Inductees

Glen Johnson (2003)

Archery Athlete

It seems that the love of archery is in Glen Johnson’s blood. His father and uncle were both members of the Silvertip Archery Club in Prince George in the early days. As a young boy, Johnson remembers that the archery club shot in the basement of the old Civic Centre.

Archery became an important part of Johnson's life after he checked out a new archery facility in town with son, Kurt. Kurt and Johnson's daughter Kristy quickly joined the club's Junior Olympic Program. This program teaches young archers, up to the age of 20, the safety and etiquette of archery. As an archer progresses, they receive a certificate and badge for each level of scored points they achieve. Under the guidance of a knowledgeable coach (Phil Sample) both Kurt and Kristy excelled in the sport. Impressed by the progress of his kids and his own desire to develop better skills, Johnson agreed to take a coaching course.

Over the next few years, Johnson's family became very dedicated to the sport. Many hours were spent practicing, coaching, fixing equipment and traveling to competitions. In the beginning, indoor shooting and 3-D (outdoor using foam animals) was their main focus. It was not long before outdoor types of shooting caught their attention and sparked an interest to try them. The family was introduced to shooting outdoor Fita’s (different distances up to 90 metres) at the Silvertip Archery Club outdoor range and they were hooked again. Shooting outdoors and having to deal with the elements of nature made this type of shooting far more challenging than the indoor shoots. As they improved outdoors, Glen, Kurt and Kristy found themselves competing at the provincial and national levels. This required even more hours practicing and a lot more traveling to out-of-town competitions. All three of them have done very well competing at these levels and have brought home many gold and silver medals as a result.

Johnson received his Level 2 in coaching when it became apparent that more coaches were needed to help develop the skills of the many talented archers in the club. Over the years, he has had the pleasure of working and shooting with many elite archers. Now that Kurt and Kristy have both become adults, Johnson misses the time they spent together at the archery range. He still finds pleasure in coaching others – Saturday mornings and Wednesday evenings in addition to shooting league on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

Recently Johnson became president of the Silvertip Archery Club. The club will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2003. Silvertip has a membership of 77 adults and 138 juniors in the Junior Olympic Program. The club’s indoor range is located in the basement of the Yellowhead Inn and the outdoor is located on Highway 16 East just past the city limits.

Over the past 12 years some of Johnson's most memorable moments were placing at the B.C. Summer Games, B.C. provincials and the nationals. He also finds great pleasure in watching the archers he has helped coach, achieve their personal goals. Besides archery, fishing and hunting are Glen’s passions, in addition to spending as much time as possible at the family cabin on Stuart Lake.