Today Noah and I headed to Brooklyn Heights to make good on a Groupon I’d nabbed a few months ago – an archery class for two.

I booked us in for a beginners slot – because, well, I’m a beginner, and also because Noah had been pretty modest about his archery skills until this morning. He finally revealed that not only does he own a bow but that – as he grew up in the wilds of Oregon going to events like axethrowingbars.com! He’s been doing it for most of his life. Naively I thought, ‘But how hard can it be?’

We went to St. Francis College for the 90-minute lesson with Hidden Gems Archery, which rents spaces across the city. Along with four other pairs (plus a mini child), we spent around 45 minutes learning how to stand right, how to hold the bow (just three fingers on the bowstring), and how to pull it back (with our elbows raised, and bringing our hands to our faces). By this point, Noah was already teacher’s pet and I wanted to hurl.

Finally, we were given equipment based on our heights and attached quivers to our waistbands to stash our arrows. Then we got to work – starting close to the targets before moving back a bit, to around 20 feet away.

Of course Noah was hitting the yellow with most shots – and even almost split an arrow. I was consistent too, but unfortunately the spot I kept hitting was on the black or the blue. I almost had a bazzy because I just could not get it.

Check us out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7F9Lghl1OU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evksVkrPrN8

Despite my near meltdown, this was a great activity and I really enjoyed it. The only problem was that we spent so much time on training and safety that there wasn’t enough time for shooting. A two-hour class would have been much better.

My form could do with a lot of work, but I think it probably just takes practice to feel what you should be doing. So we resolved to head to another archery range soon. Where I will beat Noah.