Team AZOD

It was not just another sunny day in Phoenix Arizona. On this day Match Point, Desert Christian Archers, the Arizona Game and Fish Dept. and The ABA came together at the Arizona Game and Fish Hunter Education Center located at Ben Avery to make a difference in Arizona.

The planning started about nine months ago when Dick King and Dave Myrick of the Desert Christian Archers met with Marshall Militano, case manager for Match point at Calvary Community Church. When contacted, Bill Larson of Arizona Game and Fish Department and Heather Borg with the Step Outside Program jumped at the opportunity to get involved offering the training and the use of Rinehart targets and Genesis Bows. Conversations started the wheels in motion to put together a day for more then 20 at risk children to be given the opportunity of making archery a part of their lives.

Match Point has about 220 mentor and MatchKids matches in the Phoenix area, Marshall Militano's Calvary Community Church group has 21. They try to plan one event a month, some educational, some religious and some just fun experiences. This month it was archery and I am proud to say that the archery community came out in force to welcome them.

The support from Desert Christian Archers as always was superb, after all a Christian based program and the proper introduction of archery to people wanting to learn it. Well that is something that they love to be involved in. Dave Myrick, Dan Brown and Scott Snarey volunteered to cook a lunch provided by the ABA that was perfect for the occasion. Then the involvement of people like these plus Sahara Militano, Jordan Hastie, Lou Ann King and Laurie Myrick, you start to understand the network of people it takes to make a project like this come to pass successfully.

It all came down to the morning of the event, Bill Larson addressing the team of instructors Chris Hastie, Roy Ruiz and Dave Matteson. Their plan was simple and to the point. Bill Larson would cover a short Olympic style introduction covering all of the safety procedures. Chris Hastie would do a presentation on the history of archery. Chris Hastie, Roy Ruiz and Dave Matteson would join together for an introduction to some of the different styles of bows and archery styles and then lets get the bows in their hands and let the kids try this great sport. The excitement of the children was indescribable, it was as if it was Christmas. They each took turns with an instructor by their side giving them the basic knowledge they needed to shoot a bow safely and successfully hit their mark. It was now time to give the Mentors a turn and it was amazing to watch 20 plus Mentors have as much fun if not more then the children. One of the great pieces of this program was the Genesis Bow, I have seen them hanging in the bow shops and have even suggested that a person or two buy them for their kids not realizing the innovation that is in this technology. The exact same bow that the children were shooting the adults could pick up and shoot. "Kids can't out grow it" is the term Genesis uses and after this Saturday I am a believer. To me this has to be one of the best things to hit archery in quite some time. You group the Genesis Bow together with a Rinehart Target that's foam and durability is second to none and you have a combination that will give a child years of archery!

The day ended with mentors asking, "How can we do this more often?" and "Is there any place we can rent this type of equipment?" The only answer that could be given was there are people working on bringing programs like this to more children State wide.

The day was a success!

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If you would like more information about Match Point Call

Marshall Militano at Calvary Community Church 602-973-4768

Or Match point at 602-841-9007