The thrill of competition fuels passion and sportsmanship around the globe. Children and adults alike enjoy games, and even lose themselves when a truly enjoyable competitive clash comes around. An archery range is an excellent stage for a variety of competitions. Let’s take a moment to think about some of the opportunities a good archery range provides.

Casual Competition 

Leagues are a staple to any pro shop’s healthy competitive scene, but it can be quite laborious to coordinate, set up and monitor a collection of leagues. It also generally requires working late, or paying someone else to work late. Often times, this is a necessary task, simply part of doing the job right. Of course, there’s always the option of letting someone else rent your space to run leagues. Brian Langston, owner of West Houston Archery and the subject of our recent Inside Retailing column, does this very thing.

“It’s hard to staff late nights,” Langston said. “Every one of our employees travels 45 minutes to get here, so if we’re closing the shop late at night, our guys would have to drive a long way to get home after a long day… even JOAD doesn’t involve my staff. We have the range upstairs and I lease it to an instructor who used to have his own building and store. He basically moved his JOAD program here. He gets a good turnout. I’d guess 100 people a week go through there, and it brings some sales for us.”

While this is one option for a more laid-back way to host competitive archers, another is simply hosting more casual shoots. Have a small buy-in to compete, a simple prize for first-place, and advertise by word of mouth and digital media. This can be a low cost way to draw more people in, and it can really take off once you get the ball rolling.

Archery Tag

Archery tag is getting more popular for a reason. It’s simple, fun and intense. The sport requires space, which any standard archery range provides, and a small investment in gear, which can be easily recouped with effective management and marketing. Archery Tag can be played by children, teenagers and adults, and it’s perfect for group gatherings like birthday parties and cooperate outings. Archery Tag is also the product of an organized company. They work diligently to spread the word about their sport, as well as provide rules, equipment and certification for the pro shops that take it up.

Check out their website to learn everything you need to know: http://archerytag.com/ and check out this video if you’re curious what the action looks like:

3-D Competition 

Casual shooting and Archery Tag are good ways to appeal to a wide variety of potential archers, while 3-D competitions can tap more into the competitive spirit of serious bowhunters. All you need is a few 3-D targets and a little downtime to coordinate the event. Word of mouth could be the best way tap into the key group. Enticing someone who comes in to get their bow tuned could get that customer to rile their friends up with a little bit of smack talk and healthy rivalry. Hosting 3-D tournaments on the weekend could be a good way to get around a lot of nine-to-five weekday shifts. Ultimately, getting more bowhunters in the shop during the offseason could remind them to get their bow tuned up, or get one of their long-overdue equipment upgrades, all while providing them with a great chance to just have fun.

School Programs

Many aspects of school are already infused with competition, and archery can provide kids with a great outlet to play and challenge each other. A great way to get this started could be to bring archery to the school, rather than trying to bring the school to an archery range. Some schools already have archery in their physical education program. This can be built upon with more rigorous after-school clubs for the kids who really click with a bow and arrow. For the majority of schools that don’t have archery as part of their P.E. curriculum, a simple chat with the school administration could provide chance to give kids a crash course and taste of the sport. This is yet another option that really only requires time and effort for a potential boost in archery participation and business.

Anything Else you can Imagine   

With a vivid imagination and a can-do attitude, anything is possible. The same way archery lanes can be rented out to other archery instructors and tournaments, they can be rented out to anyone who simply needs open space. If you generally close the shop at 7:00 p.m., why not let someone rent it until 8 or 9? Of course this requires building trust with the potential renter or being able to partition the shop for security, but a beautiful symbiotic relationship could form. This last option is indeed something that comes in special circumstances. It just always helps to keep and open mind.

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USA Archery CEO Denise Parker was very pleased to share: “Congratulations to all of the athletes who made it to the finals of the Olympic Trials this week. The depth of the competitive field was impressive and I am excited to see the quality of archers we are sending to Rio. We will all be cheering our women on in Turkey in their quest to secure a team slot.”

The U.S. has qualified a full team of three slots for the men for Rio, but so far has only secured one slot for the women. This means that top finisher Mackenzie Brown (Flint, Texas) is locked in for the Games, but Hye Youn Park (Cuptertino, California) and Khatuna Lorig (West Hollywood, California) will need to medal with Brown at the Archery World Cup in Antalya, Turkey in June to earn those last two slots.

Brown (Flint, Texas) commented: “I’m in shock and awe. I’m speechless, elated, I don’t even know how to put it in words… Thank you so much to my parents, family, Coach Mel Nichols, and all of my childhood coaches that helped me and supported me on this long journey. All praise honor and glory goes to God. My focus now is training with the team for Turkey to ensure we have our full qualification.”

Park finished second in the Trials as a bit of a Dark Horse. Park just started competing in the U.S. recently after emigrating from Korea several years ago and attaining U.S. citizenship in 2015.

“You know this process is hard for all the athletes, and harder than I thought it would be,” commented Park. “All the archers here did a really good job. I wanted to try for the 2012 London Olympics but I couldn’t get my U.S. citizenship, so I was only able to try now, and this has been a long road. Now in 2016 I feel that it’s very different. That time was very hard but it is even harder now. There are so many great archers now so it will be even more difficult. On behalf of all the other athletes I will do my best to get the other two spots for the U.S.”

This will be Lorig’s sixth Olympic Games and she is also feeling confident about the team. Her focus will be: “Keep practicing, stay positive and lots of team work. Having a team means having more chances to get a medal – you can have two medals instead of one, and for the U.S. it is more realistic to medal as a team than as individual. I have a strong team and I have no doubts. My fans’ support was huge, this is the first time in 20 years that I felt like people really cheered for me, thank you so much Team Lorig!”

“I feel good about how the Trials shaped up and the level of competition in our women’s program,” commented National Women’s Head Coach Guy Krueger. “This is the first time that we’ve ever had three or four women who are able to shoot over 330 70m scores. That level of competitiveness and how much they’ve improved over the last year and a half is great. I like our chances in Turkey, we have a very talented and dedicated and experienced team so we’ll see how we do.”

National Head Coach KiSik Lee agreed: “I’m very confident. We have a strong team compared to other Olympics because we selected the best archers through this Trials process. They are getting stronger and stronger day by day. Our men’s team is especially strong – we have a new archer joining experienced archers, and that will make a big difference. There is evidence of this as all three men have shot 340+ in international competition.”

Brady Ellison (Globe, Arizona) and Jake Kaminski (Gainesville, Florida) were two thirds of the team that won silver in London 2012. Ellison is excited about the team that was put together for Rio: “We have an awesome team, we have a team that has the ability to shoot better than we did in London and the Games are still a long ways away. We still have several tournaments in between so my focus is Turkey and the rest of the competitions before the Games.”

“It makes all the hard work and the planning totally worth it,” commented Kaminski. “It’s a long road, it’s not, as they say, every four years-its every day and that’s the truth. I’m honored to make my second consecutive team and am proud to represent the USA in Rio.”

On making his first Olympic team, Zach Garrett (Wellington, Missouri) shared: “I feel relieved but we’re only half way to the goal, I don’t’ think that anyone or I will really feel accomplished until we’re standing on the podium. We’ll have our team camps and that will be good to get a feel for how we shoot as a team. Personally I will make some slight form changes, check on my equipment and continue training. Hopefully the scores will be where I want them to be. Thanks to everyone who came out and watched and supported me.”

Huge congratulations from USA Archery to all the Trials participants, especially including our 2016 Olympic Team and alternates Daniel McLaughlin (West Chester, Ohio) and LaNola Pritchard (Lehi, Utah).

Complete results from the Trials can be found  here. Updated standings for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Archery, final nomination shoot are also available here.
For more, follow USA Archery on  Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About USA Archery
USA Archery is the National Governing Body for the Olympic sport of archery in the United States. USA Archery selects and trains Olympic, Paralympic, World Championship, and World Cup teams, as well as developing archery at the grassroots level across the United States. For more information, visit http://www.usarchery.org.

Media Contact 
Sarah Bernstein/Public Relations
sbernstein@usarchery.org
201.919.8050

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Team USA recently made a strong showing at the World Archery Para Championships in Donaueschingen, Germany.

Ultimately, they took home four golds. The US has one of the biggest Paralympic teams and cheering them on was one of the largest groups of fans. The crowd left quite pleased that day.

Competition was fierce, as the Russian Federation was delivering a commanding performance themselves. Americans Jeff Fabry, Jerry Shields and Chuck Lear tied with 194 points against the Slavic juggernaut, forcing the W1 championship round into a shoot off.

Chuck Lear had an unfortunate missed shot, but he kept the faith, saying, “When I missed the shot I knew the guys could pick me up and that’s exactly what they did. It’s what being on a team is really all about.” He later finished with a 10 point shot, helping to win the shoot off 25-22.

The compound men’s final was not quite as intense, but Matt Stutzman, Andre Shelby and Ben Thompson of Team USA still brought home a well-earned victory against Turkey.

Stutzman commented on their comradery, saying, “We travel pretty well as a team and hearing everybody cheering us on definitely helped motivate us. I really haven’t been on a better team.”

“At the end of the day that is why we are here, for Team USA.”
– Matt Stutzman

Eric Bennett also showed a strong performance, earning a gold for men’s recurve. Overall, he scored a 9.1 average in the final match, a feat he pulled off with one arm that most would be hard-pressed to accomplish with two.

All in all, the world championships have had a lot of memorable moments, and there’s certainly more to come with the Olympics just around the corner.

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MEDELLIN, Colombia – Hope springs eternal in the city of the eternal spring for USA as the archers dominated final after final. Making two team podiums yesterday and qualifying five athletes for the World Cup Final, the untouchable compound squad took to the field to shoot in every event.

Recurve Saturday opened with the women’s team down behind Mexico, but USA brought it back to a shoot off and won. This morning again, USA women, Paige Pearce (Red Bluff, California), Lexi Keller (Omro, Wisconsin), and Danielle Reynolds (Gilbert, Arizona) trailed behind Mexico by 4 points, which they made up in the third end with a near-perfect 59 and went again to shoot off. With three strong shots, USA repeated yesterday and took the bronze win to start the day.

The world record holding team (239 out of 240), Braden Gellenthien (Hudson, Massachusetts), Reo Wilde (Pocatello, Idaho) and Steve Anderson (Salt Lake City, Utah), have not missed a World Cup podium in 2015. At this final stage of the event, they were not to be slighted.

Shooting against historic rivals from Italy, the match began very tight, tied with 58s after one end, and then matching arrow for arrow. Things changed when Italy’s Sergio Pagni faltered and dropped an 8. With the final 6 arrows to go, USA had a five-point lead. The powerhouse trio increased the lead to 7 points to take the gold win 234-227.

“We had a pretty good season as a team,” Wilde told World Archery. “We had new people on the team so it’s good to walk away, get a lot of experience and finish on top.”

“It’s really fun to shoot team rounds with Reo and Steve because I have total confidence that they’ll perform,” Gellenthien added. “When I’m out there I’m able to relax. Even when I’m in the lead position and there’s a little bit of pressure to start the match, I know that even if I shoot a nine they are going to back me up.”

Wilde took the field again with Keller for mixed team bronze. The experienced 41 year-old and 19 year-old Keller continued their consistent dominance on the field, opening with a perfect 40. India dropped a 7 at the start of the second end and Keller and Wilde closed in for an easy win by a wide margin.

In an intense match, Pearce, who has made quite a name for herself on the junior circuit took on World No. 1 ranked Sara Lopez on her home turf. Lopez had a loud fan section behind her, filled with friends and family, and with five individual podiums to her name in the Archery World Cups and multiple world records, there was great pressure on the match.

Pearce had a slow start with a 27 in the first end, but finished strong, including a 30 in the third end to give Lopez a run for her money. Just three points down in the final tally, Pearce took the silver and her first individual podium finish in the Archery World Cup series.

Wilde took to the field for a third time, shooting for individual bronze in a highly anticipated match with Denmark’s Stephan Hansen billed by World Archery as: “Experience v Generation X. One of the most decorated compound archers in the world, the current 15-arrow match world record holder at 150 12X and six-time (including 2015) Archery World Cup Finalist versus the new, 20-year-old World Archery Champion.”

Wilde showed Hansen how the pros do it-shooting only a single 9 in the third end, Wilde posted a 149 to keep the win out of reach for the young archer. Taking his third medal of the day, Wilde claimed the bronze and secured the U.S. a spot on every podium of the day.

See video of the matches and complete scores from the event here. For more, follow USA Archery on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About USA Archery

USA Archery is the National Governing Body for the Olympic sport of archery in the United States. USA Archery selects and trains Olympic, Paralympic, World Championship, and World Cup teams, as well as developing archery at the grassroots level across the United States.  For more information, visit http://www.usarchery.org.

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If you have a child or beginner that you want to introduce to archery, consider taking them to try 3D archery. Rather than shooting standard targets at an open range, 3D archery adds excitement by emulating actual bowhunting. It’s easy to get carried away while skulking through the wilderness, looking to deliver that perfect shot on a realistic target!

3D archery has taken big steps lately. The Scholastic 3D Archery Association (S3DA) continues to expand since its creation in 2012. S3DA is currently active in 25 states, teaching thousands of kids from third grade through high school. These afterschool programs keep young archers active and entertained, while teaching them a skill they will value for the rest of their life.

3D archery provides a fun way to learn fundamental shooting techniques, and more importantly, safety, but it’s also a good way for seasoned bowhunters to stay sharp year round. Mathews recently released a short film called, “Training Ground”, which documents two bowhunting friends, Brett Seng and Cal Arnold, as they travel to Redding, California, to practice on a 3D course.

They discuss the importance of practice, explaining how a good hunter practices thoroughly so they can confidently shoot at a live animal when the moment comes. In their mind, it’s more important to understand your weaknesses than strengths, and realistic settings and targets help accomplish that.  Seng and Cal also illustrate the immersive nature of 3D courses and how seriously they take it. Seng says, “We flew in here to California like we we’re going on a hunt. We rent an RV and we pack food like we’re going on a hunt. We park the truck like we’re going on a hunt. We woke up like we were going hunting. Except we’re walking out on a 3D course.” The course is used hone their skills and also meet fellow bowhunters and competitive archers.

Now although 3D archery is an amazing practice tool for beginners and seasoned hunters alike, it’s also important to note that it has become a competitive sport in its own right. The 3D Archery World Championships draw a bigger crowds year after year. The Scholastic 3D Archery Association is taking gradual steps to foster an early interest in the sport and then give kids a path for the future. Lately, the S3DA has partnered with colleges in order to provide scholarships for competitive 3D archers. In fact, they provided over $300,000 in scholarships in 2015 alone.

3D archery is to be positioned at the very center of the modern archery world. It fascinates young archers and teaches them the basics, helps active bowhunters immerse themselves in practice during the offseason, and can even provide scholarships and a career path into professional sports.

Make sure to check out s3da.org for the latest info and events in the wide world of 3D archery.

The final round of the 2011 World Championship Illustrates how skilled the competitive level is.

List of Colleges that are partnered with S3DA:

Atlantic Cape Community College

Bethel University

Biola University

California State University Long Beach

California State University Northridge

California University of Pennsylvania

Central Connecticut State University

Columbia University

Dakota Wesleyan University

Dine College

Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia Southern University

James Madison University

Liberty University

Michigan State University

Midway College

Missouri State

Mount Marty College

Navajo Technical University

Northeast Community College

Northern Arizona University

Oglala Lakota College

Pennsylvania College of Technology

Pennsylvania State University

Purdue University

San Jose State University

Southern Illinois College

Southern Utah University

Stanford University

Texas A&M University

University of Arizona

University of California Berkeley

University of California Irvine

University of California Los Angeles

University of California Merced

University of California San Diego

University of Florida

University of New Hampshire

University of Southern California

University of Texas at Austin

University of the Cumberlands

University of Washington

University of Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin, La Crosse

Utah State University

Wayne State College

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After six years, visually-impaired archers will return to the World Archery Para Championships this August.

The para archery discipline is steadily gathering recognition within national archery federations and three national teams—including Great Britain, Australia and the United States—have already registered 12 athletes to compete at the event in Donaueschingen, Germany.

There are two competition categories in visually impaired archery: VI1 and VI2/3.

Athletes competing in VI1 must wear blindfolds or black-out glasses while competing. Both VI1 and VI2/3 athletes use tactile sights and are permitted an assistant sitting or standing one yard behind the shooting line.

The assistant is allowed to relay information about the position of arrows in the target, safety issues and helps with scoring.

World Archery hopes this event will be the first step of many to having the discipline formally recognized around the world.

For more information, visit World Archery’s website.

Photo Credit: World Archery

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The 10^th annual Archery World Cup is officially underway. Archers from across the world are now in Shanghai for the first stage of the international competition. From China, shooters will travel to Antalya, Turkey; Wroclaw, Poland; Medellin, Colombia; and end in Mexico City, Mexico, for the Archery World Cup Final.

“There is a real sense of excitement building ahead of this year’s Archery World Cup season,” World Archery President Ugur Erdener said. “Every year brings something unique, but this year is particularly special as it is the 10^th anniversary of the Archery World Cup, a project we began in 2006 as part of our first Archery World Plan. That strategy, which aimed to make archery an important Olympic sport, was a success.”

The Archery World Cup was launched in 2006 to give archers an international platform for competition, and participation has grown each year.

The international setting will take on added significance in Copenhagen; the World Archery Championships held there in July act as the main qualifying event for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. There are already 647 preliminary entries representing 94 nations.

For more information on World Archery or the Archery World Cup, visit worldarchery.org.

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