KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As part of our efforts to help you prepare for the Paris Olympics on NBC, our KSHB 41 anchors have been trying out different Olympic sports.
To see how morning anchor Taylor Hemness and evening anchor Caitlin Knute fared at archery, check out this video of their lesson and head-to-head competition.
Our anchors were coached by Melinda Hawley of Archery Excellencein Independence.
Melinda and her husband are the only Olympic archery instructors in Missouri.
She said before you even pick up a bow, you need to determine your dominant eye.
That's something that doesn't necessarily match your dominant hand.
Depending on your dominant eye, you will either draw with your right or left hand.
From there, Hawley said it's important to pull back the bow using your back muscles, not just your arms.
Our team practiced from just five meters away.
Olympic athletes fire from 70 meters away for recurve, the only bow used at the Olympic Games.
Another big difference is the smaller targets our team used. They were much smaller than those used by Olympic competitors.
The Olympics website provides information on how the sport is scored: "The innermost yellow rings score 10 and nine points, red rings score eight and seven, blue rings score six and five, black rings four and three, while the outermost white rings score two and one points."
Archery appeared in the modern Games in 1900, 1904, 1908 and 1920.
The sport was dropped but returned in 1972 at the Munich Olympic Games.
Currently, 64 men and 64 women compete at the individual, team, and mixed-team levels.
To read more on the sport, including what to watch for in the Games and the history of archery, click here.
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