All over the world, archers are competing on various levels. Here’s a quick guide to keep track of it all.

The International Bowhunting Organization (IBO) schedule can be found here, and their website also offers information about tournament results and membership.

To get up-to-date with the McKenzie ASA Pro/Am Tour, look no further than the Archery Shooters Association (ASA) website, where you’ll find tournament information along with scores and statistics.

Interested in USA Archery events? On the same webpage, search for tournaments on a local, state, regional, national and international level. Just use the sidebar on the left. Go here to search all nature of tournaments including indoor, outdoor and virtual tournaments. Just hover over the TOURNAMENTS tab to select additional search criteria.

World Archery, the international archery authority, is a one-stop site for every tournament going on worldwide. Click on the ATHLETES tab to see world rankings, where Chang Hye Jin of Korea is currently enjoying the top spot. If statistics are your thing, the World Archery STATISTICS page breaks down world rankings by bow-type and gender.

The post Keeping an Eye on Competitive Archery appeared first on Inside Archery Archery Newsfeed.

Mixed team competition features pairs of athletes, one woman and one man, from the same nation, competing head-to-head in set system matchplay similar to the team event.

No additional athlete places will be added, the cap remaining at 128 in total (64 men and 64 women), and no additional facilities will be required. Meanwhile, the additional event, which embodies the gender balance inherent in archery as a sport and at the Games, will offer an opportunity for nations that may not have qualified the full six-athlete quota to compete for an additional medal.

Since the mixed team competition was officially introduced to the World Archery Championships at Turin 2011, six different teams have taken the nine available medals.

At Rio 2016, pairs from 24 nations would have been eligible to compete in a mixed team event.

The mixed team format was also successfully tested at both past editions of the Youth Olympic Games, first in Singapore and then in Nanjing, and will feature in Buenos Aires in 2018. This version of the event also mixes athletes of different nationalities – and has been positively received by both athletes and the International Olympic Committee.

World Archery President Prof Dr Ugur Erdener said: “The mixed team event has proved an excellent addition to international competition since its inception in 2011 and I’d like to thank IOC President Thomas Bach and my colleagues on the Executive Board for recognizing the value it brings to the Olympic Games.”

“Mixed team competition echoes the balanced nature of the sport, reflecting the 50-50 split of men and women in the archery competition at the Olympics, and the parity in level between the world’s best men and women in competition.”

“We’re also incredibly excited that archery’s athletes will have the opportunity to contest a fifth gold medal in 2020.”

Archery was featured on the Olympic Program in 1900, 1904, 1908 and 1920 before becoming a permanent fixture in 1972.

Two medals, in men’s and women’s individual competitions, were contested until 1988, when the two team events were added. Changes since then have revolved around competition format, with head-to-head matchplay beginning in 1992 and the set system introduced for individual matches in 2012 and team in 2016.

Archery at Rio 2016 recorded a 50% increase in average audience compared to London 2012, a higher-than-average approval rating among young people and 44% more social conversation than the average sport on the program.

A total of 334.4 million people watched archery on television at the last Olympic Games.

Click here to learn more about Olympic archery.

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What historians and academics do agree on is that the Egyptians left behind the first known composite bow around 2,800 B.C.E. Warriors likely used it to shoot from chariots. Both the Greeks and Romans adopted archery, and it’s likely the latter’s widespread conquests are to thank for archery’s spread across Europe and the Far East during the early part of the first century. But Europe wasn’t the only continent who embraced archery.

On five continents, civilizations independently developed their own unique versions of bows and arrows for hunting and defense. Australia is the only continent whose indigenous people never invented some form of bow or archery equipment. Those people who invented and mastered archery equipment quickly learned the value of archery both in hunting and in conflict. Archery in combat waned after firearms were invented and became the weapon of choice. Still, archery remained a part of eastern Asian warfare well into the 19^th century.

Archery debuted as an Olympic sport in 1900 but only appeared in the games three more times – 1904, 1908, and 1920 – before it reemerged in 1972. Since then archery’s popularity has only grown.

Today firearms remain the weapons of choice in warfare, yet bowhunting and recreational archery have stood the test of time. Equipment has evolved into a high-tech array of colorful materials and record-breaking performance that even 40 years ago would have dazzled the savviest of archers.

Modern movies like Avatar, the Hunger Games trilogy and Brave have driven archery’s popularity further into the mainstream. It’s a sport enjoyed by all ages and abilities at any skill level. Archers can choose between shooting classic recurves, compounds, or crossbows on various platforms including everything from target archery on your local range to outdoor 3D and indoor virtual digital ranges.

Field archery, the most popular competitive archery in the world, involves target shooting for accuracy at various distances. In Europe and the United States, it’s popular to shoot outdoors in fields, in the woods or on rough terrain. Since 1970 the International Field Archery Association has grown to represent 50,000 field archers in 40 countries including New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom. http://www.ifaa-archery.org/

Crossbow popularity has risen in recent years in both hunting and competition. The International Crossbow Shooting Union, founded in 1956, calls Switzerland home. As the governing body for Match and Field crossbow shooting, they hold continental and international championships in 15 countries across four continents. Although crossbow-shooting is non-Olympic sport, the International Crossbow Union’s goal is to fulfill the criteria necessary make it an event at the World Games. http://www.iau-crossbow.org/en/

One organization stands above the rest in keeping archery vibrant. In Poland, 1931, World Archery was founded with a mission to promote the sport worldwide. From the beginning and still, they are committed to modernizing archery, unifying the rules, promoting gender equity and developing international events.  “World Archery’s vision is for a world in which everyone has the opportunity to make the important Olympic sport of archery their activity of choice. Its mission is to empower its member associations to make archery a leading sport in nations around the world.” (worldarchery.org)

Today World Archery continues to promote, regulate and develop archery as a sport through its 160 member organizations worldwide. https://worldarchery.org/

There’s only one organization in the archery world today that’s older than World Archery. In 1896, when the Olympic Games were reinstated after a 1,500-year hiatus, the International Olympic Committee was born. Like the World Archery, the IOC’s mission is to promote, develop, and advance various sports in addition to supporting ethics, advancement of women and anti-doping. https://www.olympic.org/the-ioc

Now, 5,000 years after the Egyptians were shooting their bows from chariots, the archery world is thriving. More and more people are enjoying the sport throughout all its various platforms. Popular culture continues to boost interest, equipment performance continues to up the game, and Olympic archery has captured international headlines, thanks in part to those international archery organizations as well as an enduring passion for the sport.

By Jennifer Kraai Gottfried

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In November of 2015, National NASP® leadership and a group of NASP® educators and students met to discuss ways to further enhance the 15 year old program. One recommendation was to establish a uniform incentive and recognition format to recognize and promote academic achievement for participating NASP® students.

The concept of a NASP® Academic Archer was born. In its first year of implementation, AA finished with 8,517 students enrolled. Educators from 38 US states and two Canadian Provinces implemented the NASP® Academic Archer Program with their students. Easton Technical Products, a long time supporter and manufacturer of the only approved NASP® arrow, began discussions with NASP® leadership about the success of the program. Easton quickly recognized the value of the AA recognition program and gladly jumped on board as its financial sponsor.

Now in its second year, the academic recognition program has currently reached over 10,000 students in 39 jurisdictions for their success in the classroom and enrollments continue through April 30th.

Roy Grimes, president of NASP® said, “We are so pleased that schools and educators continue to see NASP® as a tool to motivate their kids through AA. We are certainly excited, along with our partner, Easton Technical Products to be able to recognize our students with this type of recognition.

Dr. Tommy Floyd, NASP® Vice President and General Manager was elated that the numbers for AA have continued to climb. “Educators tell us that AA is a tool for them to motivate their student archers to succeed in the classroom. We are especially excited about those students that have to work just a little harder to qualify as an Academic Archer – In doing so, NASP® is indeed achieving one of its long-standing goals of helping to motivate students for success in the classroom. ”

“Our next step with Academic Archer will be to help provide messaging to all NASP® participants on the importance of being prepared for College and Career. While our students continue to remind us that they want to know about archery opportunities beyond NASP®, we want them all to be thinking about the appropriate steps that each of them need to take to be ready for life after high school, life after NASP®.”

For more information on beginning the Academic Archer in your school: Please visit the toolkit at: http://naspschools.org/instructors/

For specifics about AA criteria, visit

http://naspschools.org/instructors/attachments/1472614732.pdf

Or

Contact Dr. Tommy Floyd at: tommy.floyd@naspschools.org

It is our hope that every NASP® jurisdiction will enroll students in AA. We’d like to see the AA numbers top 50,000 students someday.
It is our intention to increasingly send the strongest of messages about how teaching archery as part of the in-school curriculum can be important to the mission of educators. We believe that the more we emphasize in-school archery as an extension of the classroom, the more that educators can use programs like AA, and the greater likelihood that NASP® will be around to motivate countless generations of young students!”

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Kevin Polish (Carmichaels, Pennsylvania) – the lifelong archer who only just discovered Paralympic archery and took up competition in USA Archery just in time for Trials to make the team – shocked the world, finishing second in the compound open men’s rankings with a 685. Just behind Kevin with 684 is Matt Stutzman, reigning Paralympic silver medalist, who ranked 4th after a challenging second half. Andre Shelby (Jacksonville, Florida) also faced a challenging second half and qualified 12th.

Samantha Tucker (Nampa, Idaho) qualified 17th and together with Polish ranked 9th for the mixed team competition. Tucker attributed windy conditions as a troubling factor on social media. Reigning W1 Paralympic Champion Jeff Fabry (Leemore, California) agreed: “The wind was just enough to make you cross-eyed!”

Fabry and Lia Coryell (LaCrosse, Wisconsin) scored high enough to qualify 3rd for the mixed team competition and 11th and 7th respectively in the individual brackets. Coryell’s score was a personal best at the best time to be in peak form.

World Champion Eric Bennett (Surprise, Arizona) qualified 7th for the recurve open men, one spot higher than his qualification placement from the World Championships last year. He shared: “I didn’t shoot my best today but overall I am pleased to be in the top 8. Conditions were great and there were some good scores shot. I’m looking forward to eliminations on Tuesday and the chance to try and shoot for a medal.”

Michael Lukow (Salt Lake City, Utah), who qualified 23rd behind Bennett, commented: “Not my best day’s work but it was a good day to shoot. I have high hopes for elimination and will shoot well. Ranking was good and the gentlemen I shared a target with were wonderful to shoot with. The organizers ran it all very well.”

For complete results from the competition and live scores throughout the rest of the week, visit World Archery’s website.

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 USA Archery’s website.

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

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It’s all too easy to feel alone in the world when you’re a small business owner. The entire concept of owning a business goes hand in hand individualism, but the archery industry has some unique options that aren’t available to the vast majority of other small businesses. There are a lot of organizations that are solely dedicated to increasing archery participation and laying foundations for future growth. Here are some of the allies that are already out there, and the ways they can help an archery pro-shop thrive.

Buying Groups

When considering organizations that help archery dealers, buying groups cannot be overlooked. They offer a lot of perks that many dealers find indispensable:

• Better prices: Buying groups reduce retailers’ overhead costs by combining the purchasing power of shops nationwide. Retailers get the same products they would buy on their own, but at much lower prices. Some buying groups also use their muscle to pay quarterly, annual or performance-based dividends to members.

• Improved payment options: Rather than paying multiple manufacturers for various products, buying groups combine a retailer’s bill for products into one payment. Manufacturers like this because they process only one invoice rather than hundreds of smaller invoices. Advances in Internet communications and other digital technology further streamline billing and receivables, eliminating paper and enhancing convenience for all parties involved.

• Marketing opportunities: Manufacturers get more bang for their buck by incentivizing entire buying groups to stock and sell certain products. Normally, they seldom contact individual businesses with special product/deal/marketing campaigns, but it’s convenient to ask buying groups to share something with their members. This gives retailers the chance to offer unique products or point-of-purchase items they normally wouldn’t stock. Some manufacturers go even further by providing buying-group members advertising programs from their professional marketing teams. Buying groups extend that expertise to their members, benefiting both parties by increasing exposure and sales.

• Access to the latest technology: Small businesses seldom have the time, money or knowhow to stay current with cutting-edge technology. Buying groups provide members with access to diverse digital advancements. Therefore, retailers can easily and conveniently oversee product shipments, inventory quantities and claims processing electronically. This means less hassle and fewer errors.

• Business advice: Small-business owners usually aren’t surrounded by friends and family who own small businesses themselves, let alone one in the same industry. This means when times are tough and difficult decisions must be made they struggle to find solid, informed answers. Another buying-group perk is simply picking up the phone and discussing important choices with an industry expert who’s invested in the small business’s success. Buying groups must also know which items are hot – or will be hot – each year. Such information is vital to negotiating the group’s best contracts with manufacturers. Therefore, as shop owners plan their inventory needs, they have easy access to well-informed industry experts.

• Networking: A buying group’s greatest strength is its combined buying power, but people easily overlook its combined brain power. Buying groups build bonds between independent retailers, making life in a niche market more inclusive and less isolated. Buying groups often host special events for members, including their own buying shows. Besides being a great place to share hunting stories and make new friends, these gatherings are excellent forums for exchanging ideas and sharing ways to fix common issues. This can also help those who are considering selling their business. What better place to find potential buyers than a gathering of like-minded small-business owners? In fact, the buying group might help a member find a suitable buyer. After all, the group wants every member to succeed.

• Extra time: All these perks offer another hidden bonus to retailers: spare time. Because the buying group is handling things like marketing, negotiating contracts, monitoring technology, and scouting the season’s hottest products, the small-business owner has more time to interact with customers and employees. In fact, a buying group’s most valuable asset could be reducing stress for its members and allowing them to focus more on customer service.

NABA

NABA, a nonprofit organization, formed in 1995 with help from former PSE sales representatives Jerry Morrison and Scott Eastman in the aftermath of the Central Oregon Buying Group’s demise. That group’s treasury had a $225 balance at the time, which fueled NABA’s launch. The original board of directors included Norm and Tom Geertsen from Broken Arrow Archery of Milwaukie, Oregon; John Schauble, All seasons Archery in Boise, Idaho; John Nelson, Little Johns Archery in Roseville, California; and Wayne Piersol, Archery Only in Newark, California.

In 2003 they attended the ATA Trade Show, establishing a relationship that has attracted more dealers for NABA and expanded its membership base in Eastern states. NABA has grown about 10 percent each year, and currently has about 375 retailers on its rolls. NABA also hosts its own annual buying show in Reno, Nevada, where members network and address their inventory needs.

Learn more about NABA here.

ARRO

ARRO has roots extending to 1968, but was incorporated by Gordon Bentley of Oregon, Wisconsin, in 1981. It was once known as the Archery Lane Operators Association. ARRO is independently owned and operated, with Bentley’s daughter Lynn Stiklestad serving as its executive secretary and administrative director. It emphasizes bowhunting and competitive shooting in its membership, and supports ranges, leagues and 3-D shooting. With its community of experts, ARRO provides members with great product discounts, and valuable resources and networking. ARRO prides itself on being a member/stockholder cooperative buying group, meaning its members are stockholders who receive annual dividends.

Learn more about ARRO here.

S3DA and NASP

While buying groups interact directly with the business side of a pro-shop, there are a lot of organizations that provide assistance through different avenues. Younger generations must get involved with archery for the industry to have a solid future, and these are some of the organizations ensuring that happens.

S3DA

The Scholastic Archery Association, DBA Scholastic 3-D Archery, was created to foster, educate and guide youth interested in 3-D and target archery.

They consider themselves responsible for:

• Sanctioning and conducting national, local/state, and regional 3-D and target archery competitions and championships.
• Selecting, supporting, and managing teams and staff for 3-D and target archery competitions.
• Creating and maintaining the resources and infrastructure with local sportsman’s clubs that are necessary to support the growth of youth and high school 3D and target archery in the United States of America.
• Promoting the growth and development of instructional and competitive archery programs in the educational institutions in the United States of America.
• Establishing and enforcing rules, regulations, and procedures concerning eligibility to compete in order to ensure fair competition.

Recently they’ve really been picking up steam. Big-name sponsors like Bear Archery, Papes, Trophy Ridge and Extreme Archery Products have allowed them to appoint coordinators for each state. These state coordinators oversee all aspects of the S3DA program in their respective state, including organizing tournaments, dividing the state into regions that will allow S3DA participants multiple monthly competition venues as close as possible to their home location, and recruiting and hiring regional coordinators to oversee and manage these individual regions.

Learn more about S3DA here.

NASP

While S3DA has been providing young adults and competitive archers with quality tournaments, NASP has been instilling a passion for archery early on.

They focus on three main things:

• Archery Curriculum: Units of study that focus on education, conservation, and target archery written by experts to meet state and national educational standards. This enables NASP to speak the language of educators who are intent on teaching core content throughout the school day. These units were designed for inclusion in a school’s physical education curriculum but in a few NASP schools these archery lessons are presented by history, language, art, and even Spanish teachers.

• Teacher Training: Instructor Training was developed so teachers in every participating school could be certified to present NASP lessons that are safe for students, instructors, bystanders and the facility. To date more than 50,000 people have been certified by NASP. During the training, teachers learn how to set up and operate a safe archery range in their gymnasium.

• Universal Fit Archery Equipment: NASP uses highly standardized gear that’s safe, durable, economical, and most importantly, a universal fit for almost every student. In NASP, learning the process of shooting is stressed far more than arrow scores. The only bow used in NASP is a Genesis compound, which has no let-off and is adjustable from 10-20 pounds in draw weight at any draw length. Only full-length aluminum arrows are used in NASP to fit every student and to preserve NASP’s perfect safety record.

These companies sow the seeds for the future of archery. Keep an eye on them to watch their continuing development. A local tournament or event could be a great way to get interested younger archers in your pro-shop.

Learn more about NASP here.

ATA

The ATA is probably the first thing that comes to mind when one considers organizations growing archery. The Archery Trade Association works year-round for the industry, and its role is only growing. Programs like their Retail Growth Initiative and Explore Bowhunting form a two-pronged strategy for making dealers more successful.

The Retail Growth Initiative helps dealers on the storefront side of things, showing them ways to make their business more appealing and profitable. This program focuses on increasing foot traffic to stores, increasing traffic to websites, increased shooting range profits, and increasing equipment sales. This program is 100 percent free to ATA members and truly worth checking out.

Explore Bowhunting works on the other side, increasing interest in bowhunting to ultimately drive more customers to archery shops. Explore Bowhunting is an educational program designed to help instructors, program leaders and educators teach students ages 11-17 the basic skills of bowhunting. The Archery Trade Association has created this program to spark an interest and passion for bowhunting in today’s youth. Through these hands-on experiences students gain confidence interacting with the natural environment and strengthen their appreciation for wildlife and the woods. Explore Bowhunting is offered nationwide through state wildlife agencies. Educators can receive the complete Explore Bowhunting curriculum packet by attending a development workshop.  Contact your state wildlife agency to locate and register for an Explore Bowhunting workshop near you.

Meanwhile, the ATA also acts as a strong-arm for the archery industry for legislative and legal issues.

Check out all the ATA’s amazing resources here.

USA Archery and World Archery

Although USA Archery and World Archery are currently up to their neck with Olympic archery coverage and promotion, they work year round to place archery in front of the eyes of the public. They work hard to promote archery, support athletes, and provide valuable resources for the industry as a whole.

An excellent recent example just occurred.

USA Archery partnered with First Lady Michelle Obama and her “Let’s Move!” initiative. The program’s goal is to get more kids healthy and active by capitalizing on the Olympic and Paralympic spirit this summer. USA Archery and many national governing bodies affiliated with the U.S. Olympic Committee made this commitment to the Partnership for a Healthier America to provide beginner athletic programming to kids in their communities during the year ahead. As part of the commitment, USA Archery will facilitate grants for archery kits, programming and instructor certification to help grow archery. Its goal is to introduce 50,000 children to the sport through the Explore Archery and Junior Olympic Archery Development program during the next 12 months.

This is another excellent organization that’s solely devoted to celebrating archery and the people who love it.

Check out USA Archery’s website and World Archery’s website to learn more about the resources they provide.

JOAD

US Archery also sponsors JOAD (Junior Olympic Archery Development), a nationwide program that provides youth age 8 to 20 with ongoing archery classes to help them progress from beginner to advanced level archery, at their own pace. This is another great organization getting kids involved. Learn more at USA Archery’s website.

Easton Foundations

Created by Jim Easton, CEO of Jas. D. Easton, Inc., the Foundations support the building and/or operation of outdoor and indoor archery facilities at city parks, schools, universities and sports complexes throughout the U.S.  In addition to these facilities, the Foundations provide programs to train aspiring archers, trainers, coaches and administrators.

The first Easton Sports Development Foundation was created in 1984 with the mission to introduce this lifetime activity and historic Olympic-style sport of archery to more people in Southern California. The success of that effort led to the formation in 2006 of a second Easton foundation, Easton Sports Development Foundation II.

The Easton Foundations sponsor a variety of programs to increase the awareness of archery. Among the programs initiated by ESDF are Olympic Archery in Schools (OAS), which helps schools to form archery teams to compete in a unique league.  The Foundation also sponsored the 2009 Archery Youth World Cup and the 2010-2012 Archery World Cups in Ogden, UT and runs various youth archery programs from its Archery Centers in Newberry, FL; Salt Lake City, Utah and Van Nuys, CA.

Easton Sports Development Foundation II (ESDFII) also awards several grants every year to clubs, programs, schools, colleges and universities, and organizations that propose archery-related plans or projects. Check out the Easton Sports Development Foundation website to learn more.

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DECATUR, Alabama – The U.S. Open Finals concluded July 16 under the lights and the Easton JOAD Nationals elimination rounds featured an intense day of shooting and exciting head to head matches.

Janice Grellner took the master recurve women’s gold: “It was a very good competition for me, they didn’t just give it to us, we had to work for what we got. I learn something at every tournament I shoot, this tournament I learned a lot of mental control when I was shooting which has been a real struggle for me for a couple of years. I really owe a lot to my coach Larry Skinner and thank him for everything he has done to support me and teach me to make strong shots and stick with it. I’m very personally satisfied with how I shot this week.”

For the recurve women’s final, five-time Olympian Khatuna Lorig took on Korea’s Lee Seung Eun. The match was close and came down to the last arrow where Lorig needed gold to force a shoot-off but Lee took the win in the fifth set and the gold. Mackenzie Brown took the bronze in a 7-3 match with Anna Miscione.

Collin Klimitchek clinched the gold in a match with 2012 Olympian Jacob Wukie. He commented: “I knew exactly what I had done, it just went through the clicker a little fast and I didn’t have time to settle so I knew what I needed to do for the next shot, I just had to refocus. With set system, you can get away with fudging an arrow, so it’s all about focusing on that next shot and making sure it’s a strong one.” Hamilton Ngyuen took the bronze over Jake Kaminski.

For the compound senior women, Toja Ellison took the gold over Lexi Keller in a thrilling match that was tied after four ends. With lots of noise in the stands from a large crowd of fans, Toja commented on how she stays calm between ends: “I am just trying to make good, strong shots in my head and focus on how they’re going to hit the middle. I also concentrate on what Brady (Ellison, Toja’s husband and coach) is saying. I’m always trying to think about what I’m going to do the next end and how I can improve on the last end and I always can’t wait to get back on the line!” Erika Jones finished with the bronze in her return year to USA Archery.

Tate Morgan took the gold men’s compound win over Paul Tedford: “I just had to give it a couple clicks for the lighting. I was just trying to keep square in my peep, I was starting to dip down a little low so I just gave it a couple clicks and adjusted for it. To stay sharp all day after a long day like this, I just keep my head in the right position and not think about too many things at once, drink a lot of water and stay focused.” Reo Wilde and Alex Wifler went head to head for the bronze and Wilde took the medal finish.

Several youth archers’ matches concluded at nearly 11pm, including the junior barebow men. Ryland Hartman took the gold and shared: “Competition was really good today. It was a little bit of a struggle at the beginning and then at the end as I worked through all the practice ends it came together. The real challenge is waiting through the rain delays and then for the finals matches. It helps to stay in a competition mindset all the way through and to make sure you use your warm up ends the best you can.”

Easton JOAD Nationals competition resumes tomorrow with team rounds and the Grand National Champion awards. Complete results from today are available here. For more, follow USA Archery on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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 USA Archery’s website.

Media Contact
Sarah Bernstein/Public Relations
201.919.8050

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Keeping their placements from yesterday through today’s elimination matches, Brady Ellison led the senior recurve men’s field and will compete in Ireland with Vic Wunderle and Jake Kaminski. LaNola Pritchard won the trials for the recurve senior women and will be joined with top finishers Heather Koehl and Allison Eaton.

For the compound senior men, Jesse Broadwater finished first and punched his ticket to the Championships with Steve Anderson and Dave Cousins. Crystal Gauvin led the women’s bracket today finishing first ahead of Heather Gore and Jamie Van Natta.

John Demmer III continued to lead the barebow senior men and will rep USA with Ben Rogers and Mark Applegate. Julie Robinson, Jenifer Stoner, and Kim Hartman will comprise the women’s barebow team.

Karissa Yamaguchi, Anna Miscione and Miriam Trafford were the top three finishers in both the National Championships yesterday and the trials today. Skip Trafford, Miriam’s father, commented: “In the past 22 years, a Trafford has been on almost every field team, and every single team since 2008. In ’08, all 6 Traffords made the U.S. National Team that competed in Wales; a World Archery record for family members, which prompted a ‘FITA Special Report’ on its website. Miriam Trafford has made every team since Wales 2008 and is currently the defending world junior ladies recurve field champion.”

Miriam’s brother Hardy Trafford finished second in competition yesterday and today earning a spot on the junior recurve men’s team with trials winner Collin Klimithcek and Alex Gilliam.

Eli Hughes, Steven Collins and Braeden Howes will go to Dublin with Savannah Vanderwier, Cassidy Cox and Sophia Strachan for the compound junior teams.

Mark Schlaudraff won the trials event this morning just ahead of Ryland Hartman and Wilson Watson. The trio will compete together with Laura Hughes and Abigail Weir.

The post U.S. World Archery Field Championships Team Selected for Dublin appeared first on Inside Archery Archery Newsfeed.

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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“It was exciting, it makes you nervous, and it makes you shake,” commented Matt Nofel (Colorado Springs, Colorado) on his cadet recurve men’s gold win over Brian Bullis Jr. (Glendale, Arizona). I had a good match with Brian and it was definitely cool to win gold on this stage.”

Cadet compound gold winner Alexis Ruiz (Phoenix, Arizona) agreed this was her largest competition stage yet: “I was so nervous, I could feel my whole body shaking and I had to take a few deep breaths before my first shot and just focus on my process. Being in front of so many people instead of just archery people, it was awesome to win like that.” Ruiz said she will celebrate her win at the fair. Ruiz took an early lead in her match with Athena Caiopoulos (Irvine, California) and held onto it for a solid gold win.

“It was interesting, the wind is really different here than the practice field, so I could kind of see the flags over there were going right to left, and left to right and it was important to get off to a good start for me,” commented Reo Wilde (Pocatello, Idaho) on his gold win over Braden Gellenthien (Hudson, Massachusetts) after also taking a solid early lead. “It’s cool people getting to see archery and getting exposure, it’s a little different than some of the other events and a really neat venue.”

An international match in the compound women’s gold final saw Slovenia’s Toja Ellison take the win over Mexico’s Stephanie Salinas in a close race. The recurve women’s gold was contested by Mackenzie Brown (Flint, Texas) and Khatuna Lorig (West Hollywood, California).

Collin Klimitchek (Victoria, Texas) won the recurve men’s gold over Jacob Wukie (Fremont, Ohio: “It was a good match, it was really satisfying to finally win something,” commented Klimitchek. “The biggest thing going through my mind was that pretty much every match of the day was won on target 2 and I was on target 1 so I was just trying to figure out what the wind was doing. When I realized it wasn’t doing anything and I could just aim on, it was just easy from there, all about putting it in the middle and good expansion.”

The event concluded with a team round exhibition match between the 2016 U.S. Olympic Archery Team and challengers from the Men’s Excellence Program. The Olympic Team took the win 6-2 in front of a roaring crowd.

For complete results from the SoCal Showdown, click 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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