Calling all Ladies!

Sorry haven't posted in a bit. Finding this blogging thing easy to lose momentum with. Have lots of ideas, but it takes me a little bit to organize my thoughts so I don't sound like I'm on Red Bull when I write. Just ask my sister.

Have found a new distraction with LinkedIn. Not so much to tag the people I see around here, but to talk to people I don't know at all. Am always amazed at what you get from people if you just ask. So last week I tossed this question to the universe at large - What are the barriers to women getting started in archery and is it different between the US and other countries? Yes, this is the type of stuff that keeps me up at night. I received some interesting and well thought out replies from Texas, Michigan, Chicago and Australia, the four corners of the world, and a nice answer from someone on Facebook who gave me his sister's name as a contact. Occasionally, the world feels like a nice, friendly place to be.

I didn't get any solid answers to why more women don't try this. My guess is just a lack of exposure and some predisposed ideas of the type of folks this attracts, but more on that later.

Professional 3-D female archer Tracey Sadler, supports her sport by mentoring girls and ladies to give back to the sport she loves.  Among other ideas, Tracey gave me this little nugget. "The NWTF released a study which indicated women are more likely to take their children hunting and fishing because women aren't as concerned about catching a fish or shooting a deer for themselves but would prefer children to experience as much as possible in the outdoors. When given the choice of staying home with their children or taking their children hunting or fishing, women jump at the latter."  Smart lady, Tracey. I hope I get to meet her at some point. Not being a parent, I hadn't thought of that.

Don Shultz pointed out that only the girls were taught archery when he was in school, apparently a holdover from the Victorian era where only men played golf.  I went to the driving range this weekend. I'll stick with archery, please and thank you. We didn't have archery at my school, which is very surprising when you realize that the first day of deer hunting was always a school holiday. 

It seems that archery has more of a following in Europe and other countries, maybe it's more of a traditional thing there? More research is needed.

If you have been following my rambling thus far, this week is the big turkey hunting adventure, so will post when I get back. The Cricket is ready to go, looking very unrecognizable. It needs a temporary Goth name for the time being, all wrapped up. Wish me luck!

Cheers! -A