Union Public Schools boasts a wide variety of extracurricular activities to supplement their excellent academic education programs. Some of these span the entire year while some operate in seasons, and Union has added several new extracurricular activities over the last few years. Although the band and several sports teams normally come to mind when thinking of extracurricular activities, the archery team has also become a new activity for students to take part in.
Todd Viverette, a former history teacher and coach at Union, formed the Union High School Archery Team during the 2015-2016 school year. After Coach Viverette’s retirement, another history teacher at Union took over the archery team. Kyle Massey currently manages the archery team and organizes practices, fundraisers and home meets. In fact, the archery team runs a fundraiser each school year to purchase new bows and new targets. Although meets do not occur until the spring semester, archery season begins soon after the end of football season in order for students to sharpen their skills before Christmas break.
During practice, students train exactly like a competition. In both practice and competition, students shoot five arrows for three rounds at ten meters. They then shoot five arrows for three rounds at fifteen meters. Scores are then added up on a Scantron, and the highest score decides the winner. Competitions also award best male archer and best female archer. These awards go to the male and female students with the highest scores. During practice, the archery team sometimes hosts a shoot-off between all the members of the team. This fosters competition and provides more motivation for students to improve.
The Union High School Archery Team is a tight-knit group that does not comprise the usual crop of athletes, and anyone can join regardless of athletic ability, Because of this, the archery team has drawn considerable interest and continues to grow each year. Union Public Schools provides extracurricular activities for each type of student, and the archery team has significantly helped with that goal. Some colleges also offer archery scholarships, which gives Union students a new scholarship opportunity. The Union High School Archery Team is one the newest and one of the best extracurricular activities for Union students to take part in and will only grow in the coming years.
