Love For Archery Brings Locals To Tournament
Long before the 2018 World
Archery Indoor Championship in
Yankton …
Long before there was the
2015 World Archery Youth
Championship in Yankton …
Long before Yankton established
itself as one of the world’s premier
archery destinations …
Long before there even was an
archery center located on the eastern
edge of Yankton, Jim Robinson loved
archery.
“I used to hunt archery,”
Robinson said. “It was my favorite
sport as far as hunting. I’ve shot
Larry Hintgen
rabbits and pheasants and deer. I
always thought I was going to shoot
a goose, but I never did.”
Robinson was among the nearly
400 volunteers that helped make the
recent 2018 World Archery Indoor
Championship at the National Field
Archery Association (NFAA) Easton
Yankton Archery Complex a success
A love of archery and spirit of
volunteerism drew Robinson to the
2018 tournament.
“I started archery hunting in
the ‘60s and I got to know Bruce
Cull in the ‘70s before he moved to
Jim Robinson
Yankton,” he said. “We talked a lot
about archery back and forth and about what he’d like to do here in
Yankton — which I never thought he could do, but he did. I’ve always
been an archery fan. I do a lot of volunteering and it’s a ball.”
The 2018 event wasn’t Robinson’s first time volunteering at a major
world tournament. In 2015, he helped out with the World Archery
Youth Championship in Yankton.
“It was just exciting to see all of these kids from around the world,”
he said. “The majority of them could speak English, but there was a lot
16vHISVOICEvMARCH/APRIL 2018
of them that couldn’t, so it was kind of funny to try to communicate
with them. It was pretty fun to see somebody from China, Korea and
they all got along.”
At that tournament, Robinson was tasked with helping direct
spectators.
Robinson said he was very impressed with the competition he saw
at the 2015 event.
“I was amazed with the three finalists,” he said. “I think out of the
three (competitors) … there was only two arrows out of the bullseye.
It’s amazing to me. I don’t think I could get that close with a .22 and a
scope on it. … There’s a lot of skill in what they’re doing. When I used
to hunt, like, shooting at a deer, you could be off quite a ways and still
hit the deer.”
As soon as he heard that a new World Archery tournament would
be coming to Yankton, Robinson said he was excited about the
prospect, signing up for all but two days of the tournament.
Joining Robinson at February’s tournament was Larry Hintgen, who
volunteered his time on food services at the 2015 tournament.
“When you’re retired, you’ve got time to do some of these things,
like Boy Scouts and Riverboat Days,” Hintgen said. “I was interested in
archery through Boy Scouts.”
He said that the indoor championship was a good opportunity to
use some of his own foreign language skills.
“I’m a Luxembourger, so naturally we enjoy talking a little German
to the Germans and the Luxembourgers,” he said.
Robinson said that the indoor tournament was a bit of a learning
experience.
“(There was) a guy from Iran who’s never seen snow before,” he
said. “You just take things for granted until you see somebody from a
different part of the
world.”
He added that
there were a number
of differences
between the 2015
tournament and the
2018 tournament.
“In this
tournament, there’s From left, Kendra Hunhoff, McKenna Cooley and Gabrielle Keiser
some (teams) that
assist with a medal ceremony during the 2018 World Archery Indoor
Championship in Yankton in February.