Interest in archery programs is sky-high in the Portland area ...

The economy might be cool but flinging arrows is hot right now in the Portland area.

Archery stores, instructors and program directors are looking at waiting lists and full archery ranges and thinking ... expansion.

At Mt. Scott Community Center in Southeast Portland, home of Portland Parks and Rec's only archery program, program director Jesse Wiper says interest in the Tuesday night classes and open shoot on the historic roller skating rink has quintupled in the last two years.

At Archers Afield store and shooting range in Tigard, owner Jim Kneeland says sales were up 17 percent last year and they're up 10 percent for the first five months of this year compared with the same period last year. His shooting range, with 28 lanes, is packed on weekends. It's not bowhunters who are boosting those numbers, he says, but recreational shooters.

Is it a "Hunger Games" effect, from the books and movies?

Maybe a little, Kneeland says, "but we were already way busy before that." Archer Afield's business has increased every year since it opened in 1980, he says, though the past three years have seen unusually big jumps.

Trackers Earth, a Sellwood-based organization that offers classes on survival skills, tracking, kayak-making and other indigenous-influenced pursuits, has had archery as a core component of its program since it started in 2004, says founder Tony Deis, who describes the bow as having "a profound mythos for people." Trackers students use primitive handmade bows -- in some camps they make the bows themselves -- similar to Katniss's style of bow for hunting in the "Hunger Games" movie.

Trackers is definitely seeing a "Hunger Games" effect in its archery program, which is expecting to teach 750 or 800 kids this summer in various weeklong camps that include archery as a major focus. Participation by girls has jumped from 30 percent last year to 50 percent this year, says Deis, who applauds the trend and Katniss as a strong female figure. Trackers' logo has always been a female archer to encourage girls, "because we knew that survival skills is mostly a dude thing, unfortunately," Deis says.

At parents' request, Trackers even has planned a camp that's a benign version of "Hunger Games," where kids, wearing eye protection, sneak up on each other in the woods with foam arrows.

The pop culture boost in recent years started with "The Lord of the Rings" movies, says archery coach Mike Brown of Canby, a key point person in the state who teaches everyone from Boy Scouts to archery instructors. After the Middle Earth movies came out, he describes teaching 40 kids a day in camps, "and they'd all be yelling 'I want to be the (archer) elf!'"

Trends are one thing, but fads are another, says Brown, who worries that fads may not ultimately be good for the sport, because so much time and energy goes into teaching a vast majority of students who won't stick with it.

"Hollywood doesn't represent true archery," Brown says. "Archery is boring. It's a discipline. You have to like that kind of boringness." Olympic archery, he adds, "is a very, very hard discipline."

"Boringness" is one way to describe it, but a zenlike "relaxed focus," is another. Brown says the fine balance between focus and relaxation is, to him, the perfect state of mind, and what makes the sport so gratifying -- that and nailing the center of the target.

Kids like that part, too.

They "really like to see who can get closer to the bull's-eye," says Officer Hank Hays, who started a year-round archery program this year at the Police Activities League Youth Center on Northeast 172nd Avenue after the popular archery summer camp that PAL runs had to keep turning away kids. Hays is hoping to start a Junior Olympic program at PAL.

Part of what's making the sport "grow like crazy," Kneeland says, is that it's something parents can do with their children, especially with its appeal for pre-teens and early teens. Kneeland's Big Kids/Little Kids program for adults and kids mixes coaching tips and games to win small prizes.

"You should see these moms and dads out there trying to win a Tootsie Roll," he says.

To him, the Hollywood influence isn't so bad. Regal Cinemas called him recently to ask for an archery presence at Tigard Cinema and Sherwood Cinema on June 23-24 during the opening weekend of "Brave," an animated movie with another heroine who's an archer. Archers Afield will have staffers to talk about the sport in the lobby both afternoons, and those who sign up at the movie can get a discounted mini-lesson at the store.

Interest in archery is bound to take another leap with this year's Summer Olympics. Americans have struggled in archery at the Summer Games in recent years but Brady Ellison, from Arizona, has been the top-ranked male archer in the world in the past couple of years and is a gold-medal favorite. Olympic archery has been something of a prim, white-glove sport in the past, but Ellison grew up bowhunting and favors large rodeo buckles and inspirational tattoos.

Olympic archery events start July 27 at "Lord's Cricket Ground" in London.

Archery programs

(Equipment provided,
unless otherwise noted)

Trackers Earth, various five-day summer day camps for kids that include archery, based out of the group's Sellwood headquarters. 503-345-3312, trackerspdx.com ?

Police Activities League archery summer camp and Thursday practice sessions. Archery summer camp for ages 10-14 is June 18-25, $35. Year-round practice sessions, with coaching, are 3:30-5:30 Thursdays for members of the PAL Youth Center, ages 8-18; $50 membership for the summer. 424 N.E. 172nd Ave., 503-823-0250, www.portlandpal.org

Mt. Scott Community Center: Beginning and intermediate lessons for kids and adults, plus a one-hour open-shoot session afterward on most Tuesday nights. 5530 S.E. 72nd Ave. See schedule at tinyurl.com/
MountScottArchery; click on the summer catalog, Page 41.

Summer archery day camps in Canby for kids and adults. Various dates, including single sessions, in July and August. Register through Canby Community Education, 503-266-0040; tinyurl.com/canbyarchery ?

Chehalem Park and Rec District summer day camps, Newberg. 503-519-5747 or
www.cprdnewberg.org/SportsRecEducation/recreation.shtml

Drop-in coaching sessions for intermediates or better at the outdoor Sylvan Archers range, taught by Mike Brown, on most Monday evenings in July and August. Bring your own equipment. 503-314-8709 or sgm.archer@gmail.com.

Archers Afield shop in Tigard, lessons for k
ids and adults through Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District, plus the shop's Big Kids/Little Kids sessions. 11945 S.W. Pacific Highway, Suite 121 (back of the Dollar Tree building); 503-639-3553, www.archersafield.com

Other pro shops with indoor ranges, lessons
Broken Arrow, 2044 S.E. Adams St., Milwaukie; 503-654-8012, brokenarrowarchery.com
Archery World, 803 Grand Blvd., Vancouver, 360-693-7510, www.archeryworld.net

Public ranges
Washington Park archery range on Southwest Kingston Drive. Free.
Blue Lake Regional Park, off Northeast 223rd Avenue; $5 parking.

Club range
Sylvan Archers, on Southwest Bell Road, west of Wilsonville. www.sylvanarchers.org

Entry-level equipment

Cost: A full set of good entry-level equipment for children or adults, with accessories, costs about $250.
Recurve bows: Good starter bows in the $90 to $130 range include the Greatree Mohegan and the Samick Polaris. It's important to start with bows that have an easy draw weight of 15 to 20 pounds, even for adults, so you can learn good form without struggling to hold the bow at full draw. Bow length should about equal the height of the child. Adult bow lengths commonly range from 62 inches to 68 inches.
Arrows: Aluminum arrows are a good choice to start. Try Easton Jazz or Platinum arrows (about $56 to $66 a dozen). Let your local shop help you choose the correct size to match to you and your bow.
Accessories: Belt quiver; finger tab to keep the string from cutting into your fingers; arm guard; bowstring and a spare; bowstringer to string the bow safely; string wax.

-- Laurie Robinson

nike new nfl uniforms nfl uniforms andrew bailey the village dallas fort worth tornado dallas tornadoes dallas weather