NEW CLUB MEMBERS

You are most welcome and we will be doing all we can to help you to enjoy the membership of your new club.

Although we are principally a recurve club other types of bow are equally acceptable (except crossbows). However, it is advised that you first serve your apprenticeship for a few weeks with the recurve and get the principles of shooting well established, the same basic principles apply to all bow types.
If you have not already been given a copy the club’s Introduction to Archery . booklet then please download and print a copy for yourself, it will help explain some of the things about archery.

Being on time.
At our club on Saturday mornings we often shoot formal rounds, allowing members to gain/improve their handicaps and classifications. There will be a specified programme start time and you should get to the range at least 15 minutes before the published start time so that you can assemble your equipment in good time (and we will help you with this if necessary and be able to answer any questions that you may have).
On club days, when we are shooting formal GNAS rounds any queries or problems that you may have will be dealt with either before or after the round. We will however be keeping an eye on you during any shooting and will not let you feel at a lose and will put small things to rights as the shooting progresses.

Good timekeeping is also appreciated at other club sessions.

Use our equipment at first
Please remember that we advise you not to rush out to buy your own equipment just yet, you could easily buy the wrong stuff and would probably out grow it quickly anyway.
We have archery kits for hire which will meet all your immediate needs while you develop closer to your final form. You can hire these for a maximum of 10 months; we do suggest that you keep the hire for at least 3 months and shoot as often as you can before considering buying your own equipment.

The advantage of the ‘hire’ bow scheme is that we can match equipment to your physical needs and then change things as you get stronger and make further progress with you shooting skills. We will also take care of any maintenance problems (one of the reasons you should arrive early) such as arrow repairs, string replacement/repair and the like.

Organisation of shooting.
At our club the shooting of formal rounds is mainly on Saturday mornings, there will be a specific start time when everyone should be prepared and ready to shoot. The round will then be shot without too many distractions.

But don’t worry if the scheduled round is at longer distances than you have been used to; for all the longer distance rounds there are comparable round with shorter distances (with a different name). So be on time and tell us, so that we can set-up another target so that you can shoot alongside the other archers.

Please note that even when we are shooting a formal/scored round there will always be other targets available/set-up for informal practice shooting. We don’t force anyone to shoot the formal rounds.

Ask questions – Ask for help.
Although you must expect to miss the target a few times do not plod on getting worse and worse and maybe disheartened; ask one of the experience archers to have a look at what you are doing. It will probably be something about your shooting style/process that needs a little correction. Remember we can’t teach you everything during a beginner’s course and it needs practice and refinement to get better and better. Even archers who have been shooting for years will still be refining and improving their techniques.
The club does have improver and refresher coaching sessions aimed at all levels of archer skill, these will help you.
If there is anything you are unsure of, about your shooting, your equipment or about the club ASK. There is nothing too simple or silly, it may be something we have not thought of and can change – whatever we will find the answer.
If something breaks, needs repair or adjusting ASK we will show you how to do it (or do it for you).

Coaching.
You received ‘instruction’ during the beginner’s course so you know the basics. Now as novices the club is ready to provide ‘coaching’ to help you to build and improve your shooting; to get higher scores, shoot in different weather conditions etc.
The club has a number of coaches and experienced archers to help you, we won’t ignore you.
There will be regular specific coaching sessions open to all members. Although coaching advice will be specific to each individual there are advantages for group coaching in that just watching and talking to others can frequently highlights solutions or improvements. We can learn from each other, including the coaches.

Reference Guide.
Have a look at the following document on the internet, maybe download and print a copy. A very interesting and useful document. http://www.archersreference.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/archref_05.pdf

Get your advice before you buy.
Talk to us before you buy your own equipment, don’t buy from the internet unless we can agree exactly the items you need (usually the ‘minor’ items).
Generally it is better to handle and perhaps try out equipment at a retailers before you buy. Maybe someone from the club will be able to accompany you to the shop – it has been do this way before.

Club Constitution.
The club has a formal constitution, you can see a copy if you wish.

Rules of shooting.
As you will have been told we, as a club are affiliated to the Grand National Archery Society (GNAS) and our activities are carried out in compliance with their “Rules of Shooting”, a copy of this document is kept in the clubhouse, (N.B. Some archers will have their own copy of this document).

Handicap Rating and Classification
Included with the Rules of Shooting are Handicap Rating tables and Classification tables; reference to these tables is the best (perhaps the only) means of showing to you how your shooting skills are improving.
For any round that you shoot your final score can be translated, via the tables to identify the handicap rating you achieved for the round just shot. Obviously if you shot the same round again some time later then you could simply just compare the two scores.
You can, however compare two different rounds by looking up the ‘handicap rating’ you achieved for each round – the lower ‘handicap rating’ value is the better rating. A good club level archer will have ratings of 40 something. Very new archers are likely to have ratings of 70 or 60 something, it will get better over time with practice (often quite quickly).
As a new comer to archery when you have shot 3 qualifying rounds and the handicap rating confirmed for each round then we can take the average of these 3 ratings to set your ‘competition handicap rating’. To see how this is done go to Handicap Rating.

Helping the club run smoothly.
We would like you to enjoy all your archery and your involvement with the club activities. It is the contributions of all members that ensures a good club, it is not just up to the elected management team.

Club Management.
The club is a democracy with principal officers, elected by the membership. There needs to be several club officers to share the day to day activities needed to have a successful club. Anyone from the club membership can offer their services for any of the positions. Even new club members (recently off a beginner’s course) could easily make valuable contributions to help with running the club.

Tournaments.
Many archers travel far and wide to shoot at tournaments organized by other club, county or regional organizations. There are awards to be won, but perhaps most of all the enjoyable experience of meeting other like-minded archers.
Generally these tournaments last all day (12 dozen arrows shot) BUT most tournaments also run an afternoon only tournament in parallel (6 dozen arrows shot). These ½ day tournaments are specifically for the more recent migrants to the archery fraternity. The Club strongly recommends these shorter tournaments for new members.