With Texas A&M suspending all travel for the club sports in the fall, A&M’s Archery Club adds on to their long, unexpected off-season.
President Nikolas Swidryk and Vice President Ethan Merill said they are disappointed with how the spring season ended and are patiently waiting for a shot to compete and represent A&M again.
“In terms of COVID, we, unfortunately, lost the opportunity to compete in many of the tournaments during the spring semester as well as over the summer,” Swidryk said.
In a normal spring and summer season, the club would travel to the United States Archery Team competition, Collegiate Target Nationals and Collegiate Indoor Finals. They would participate in other collegiate tournaments as well, such as the 3D Collegiate Nationals. However, COVID-19 wiped clean their intended schedule and the team is now on standby for the fall.
The team usually hosts an annual Aggie Invitational and the USA Archery Indoor Nationals, so to have these canceled due to the university restrictions is disheartening, Swidryk said.
Even though the competitions are not guaranteed for the semester, the club still gets to practice within university guidelines.
“This year is a little different because we have more restrictions in place and one of those is that we can only shoot in a maximum of 10-person groups, whereas before COVID, we would go out at nights in big groups and practice whenever,” Merill said.
The club has 65 members and practices at the PEAP Building on West Campus and room 243 in the Student Rec Center. Separating everyone in a practice setting and hosting the meetings remotely has not been an easy task for the club, Swidryk said.
However, both Swidryk and Merrill have high expectations and hopes for the outdoor season, which is scheduled to begin in March. During that season, they get the opportunity to compete for nationals.
“Collegiate target nationals is the only tournament that decides which team is crowned national champions each year,” Swidryk said. “Currently the Texas A&M Target Archers are 21-time national champions.”
As the club strives to add another national championship title to its resume, the Aggies have this semester to prepare for the biggest tournament of the year.
“Since we’re not sure if we will be able to go to these fall tournaments, it’ll just be a season of practicing hard and getting ready for the next,” Merill said.
As time progresses, with hopes of COVID-19 restrictions getting lifted, the Texas A&M Archery Club is excited and ready for the future.
“I’m looking forward to things getting back to normal and with less restrictions so that the rest of the club and myself can get back to traveling, competing, representing the university and winning the national title every year,” Swirdyk said.