Are you interested in competitive archery?

Archery is no different to other sports, as it is about competition. However, one of the great things about archery is that it caters for all abilities and ages. When you attend any archery event at club or county level you will not be alone at your skill level. Do not assume only top archers attend tournaments, as most are reasonably relaxed family events. You will also find that archers are a friendly bunch (well, most are) and when you attend your first tournament someone on your target will help you.

When you have finished you beginners course you may be wondering what to do next? Unfortunately, only a very few larger clubs have enough resources to run intermediate or improvement courses for their members, so you will need some self-motivation to progress. However, most clubs will have coaches you can talk to and seek advice. The Sussex Marlets Guild http://www.martletsguild.org.uk/ usually runs a number of improvement workshops during the winter. Both Rob and Rod are members of the guild, but you can contact Les Bartlett direct if you are interested in when courses are being run.

You will probably find shooting rounds at the club, in between practice sessions will be more rewarding. You can see what level you are at now, how you are progressing and set goals for what you wish to achieve. Scoring is also good practice for tournaments. Most archery dealers sell small score pads which can be used for scoring most rounds.

When you have a score for your round, send it to the Club Records Officer (Russell French). Once you have submitted 3 sets of scores, Russell will be able to give you a handicap. In addition to a handicap, you can aim for a classification. Both handicaps and classifications are a very good way of monitoring your performance. You can find more information on the Classification Scheme from the GNAS download section (the document is called Shooting Admin Procedures). The handicap scheme is copyrighted, so you have to purchase it if you want your own copy. The National rounds are a good choice for outdoor and Portsmouth, Bray and FITA 18 for indoor.

Finding tournaments can be tricky if you are new to the sport. One of the best places to look for tournaments is the Mayflower Archers Tournament Diary http://www.mayflowerarchers.co.uk/ . Before you compete at a tournament, you will need to be registered with GNAS. If you talk to Rod Brown, he can explain about registration and costs.
Rod has also written a number of guides, which will tell you what you need to know for your first tournament.