What is archery to you?

[Ffish]

Like Deadeye Doc just said - I cant believe I missed this thread!
My missus has been nagging at me for years to take up a hobby, get out of the house at the weekend and stop rotting at home. (and now I have, she moans that I spend all my time & money on it!)
I got into archery purely through my sprog attending a beginners course, and now I'm completely hooked!
I find myself thinking up excuses to give 'er indoors to get out and spend an hour practising, especially in this lovely weather, and cant wait till the next time I can get back out there again.
It's a total addiction for me, and far more enjoyable than I ever thought it would be. It's also really pleasing to see that it's the type of sport that you can carry on doing well into your pension age, unlike most.

[GreenSteve]

For me it`s been a long wait to take up archery,
did it at school in 4th and 5th year as our P.E. lesson
then much to my regret didn`t carry on after leaving school
until finally 22 years later i`m afull fledged addict after 7 months shooting.

[gino]

Wow, a good question and tricky to answer in one go but i'll do my best.

I shoot longbow so it might mean different things to me that it does for others. For one thing I don't compete, for me it's something I do because I enjoy actually doing it. If I wanted to compete in something I'd play table-football down my local. But it's not just about me, I really enjoy the company I keep in my club and local(ish) clubs as well (that's you leeds) and I really enjoy showing archery to new people who come along to try it.

I find archery really peaceful and it helps me take my mind off things. When I step up to that line it's just me, the bow, arrow and something in the distance I'm supposed to hit. Avoiding as many clichés as possible, it's great just to be able to focus on something so much and relax doing it.

Where do I want to go from here? I'd like to be able to have a target at some unknown distance and hit it with my first arrow each distance. Will be many many many years before I can do that but that's where I'd like to get.

[Stever's Rottweiler]

people say that you need to set targets in hobbies and life, well i would like to be at 2012 olympics i would like to be shooting if not ill be ok watching, either way i would like the chance to represent gb or even my county one day it will be a good aim

[Syph]

It started out to be a hobby I could do with my son but it has bitten me quite hard. After just 6 weeks I upgraded my limbs and now both my sons and my daughter now shoot. The youngest 5 to eldest 13. I aim to be the best I can be and shoot at every opertunity.