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WEST SAND LAKE, New York - USA Archery awards the Ann Hoyt/Jim Easton JOAD Grant, supported by generous donations from the Ann Hoyt Legacy Fund and the Easton Foundations to numerous Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD) Clubs to build and sustain strong youth archery programs. One grant recipient, STRIDE Adaptive Sports, used this funding to create a new, fun and safe sports outlet for adaptive athletes in West Sand Lake, New York.
STRIDE Founder & CEO, Mary Ellen Whitney shared: "When STRIDE Adaptive Sports was looking for safe ways to get Capital Region kids with disabilities out of the house and back to doing physical activities, the nonprofit organization realized archery hits the mark in more ways than one.
"Archery is one of the truest forms of an individual lifetime sport that everyone can participate in. It will be easy for everyone to socially distance at the competitive archery range we built on STRIDE's 85-acre camping retreat in Chatham. We are ready to get our youth athletes with disabilities back to play, and archery is one of the many ways STRIDE can safely make this happen."
Combat-injured Wounded Warrior TSGT Tim McDonough will lead the club's coaching staff and funds from the JOAD grant will support him in getting five additional instructors certified as they grow their program. The STRIDE facility, which boasts 17 sport programs and provides 11,000 adaptive sports lessons annually, has a dedicated archery range with targets at 10, 20 and 30 meters, and they have purchased specialized adaptive equipment for seated and visually impaired archers.
USA Archery, in partnership with Move United, has developed a variety of industry leading free adaptive archery resources to include the Adaptive Archery Manual and Adaptive Archery Video Series and will look to continue to provide adaptive archery opportunities for athletes of all ages and abilities, up to and including opportunities to make the Paralympic Archery Team. In addition, USA Archery also provides many resources for veteran archers.
Find more information on JOAD Grants, locating a club near you, or USA Archery's Adaptive Resources, including the free downloadable Adaptive Archery Manual and online video library. Contact clubs@usarchery.org for additional details.
About USA Archery
USA Archery is the National Governing Body for the Olympic sport of archery in the United States. USA Archery selects and trains Olympic, Paralympic, World Championship, and World Cup teams, as well as developing archery at the grassroots level across the United States. For more information, visit www.usarchery.org.
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