Oxford, Lafayette Add Archery to Athletics Department

By Judson Scott
Hottytoddy.com intern
jcscott5@go.olemiss.edu

A sport that never gets talked about in the high school ranks is archery. Rose Hickey at Oxford High School is trying to change that notion.

Oxford High School archery team. Photo courtesy of OHS.

Hickey, the head archery coach at Oxford, has been a part of the archery scene for quite some time after being certified to teach it in 2011. Hickey’s team consists of 28 team members including a good mix of ninth and tenth graders, only a few 11th graders and five seniors.

An archery match is unlike most sports matches that take place at the high school level. In archery, there are two distances – one at 10 meters away and the other at 15 meters away. Each competitor will get three rounds of shots at each distance. The scoring is judged off of a 300-point scale and only taken from the top 12 shooters.

“A competition is very quiet. It is all whistle commands and the students must not distract each other on the line while shooting,” Hickey said.

Oxford is now able to compete against local schools that have all brought on archery teams. The local schools include Lafayette, Water Valley, South Panola, Cleveland, Potts Camp, Pontotoc and several others.

For those who want to check out an archery match, the Oxford High School team will be in action come March where they will attempt to land a spot in the April state tournament.