Recreation
Art of archery: Zen and zing
By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
To hear Ed Kalinowski tell it, archery is right up there with chamomile tea and foot massages as a shortcut to personal serenity.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
"It's mental relaxation," said Kalinowski. "You have to clear your mind before you shoot. You have to put out everything, all the stress."
Competitors at the Aloha State Games take aim at the target during the archery competition at the Salt Lake District Park.
The 49-year-old 'Aiea resident isn't spouting faux-Zen transcendentalism either. An avid archer since age 10, Kalinowski is merely aware of the high level of concentration needed to master the discipline of shooting.
And, make no mistake, there is much to master.
Consider the negligible dot that is the arrow tip. Consider the 90 meters or so of wide open space that dot has to travel in its attempt to collide with the negligible little "x" at the center of the target.
There is the tenuous interface of fleshy fingers, high-tension string and graphite-shelled arrow. There are the hundreds of variables that must be accounted for before the moment of release.
For some highly skilled archers, thought is elevated to feel and the sport becomes a matter of intuitive reactions and fine mechanical adjustments. For others, it is a hit or miss proposition that — hit or miss — returns much in fun and friendship.
But, how do you get started?
Kalinowski recommends visiting a bow shop and getting some basic information on the equipment involved. He also suggests getting in touch with one of the 10 archery clubs and talking with experienced members.
George Kong, director of the Aloha State Archery Association, the local affiliate of the National Field Archery Association, also recommends some basic instruction on safety and the mechanics of shooting.
About a dozen public parks offer periodic archery lessons for free to children. Private organizations like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts also offer basic instruction.
Kong, who runs Pig Pen Archery, is one of a handful of instructors who teach adults. Most adult novices simply learn the sport at the ranges with help from experienced shooters.
"The people at all the archery ranges are really helpful and they'll give you advice on how to improve," said Kalinowski. "Most of my game is from different people telling me how I can get better."
While most archery clubs and programs will provide basic equipment to beginners, serious shooters will want to get their own equipment.
The bare necessities — bow, arrows, finger guard and arm guard — start at $125 for kids and $300 for adults.
A good recurve or compound bow runs about $900, and you can easily spend hundreds more on ancillary equipment.
A dozen aluminum arrows costs about $35. Arrows with an aluminum core and a carbon wrap, which are sleeker, faster and more stable, can cost upwards of $280 per dozen.
"I started out with a cheap bow and just upgraded over time," Kalinowski said. "As you get better, you'll want better equipment. I still have the bow I first started with when I was 10."
For Willie Nagamine of Honolulu, archery is a way for his sons Kurt, 15, and Joel, 9, to learn discipline and focus.
"They have to be able to concentrate and replicate their form with every arrow they shoot," he said. "If they do that, they can compensate for things and become way more accurate.
"Discipline-wise, they're boys," he said. "But once they're on the line, they know they can't fool around."
While the Nagamine boys got an early start on the art of shooting, Waipahu resident Frances Hong has shown that archery takes all comers.
Hong, 59, started shooting eight years ago at the urging of her husband, Keone, a longtime archer.
"In the beginning, I used to only go to help," she said. "He kept telling me I should come and shoot."
Though she struggled at first, Hong mastered the basics and has become a regular at state competitions.
While Hong said she enjoys the individual challenge of archery, she said it is the friendships she's made through the sport that keep her coming out.
It's a sentiment echoed throughout the close-knit community of local archers.
"You really couldn't ask for a better group of people to shoot with," Kalinowski said.
There are an estimated 5,000 recreational and competitive archers in Hawai'i. Many belong to the Aloha State Archery Association, an affiliate of the National Field Archery Association.
Despite a steady level of interest in the sport, archers say the relative lack of facilities in Hawai'i hinders future growth.
"We simply do not have enough facilities to support expansion," said Jerry Hucks, a member of the Koko Head Archery Club and an archery instructor. "The existing facilities are just barely meeting the needs of archers right now."
Construction on new facilities in Waiola and Koko Head are expected to begin by fall, but a dispute over the continued use of the Kapiolani Park range, the only facility available to the public during weekdays, could cost the local archery community one of its most popular shooting grounds, Hucks said.
"I think the debate we've been having over the past year has shown that there's a large, interested group of archers in Hawai'i," Hucks said.
