He got voluntold to be president of Ottawa Archers. Jamie Graham got into archery in the late 80s, through a family friend who was more like a stepfather to him. Back then it was hay bales and paper — no 3D, nothing else. He shot for a few years, then stepped away for work and life, and came back in the early 2000s when his kids got older. He's been in it ever since. He joined Ottawa Archers 16 or 17 years ago, when the club was 40 or 50 people, mostly Trad, with a very nice target field and older 3D targets. He's opinionated, by his own admission, and he figured you can only voice your opinion for so long without getting involved and helping make decisions. The president before him had been in the role for 15 or 16 years and was getting tired — so Jamie was, in his words, kind of voluntold. Congratulations, you're the new president. He was voted in, and he's been in the job almost a year now. They told him it wasn't that much work, that everybody else does the work. He was, in his words, apparently naive. We get into the work nobody sees. The club's property is donated by a very generous family, but the bush next door limited them to 15 or 16 targets in the trees plus a few more out in the open field. Jamie made that neighbouring property his first goal — he tracked down who owned it, went and had a conversation, and the owner gave them the property. Four or five acres, just by going to talk to the person and asking. It still took a couple of months of phone calls, visits, and paperwork to make it happen. Same story with the targets. The club tried to get ASA targets for years, and that plan fell through with COVID and travel. Through Archery Canada, Jamie bought a full set of Mackenzie Delta targets — a full ASA course, about $9,500 — and that took about seven months on and off, between emails, phone calls, follow-ups, and going to get them at the border. And the club is growing. From about 60 members when Julian Simard first joined, to about 150 at the last official count. People just start showing up, Jamie says, and they like what the club is doing. We also get into: Wednesday league nights — 12 targets, in a bush that's very dark even on a sunny day — and why that makes Ottawa shooters better on dark shotsThe Ottawa crew around Bob and Matt Albert, Julian Simard, and Travis Tyo, and why sharing information at league night has put more Ottawa shooters on podiumsBob Albert, the club's "archery dad" — that calm voice that calms your rate down, and what he does for newer shootersBalancing the presidency with a full-time job and family life — Jamie's kids are in their late twenties now, his wife helps with registration at tournaments, and he still hasn't figured out the balance. "When I figure that out I'll let you know."What he's chasing next: coaching and tuning nights for novice shooters, new targets every year, and curb appeal — he wants you to walk in and think, wow, this place is niceWhy he's, in his own words, very selfish about it: he wants the best 3D course available to him to shoot at, tooChris is in the same chair at Royal City Bowmen, so this one turns into two club presidents comparing notes — on growing from 40 members to 165, on automating memberships so the computer does the s****y stuff, and on the old adage Jamie quotes: your reward for hard work is more work. New episodes every Monday morning. Follow the show:Instagram: @letdownpodcst — https://www.instagram.com/letdownpodcstFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579815579594YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheLetDownPodcastAll platforms: https://pod.link/6816955396
