Prairlie Land archery pros head to South Africa

By Jordan Parker

Four Prairie Land School Division students are headed to South Africa as part of a Canadian archery All-Star team tournament.

32 archers on the Canadian NASP team are headed to the Africa Genesis Archery World Tournament in July. Among them is Sean Murphy from Altario School, Vance Laughlin from Youngstown School and Holly & Natalie Karg from JCC School in Hanna.

They’ll compete against archers from four countries in Southern Africa, with the tournament taking place in Limpopo.

Sean and Vance

Holly and Natalie

“The archery program is part of the National Archery School Program, and there are schools from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the East Coast whose archery teams are part of the system,” said Coach Renee Laughlin.

“It’s a registered system through the world. It trains coaches, kids compete, and archery is so big in Alberta and Saskatchewan.”

Although the kids become part of teams at tournaments like this, Laughlin encourages kids not to think of it that way.

“I encourage kids to compete against themselves and the scores they’ve had previously. It’s not huge to worry about what you’re doing against others. Some kids do get competitive as they get older, though,” she said.

“This sport is wonderful for small schools. Sean and Vance are in schools with only a few kids per grade. Archery is great because you don’t need a football team or basketball team of kids. Any students of any age range can do it.”

Vance Laughlin is the coach’s son, and she’s excited for him to have this opportunity.

“It’ll be great for him. This sort of thing shows kids the opportunities are out there. When a Youngstown kid went six or seven years ago, Vance was young. He saw that this was possible and worked his way up,” she said.

“It’s so exciting to see the effect this kind of thing can have on the next group of archers coming up in the region.”

Hopefully, says Laughlin, this trip will inspire others in the area to go for their ambitions and dream big.

“There are archery programs at the Acadia Valley School and the Catholic School in Oyen. But we would love things to just keep expanding,” she said.

Holly Karg can’t wait to head to South Africa and compete.

“I’m getting really excited. Everything was happening really fast, and I’m just trying to get ready,” she said.

“I’ve been doing archery since I was a kid on the farm. It’s a sport with a nice group of people, and it’s really fun.”

She gets to compete on a world stage, something that means a lot to her.

“It’s an incredible opportunity. The biggest I’ve done prior is nationals. It’s great to gain recognition for our towns and provide inspiration for our teams,” she said.