A young day camper at The Bridge Sports Complex watched one of his instructors draw back on a bow and just before the arrow was released you could hear him whisper, “I bet she can’t hit the bullseye.”

 

It’s not clear if the instructor heard the comment but she proceeded to hit the top of the red outer circle on the bullseye, followed by one that hit the bottom of the red outer circle. The third arrow split the difference and landed dead center in the yellow.

 

That instructor was none other than Talia Beto, who will be a senior at Bridgeport High School in the fall and is a championship caliber archer at the local, state, national and world level.

 

She was joined by Harold Cogar, owner of The Bow Shop and quite the archer himself, in lending a hand to the staff at The Bridge where the day camps are now in full swing along with all the other activities the state of the art facility has to offer.

 

The camps are for ages 6-13 and last week was the first of eight weeks that they will be available.

 

“The multi-activity and adventure camp are the same for all eight weeks,” said Chase Robey, a Sports Manager for The Bridge. “People can sign up for two weeks, some people sign up for one week, some signed up for all eight weeks, so it’s a blend of new kids and some of the same kids every day.

 

“The camps are from Monday through Thursday. In the mornings we have more specific sport-related activities then in the afternoon it’s more non-traditional things like archery, something they don’t always get a chance to do.”

 

The archery class last Wednesday featured a brief introduction on safety, what type of bow to use, etc. before each camper had the opportunity to shoot three arrows at a target. Following that, Beto brought out her own bow and briefly touched on some of her accomplishments with a major emphasis on the fun the sport can provide.

 

“I love this, it is so much fun,” Beto said. “The reason I like doing something like this so much is it’s something different for them. This isn’t something they do every single day. A lot of them know archery is a thing but they don’t know how deep it goes.

 

“I like helping kids who are younger so they can maybe get into it later in life.”

 

For many of the campers, the archery class was the first time they had a bow in their hands so there were some jitters. The nerves went away though as soon as one of their arrows hit the target.

 

“That was awesome,” Beto said. “I loved seeing that, they would get so happy. I had one girl, she was really scared, nervous and afraid the arrow was going to hit her. And it went and stuck in the target and she was like, ‘Oh, my gosh,’ and I said, ‘See, you can do it.’

“They were so happy and would light up once they realize they could do it.”

 

Beto is in Franklin, Pa., this weekend competing in the second leg of the national triple crown. The third leg will be from July 8-11 in Nelsonville, Ohio and the world championship is on tap for early August in Seven Springs, Pa.

 

Despite her own busy schedule with practice and the high-profile competitions, Beto says she plans return to The Bridge and help as often as she can with the archery class.

 

“Honestly, just seeing them and how happy they are is worth it. It’s worth it missing an hour of practice time.”

 

More information on The Bridge, including how to sign up for the camps can be found HERE

 

Stay tuned to Connect-Bridgeport for a photo gallery from the first archery class in the upcoming days.