor I get to meet some awesome boys from around the world, their ages vary from 7 to 16 years of age.  Some of the boys have never had a bow in their hand and others have shot for many years.

Another thing that is so special about teaching at Rockmont is that my daughter, Leah, who is now 17 also instructs with me each summer.  She has learned a lot from her camp experience as well.  She loves teaching others about the mountains, archery and showing them that archery is not just for the male gender.  All the boys are amazed that Bud is not a girlie girl that worries more about her nails than teaching them the secrets of hitting the bulls eye. 

We enjoy all the boys but we are very fond of the ones that come year after year.  We get to see them grow and get to know them better as well.  I don’t like to say I have favorites but must admit when we get the rooster for each session we go through each name in hopes that some of “my boys” as I call them will be coming back for another year.

This summer was no different. The first day of camp Bud ran up to the roundhouse to get the rooster and before she could get back to the archery shed she had already read the names of the first two classes.  She came in the door with a smile on her face and said, “You are going to be happy, most of your boys are back.” 

As the boys came to their first skill of the summer, there were plenty of high fives and hugs going around.  It is amazing how much these boys grow from year to year, most of “my boys” are taller than me now which didn’t use to be the case.

Archery is the number one skill at camp so we always have 30 or more in each class and we teach three classes a day.   This makes it difficult to get to know all the boys but we do our best.  We have a lot of new faces each summer but more than likely they will come again next year to shoot and to brag about the rank they earned the year before.

This year was Camp Rockmont’s 50^th anniversary and it was a very special year to say the least.  A lot of the boys that come as campers grow up and become counselors there which without the help of the counselors there is no way that any of the skills would run as smoothly as they do.  The counselors are the backbone of the camp and over the years I have had the pleasure of working with some that make a huge impact on my life as well as the campers they work with on a daily basis.

Each camper has three morning skills and three afternoon skills; they go to morning skills on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and have afternoon skills on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  All their skills are different but some of the boys like the shooting skills; archery, skeet, riflery, so much that they will select to have a certain skill for both morning and evening skills.  This also gives them extra time to practice for when they will shoot for rank.

Each year at the end of every session the boys get to shoot for rank.  This ranking system is through the Camp Archery Association and they are awarded their patches on the last day of their session.  Bud, the counselors and I try to make everyday fun but when the day comes to shoot for rank the boys put a lot of pressure on themselves to shoot their best.

The boys have to earn their way up through the rank from Yeoman (which is the first rank shot with 30 arrows at 15 yards, a score of 100 will earn the Yeoman rank) all the way to American Archer which is at 50 yards, again you have to score 100 point with 30 arrows to achieve this rank. We shoot Mathews Genesis compound bows and the boys shoot very well with them.  At 50 yards with no sights and shooting fingers, the American Archer patch is very hard to achieve with a bow set on 20 lbs.  In the four years that I have been there I have only had two boys earn this patch and both were boys that brought their own equipment to camp.  I did have one boy shoot for American Archer this summer with the Genesis bow and camp arrows and scored an 82.  He fell short of obtaining the patch but I was so proud of him and he was excited to have shot so well; 50 yards is a long way.

Many of you will remember the article I wrote last summer about “The Boz.” He is a 13-years-old boy from Tennessee and has been coming to camp for five or six years.  He is one of the names we always look for in our second session of the summer.  He earned the rank of Silverbow Sharp Shooter last summer which is the highest rank you can earn at 40 yards and allows you to shoot for American Archer.

Boz came to archery everyday with a smile on his face and would say, “I am practicing today, you think I’ll earn American Archer?”  I would just smile back and say, “You never know until you try, but I have faith in you Boz”.  He would just smile and would give me an arrow by arrow account each time he shot from his station.

We also have another boy that has come every year that we have been there. His name is Colston and he is from Georgia.  He shoots very well and this year would be his year to shoot for Silverbow. 

Boz and Colston come during the same session each year and are very good friends, they even had the same archery skill together this year.  During class we can only shoot at a maximum of 20 yards so when time comes to shoot for Archer (30 yards) Silverbow (40 yards) or American Eagle (50 yards) they have to shoot during rest period.  They get to shoot one practice round and then they shoot for rank, again this is not easy by any means.  Can you imagine shooting at 20 yards everyday and then backing up to 50 and trying to shoot well enough to shoot 100 points? 

All of the boys shoot well and we only had a few that did not obtain the rank they were shooting for.  When they miss the rank they were shooting for none of them are mad or upset, the reply is usually the same.  I tell them how proud I am of them for trying and they say, “Its ok, I will be back next year and I will earn that patch.”

When the day came for Boz and Colston to shoot needless to say they were both on the nervous side.  I told them to just have fun and to try their best, no one could ask for more than that.  As each one shot a round we would go pull arrows and mark their scores on the score sheets.  I talk to them the entire time we are pulling arrows as Bud calls the score of each arrow I write it down.  By talking to them it doesn’t give them time to add up their score and put more pressure on themselves. 

By the time Boz shot his last round he was getting tired but was taking his time between each shot making them count.  He had missed a few in both the previous rounds and was trying to not drop any more points.  I love to watch him shoot; he does the exact same thing every time he shoots which we all know is what makes the difference in a great shooter and an average shooter.  If Boz was to ever hit the tourney trail he would be a force to reckon with for sure.

At the end of their last round, Bud and I went and took final score and we couldn’t wait to add up their sheets.  The boys do not get their scores on the day they shoot, they get them on the last day of their session which is usually a day or two after they shoot for rank, I believe in suspense.

Awards day came and Boz said he knew he didn’t make it, Colston on the other hand was pretty sure he made Silverbow but wasn’t sure if he made Sharp Shooter which again would allow him to be able to shoot for American Archer next summer.

As I went down the list of boys that shot for rank I called each one up and awarded them their patch, Colston and Boz were on the bottom of the stack of cards, of course.  When I got to Colston and Boz I gave a little speech about how important it is to always try your hardest when you are chasing a dream.  You don’t always achieve your goal the first time but you can always try again.  The speech went on and both Boz and Colston faces began to grow a little long.  When I couldn’t stand it any more I told the class that Boz and Colston had shot for the highest two ranks in archery.  I called Colston to me and told him that I was proud of him though he did not make Silverbow………he had earned Silverbow Sharp Shooter!  He was ecstatic, he hugged me, Bud, Boz and everyone else that would accept a hug and he high fives the rest. 

Boz was next, I called him up front, he stood there with that ever present smile and I explained to the class how difficult it was to earn American Archer.  That I had only had one person since I had been teaching at Rockmont earn the coveted rank.  I went on to tell them how proud I was of all of them and of Boz for giving it 110% and that next year they could all come back and try to shoot better than they did this summer.

Boz looked at me when I said that and knew he had not achieved his goal.   I put my arm around Boz and told everyone “Since I have been instructing here I have only awarded one American Archer patch, today I am proud to award Boz with the second one.  Everyone went crazy; he had shot a score of 106 and had sealed his fate of being an American Archer.  I can’t describe how I feel when I get to award these boys with these patches of achievement.  Proud is an understatement. 

The boys of summer are gone for now but the great times we have each summer will never be far from my memory.  My most earnest hope is that they will never forget the lessons learned at camp and that two Lady Archer’s were able to plant a seed that will grow in each of them to share their knowledge and love for shooting sports and the outdoors with others.