Archery for All

Eatonville Middle School archery class includes everyone in the fun

Story and photos by Rick Stedman

Eatonville Middle School’s Erik Danielson
has served for 25 years as a general
education and unified physical education
and health teacher. He’s devoted his career
to making programs accessible for all
students. After discovering that archery is
one of the most inclusive and accessible
sports available to all, Erik began exploring
opportunities for his students.
Last year, he attended a conference in
Denver, Colorado, centered on adapted
physical education. Educator Dave Westdal
presented a session focused on integrating
the National Archery in Schools Program
into Adapted Physical Education settings.
“APE focuses specifically on special
education service that modifies PE for
students with disabilities,” Erik says. “APE
is designed to help students develop
physical fitness skills for recreation sports
and wellness.”

Community Involvement
Introducing adaptive archery to Eatonville 
took months of research, planning and
building. Erik sought help in bringing the
archery program to life.
“I reached out to various community
members in order to put together the
program that would help all students,” he says.
Erik first introduced archery to
Eatonville Middle School students last year.
This year, he tweaked the program and
added more volunteers. Before beginning the two-week class in January, Erik secured the assistance of several local certified archery volunteers, including Emmy Lay, Karolyn Seroshek and Eatonville
High School senior Bodie Turner. Erik’s
volunteers also included a handful of
students and a few special education
teachers.
“Erik truly cares about the success of
his students,” Emmy says. “We witnessed
his joy over and over as a struggling archer
finally stuck an arrow in the target, hit a
bullseye or won a game of bow tic-tac-toe.
He was genuinely excited at the smallest
successes and proudly congratulated the
big ones.”

Archery’s Impact
“Since introducing archery here at EMS,
we have seen what a positive impact it has
made on the kids,” Erik says. “Watching
the growth of the kids in just a few days
into the class is remarkable. Archery is
creating success for all of them. We simply
teach them the basics and watch them
grow.”
When archery class ends, the whole
class sits in a circle. This a teaching tool
Erik learned along the way and adapted to
his class. 
“We all sit in a circle, including teachers,
students and volunteers alike,” he says.
“Each had the opportunity to describe the
session by giving a compliment or a simple
thumbs-up.”
He says often, most students
compliment the instructors and volunteers.
In the future, Erik has plans for
expanding the EMS archery program.
“Given our initial success, we hope
to expand the program and offer this
experience to more students.” 

Lots of Helpers
Erik received lots of help getting the archery program started.
Community members who played significant roles include Irish
Kelley, Amelia Palfenier, Nolan Wright, Cori Clark, Flora Buchholz,
Cathy Edwards and Skylar Paulsen.
Other community members who contributed to the introduction
and success of the EMS archery program, include Greg Simpson
of Arrow Lumber, who provided the paint, lumber and painting
supplies, and Carrie and Monty Koschene, who contributed
numerous volunteer hours to the project. Monty also supplied
archery accessories and built stands with adaptive changes.