Santa Maria Sun / Sports Lead

To arrow is human

BY NICHOLAS WALTER

The old and the new Thom Chamberlain (foreground) drew a modern compound bow, while his student Winchester Eubank drew a more traditional recurve bow. PHOTO BY NICHOLAS WALTER

Seven times.

Thom and his wife, Lori, run TLC Archery in Buellton. At their shop and target range, experienced archers and first-timers alike come to learn about one of the world’s oldest martial arts.

“Archery was in the first Olympics,” Thom said. “The only difference was that they shot naked.”

That’s one way to increase interest in the sport.

The majority of the sport is target shooting, he noted: “Some people will go out and hunt during the season, but for the rest of the year it’s target shooting. Of course, there’s the traditional bull’s-eye targets, but sometimes it’s fun to mix things up.

“There’s an alien shoot in Redwood City,” he said cryptically. “And our dinosaur shoot pulls in 100 people.”

Anyone who’s driven south on 101 can look to their right just before hitting Buellton and see the animal and dinosaur targets at the club’s outdoor range.

Thom’s partner, Walter Nero, pulled out a catalogue of 3-D targets to reveal more things to shoot at. They’ve got everything in there: deer, goats, bears (polar and grizzly), velociraptors.

Velociraptors?

“We just ordered a raptor, he’ll be here soon,” Nero said proudly. “He’s six feet tall and eight feet long.”

Interested in getting into the sport? Thom figures you can shell out “from $100 clear up to whatever you want to spend.” A good outfit—compound bow with the bells and whistles, higher-end arrows—runs around $700, he estimated.

Those not ready to put that kind of money toward their own equipment can still try their hand at this 3,500-year-old martial art. Thom charges a flat $30-an-hour fee for an entire family to come in and use any of the bows in the shop. He also teaches classes through the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department, with lessons starting
in September.

 And helicopter parents shouldn’t fret too much about the danger.

“Some parents worry at first, until I point out that, on a national insurance standard, archery ranks between bowling and badminton,” Thom said.

While archery may not be a typical budding athlete’s first choice,  Lori said they’ve seen a lot more interest in the sport since the Lord of the Rings movies came out a few years back. But don’t let that demographic fool you into thinking it’s just an activity for hobbits and Renaissance-fair types.

“Archery’s appeal is universal,” Lori said. “We have people from every walk of life: gang-banger types, guys with their hats on sideways, people with tattoos up and down their bodies.”

Thom said the sport is also great for helping teach kids (and adults) to focus and concentrate. He particularly remembers one young archer who picked up a bow.

“This kid was ADDDHDDDD,” Thom said with a chuckle.

But after he started, Thom explained, his mom said she saw a big difference in his attention span and concentration.

Thom teaches students as young as 7 and 8 years old, but he’s most proud of the oldest.

Bernice Dotz placed third in her class—ladies 65 and older—at the California
State Field Archery Tournament. Couch potatoes might want to look away at this point. She’s 84.

Dotz—who grew up in Wisconsin, shooting a bow her brother made for her—had given up the sport when she moved into the Lutheran home in Solvang. Then she heard about Thom Chamberlain.

“I needed to get out. I had low oxygen levels in my blood, and the doctor was also prescribing me vitamin D,” she explained. “I thought, ‘Gosh, vitamin D is sunshine. Why don’t I get out in real sunshine? And oxygen I can breathe out in the woods, away from cars.’”

She got back into the sport like she had when she was a girl: with a simple wooden recurve bow. Then she said Thom asked her if she’d like to try a compound bow.

“‘Oh, sure!’ I said. Each time I came in, he’d add more bells and whistles. When I told him it’s hard to see at long distances, he added a sight for me,” she recalled.

Dotz now regularly shoots out to 80 yards at tournaments. Feeling inadequate yet, dear reader?

When asked what she loves most about the sport, Dotz isn’t shy with a reply: “I love the competition. It’s more fun to get out and practice when you know a tournament’s coming up.”

Along with competing, Dotz said the atmosphere draws her to the sport.

“I just love being in the outdoors: fresh air, sunshine—it just feels wonderful,” she said. “When you walk on the dirt and the grass and breathe the air from trees, you get a different oxygen than when you’re walking on concrete and blacktop with the fumes from cars.”

And walk she does. At the recent California State Field Archery Tournament, there were 42 targets. Between walking to pick up her arrows and moving from target to target, Bernice covered quite a bit of ground.

Thom and Lori Chamberlain were at the tournament with Dotz, and said she just about walked them into the ground.

“Tramping around 42 targets? We were ready to quit,” Thom said with a chuckle.

Staff Writer Nicholas Walter steals from the rich to give to the poor. Claim the bounty on his head at nwalter@santamariasun.com.