Sault's archery couple hit the target at Arrows in Motion

For the Sault’s Lana Perry and husband Jacob McEachern, archery is a huge part of life.

The couple owns Arrows in Motion, teaching archery to all ages.

The couple is well qualified as Perry and McEachern are experienced archery competitors.

McEachern started shooting in his 20s and has competed at the local, provincial and national levels.

“I've been shooting since I was young and basically grew up with the sport,” Perry told SooToday during an Arrows in Motion practice for children and teens at the Algoma Rod and Gun Club.

“When I was younger there weren't actually many kids or women involved in the sport of archery. My mom Jane and I travelled the province to compete together so it was a great way to build our relationship and have that family involvement.”

In her teens, Perry started competing at the national level.

As an adult, she joined the Archery Ontario board as the VP of Junior Development, transitioning into coaching and teaching youth while continuing to compete in the adult categories. 

She has competed at three World 3D Archery Championships - in Latina, Italy in 2009, Sardinia in 2013 and Lac La Biche, Alberta in 2019.

3D Archery involves shooting arrows at three dimensional, life-sized foam animal targets, shaped like various animals and typically located at various points throughout an outdoor trail.

“At the nationals I’ve won a good handful of medals, in 3D mostly, and some in target as well. I’ve won the bulk of the 3D championships I’ve shot at the provincial level,” Perry said.

Among her favourite memories is that of her first time competing at the 3D Archery World Championships in Latina, Italy in 2009.

Perry and two other Canadian female archers sat in the top five after the first day of competition.

“It was a phenomenal feeling,” she said.

As a coach, Perry came home with pride from the North American Indigenous Games in Halifax in July 2023 when one of her students - Ainsley Abitong-Sinobert  of Sault Ste. Marie - brought home a bronze medal in U19 female 3D Archery.

In October, Perry was named Coach of the Year by Archery Ontario.

She is currently coaching and training a team for the Ontario Winter Games to be held Feb. 23-26 in Thunder Bay.

The team consists of 21 young athletes  - 15 from the Sault and area, three from Thunder Bay and three from Dubreuilville.

“You compete as an individual but there’s still that element of being part of a team. There’s camaraderie and support. For a lot of kids it’s the first time they’ve been independent from their parents. Kids stay at a hotel with coaches and managers,” Perry said.

Perry and McEachern are currently building a team to compete at the Ontario High School Championships in Richmond Hill this May. The team will be selected in April at a large-scale indoor archery tournament designed for ages 20 and under. The tournament will be run by Arrows in Motion and hosted at the Algoma Rod and Gun Club. 

The couple will be involved when the Sault hosts the Junior Challenge for youth aged 20 and under this summer.

In August, Perry and some of her students will travel to Fredericton, New Brunswick to compete at the Archery Canada National Championships. 

As Perry and McEachern started up Arrows in Motion, the archery school won the grand prize valued at $15,000 in the annual pitch competition hosted by The Millworks Centre for Entrepreneurship.

Arrows in Motion operates at the Algoma Rod and Gun Club for indoor events and with Sault North Archery for outdoor 3D events.

Arrows in Motion offers:

• regular lesson sets 
• private lessons for small or large groups
• birthday parties`                        
• tournaments
• team building classes
• offsite archery booths and lessons, having worked with Chapleau Cree First Nation, Batchewana First Nation, Thessalon First Nation and Garden River First Nation
• competition training
• equipment care and repair training, working with Sault North Archery Club 

“We teach lessons to all ages,” Perry said.

“We've had students as young as three years old in class, and students in their 70s or older, the full spectrum of ages. We are committed to being a safe space for everyone to learn.”

Some students start at a very young age.

“Our son Asher started shooting at 14 months,” Perry said.

“He started pretty much when he was standing stable. They make really tiny little bows and I found a very beautiful little wooden bow that was nice and light, so we got him shooting arrows pretty quickly. He kept up with it when he got older and walked the 3D ranges with us. He had good success and a lot of fun. Now he’s nine years old and still shooting. He’s grown up with it.”

Perry said archery is a good choice for people who do not feel comfortable with certain elements of team sports or who are not super-athletic. 

“I get a lot of video game kids that come in and really excel at archery. They can use their muscles and use their brain,” she said.

“For a lot of folks it’s a great way to spend some time developing that ‘focus muscle.’ Over time we see people’s ability to focus on one specific task and keep that focus and get better and better,” McEachern said.

“It's an accessible sport for everyone. It’s easy to get into and get decent at, but like anything it takes a lot of work and dedication to get to the upper ranks. While we do have some really athletic or multi-sport athletes, we find some of the people who really thrive in archery are those who aren't generally seen as good at other sports, or who haven't found team sports to be a good fit,” Perry said.

Arrows in Motion works with children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and has also worked with Sault Accessible Sports.

“It really appeals to me,” Perry said of archery.

“I very much enjoy the novelty factor, especially with the 3D archery because I can never predict what the target’s going to be or what the shot’s going to look like and it’s a different target with every shot. But I also enjoy the meditative routine indoor shots as well. It’s something where I can have short bursts of focus interspersed with some movement. I get focused for a little bit and then get to move. And, it’s very hard to get perfect in archery so you always continue to strive to be better. You always compete with yourself and you just try to make yourself better.”

“There are two main draws for me,” McEachern said.

“One is the meditative aspect. You can come to the range and intensely focus and not think about the rest of the day or what's coming up tomorrow. It’s a period of time to let all that melt away, to de-stress and meditate on archery alone. The other side of it is that I can be something of a perfectionist. With archery there’s a whole system of shooting and I’m always drawn to doing it better next time.”

The couple teaches six-week lesson sets at the Algoma Rod and Gun Club on Monday and Thursday nights and have classes ranging from beginner to competitive, 12 and under, teens only and adult only classes. 

Perry is the head coach who organizes classes, registers students, designs curriculum, performs equipment maintenance and is in charge of all competitive team management and team travel.

McEachern coaches, teaches, performs administrative duties - including the upkeep of the Arrows in Motion website - and “generally takes care of the behind the scenes work.”

“I'm an idea machine and Jacob helps make the ideas a reality, or brings me back down to reality. It really does take both of us to put the arrows in motion,” Perry smiled.

Arrows in Motion can be reached by email or through its website.