A is for Angela, Aaron, Alexander, Alysha, Anne, Anthony, Austin, Anastasia and archery.

The eight children of Will and Judy Zeober of Buckley have hit a bull’s-eye with the sport.

With Will serving as instructor and coach, the Zeobers are quickly making a name for themselves in the field. Each of the Zeobers who are still young enough to compete in the Blackhawk Archers, a Washington state 4-H shooting sports program and the Junior Olympic Archery Development program are tops among the competition.

Their interest started with their parents looking for a way to keep the kids busy. They found the Blackhawk Archers 4-H program.

“It was a small group of families and our kids made up half the club,” Will Zeober said. “At the time I was just the driver getting them to and from the meetings, then soon became an assistant and then co-leader.”

The 4-H club was a good foundation, but soon the Zeober children were wanting more.

“Three years ago they asked if they could compete in a tournament and it was this first experience that caused the explosion of interest,” he said.

Anthony, the oldest male of the Zeober children, set the bar as the first to qualify and compete in the National Shooting Sports Invitational in 2008. At the age of 19, he and sister Anastasia, 20, have retired from competition due to their ages, but continue to pick up a bow recreationally.

The remainder of the Zeobers are going strong. They will compete in their final tournament of the summer Saturday in Graham, Wash.

Young archers compete in three areas – field, 3D and FITA, which is Olympic style or target archery. Field archery targets are set on a course in the woods and 3D involves life-size foam animal targets with zones for scoring.

Anne, 8, is the newest archer to the family, joining in the fall. She is one of the youngest, and the only girl, in the junior division of competition. She remained undefeated through the spring tournament season with a large point spread, which she maintained through the recent Washington State Championships in Ephrata. There she finished third overall.

In the past two years, 12-year-old twins Aaron and Austin have worked through the ranks and are now among the top two shooters in the junior division in the state. Will said their rivalry is intense, which helped them as they moved up to the intermediate division this year, facing bigger, stronger and more highly skilled athletes. The two still made a mark in their division.

Angela, 14, made an equipment change during the start of the season and it took a while before she caught up with the boys, but it all game together at state, where she achieved the longtime goal of finishing ahead of her brothers, Will said.

Will said Alysha, 17, started the season with new equipment, which took some adjustment. She was battling an early form of arthritis and switched from a recurve, Olympic-style bow, to a compound bow with a mechanical release aid and low draw weights to avoid injury. She hit her stride at state and was tied for point for runner-up. In the end, it was decided by total number of bull’s-eyes shot in the tournament and Alysha was bumped from second place to third, 13 to 12. She took fifth overall and remains undefeated in the young adult female division.

Archery, Will said, is gaining popularity.

As a leader in the sport, he is working to get more kids off the couch and onto the course.

He’s expanded the 4-H project to cater to both recreational shooters and performance athletes who wish to compete. He’s also gone through the training with the JOAD to earn his Level One and Level Two instructor certifications.

“What most folks don’t know is that when executed properly it is actually one of the most physical and mentally demanding sports,” Zeober said. “The necessary mental focus and bio-mechanical efforts required to place an arrow in a circle the size of a quarter is phenomenal no matter the distance.

“Imagine an athlete pushing, pulling, holding and aiming 40 pounds 90 times to complete a game,” he said. “That is 3,600 pounds or almost 1.5 tons. Now accurately place that in a center ring 60 or 80 meters down range over and over again.”

Will said, in the end, archery is like other sports in that it requires effort to become good. The Zeobers time practicing and shooting is actually minimal because Will and Judy said it’s important children the ages of theirs are involved in a variety of sports and activities.

“Giving them exposure to a variety of athletic opportunities keeps them motivated, fit and more important, off the couch,” Will said.

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