St. Pius X students master archery skills

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A group of students in Loudonville is excelling in a new archery program. Their educators hope the lessons learned in practice will help them hit their goals inside and outside the gym.

"I just fell in love with the sport, and then I started watching 'The Hunger Games,' and I'm, like, 'I should do that!'"

But this isn't District 12. The students are part of the archery program at St. Pius X in Loudonville.

"This started all out of Native American Day where the fourth grade teachers talked all about the Iroquois tribes, and they asked me to come in because they knew my daughter shot," archery coach Jim Smith explained. "After my daughter was already graduated, they asked if I could start an archery program."

Twenty students are now part of the program. While they span different ages and grades, Smith said they have more than one thing in common.

"Most of them are musical," he said. "They are artistic, highly intelligent, and they're just very, very focused in what they do."