Toronto Archery Lessons as a Xmas Gift

This Christmas a lot of people have pre-ordered archery lessons for Spring 2014 and Summer 2014 for their friends, girlfriends/boyfriends, wives/husbands, children, nieces/nephews.

While the reason for the sudden bump in archery lessons is likely due to the 2nd Hunger Games film I have to also wonder if it is because Canadians are also taking a stronger interest in sports education and health education.

With decades of school cutbacks to physical education programs in schools, reduced numbers of children taking part in team sports like hockey, soccer, baseball - and Canada's dramatically increased obesity rate since the 1990s - it is therefore quite interesting to see the sudden surge of interest in a non-team sport like archery.

Not since the 1950s has archery seen such a surge in popularity - and that was largely the work of great archers like Howard Hill and Fred Bear who made numerous films promoting the sport of archery.

Many of films made by Howard Hill and Fred Bear can still be watched on YouTube. The clip below for example focuses on Fred Bear's career of making hunting films - I know hunting is not for everyone - but it gives you an insight into the type of things Howard Hill and Fred Bear were doing back in the 1950s.


But there are also Hollywood films from the 1950s starring actors like Burt Lancaster in films like "The Flame and the Arrow" and similar films with a heavy theme of archery.

Archery clubs in the 1950s were a big thing - they were social gatherings, places to meet people and hang out while doing an activity that everyone shared. It is much the same now too, as new archery clubs are springing up all over North America - and also locally here in Toronto.

Including the recently created (December 2013) archery group on Facebook, The Canadian Toxophilite Society. A toxophilite is an archery aficionado.

During the 1950s the renewed interest in archery lasted until the 1970s.

So evidently archery is going to be enjoying renewed popularity for decades to come - thus people who are new to the sport of archery will likely be part of the renewed interest in archery until 2030 - or even a lifelong commitment to the sport.

Speaking for myself I first tried archery in 1989 and I have loved it ever since.