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.