Yearling Middle School’s archery team was recognized by the Okeechobee County School Board during the monthly meeting on June 11.

The team has participated in the last three tournaments in the state and members have been able to shoot their way into third and second place throughout those tournaments.

YMS agriculture teacher Buddy Mills helped bring archery to Yearling before handing off coaching duties to YMS physical education teacher Lonnie Sears.

Lake Okeechobee News/Richard Marion

From left to right are: Okeechobee superintendent of schools Ken Kenworthy, Lonnie Sears, Adam Moore, Jackson Holcomb, Emmett Sumner and Buddy Mills.

“Archery had been slowly being removed because it had been deemed a safety issue at the middle school level,” explained Mr. Mills on the history of the archery program. “Believe it or not, there is an extreme interest in it and now there’s scholarships and things you can earn from it. I thank the school board for allowing it. The FWC came and gave a presentation that showed that out of 800,000 or so students that went through the program there was not one reported accident. Coach Sears made it a part of the P.E. curriculum and it’s been extremely successful.”

Jackson Holcomb placed 37th in the sixth grade boys division with a score of 224, Emmett Sumner placed 11th in the seventh grade boys division with a score of 247 and Adam Moore placed third in the eighth grade boys division with a score of 267. Adam also placed 24th overall out of 424 students.

Last year Emmett Sumner finished second out of 63 in the sixth grade boys division with a score of 262.

Mr. Mills credited coach Sears for the success the program has seen.

“You might have to erase this image from your mind, but coach Sears has kind of been our Robin Hood in tights,” Mr. Mills cracked, getting a laugh out of the crowd attending the school board meeting. “Maybe he doesn’t project that image of Robin Hood in tights, but he’s been a heck of an archery coach. He’s done a really good job with our kids.”