Archery in Todays Guardian

[grimsby archer]

Originally Posted by felixity

i thought bad grammar was the guardians trade mark!

I am surprised anyone on here could tell the difference. Spelling and grammer int a strong point round here is it.

[Hidden Hippo]

Its good to see the article in the national press though. With the recent successes at the World Cup events and the European Cup today I don't really think we get fair coverage - surely coming second in the Europeans means something, we can't even qualify for the football one.

As for Richmond - you're doing a great job of getting coverage and whilst it would be good to take under 12's, they can be difficult to coach. My father is the coach at my club back home and he finds (as do I when I lend a hand every now and then) that quite a few simply don't have the co-ordination to shoot well and end up getting disheartened very quickly. We may make an exception for families but generally find that under 10's cause a lot of trouble (whether it be that they need constant help, preventing anyone else from being coached or being a downright liability is another matter).

Any more articles coming up in the near future Clicki?

[FlightyRachel]

Originally Posted by JohnK

... especially as anyone reading the article who isn't familiar with archery might think that no clubs would take an under-12 junior.

Yes, this is what I meant, but expressed it badly! It doesn't make it clear that the under 12 thing is at the club's discretion. I didn't mean any disrespect to RRAC, and I totally understand that not all clubs can cater for every age group, but the Guardian runs this feature about various family based activities every week, and it just seemed silly that they didn't use a club that the kid could actually join!

On another note... I heard your Sabina on the Today programme this week, Leigh!

[clickerati]

Originally Posted by Hidden Hippo

Any more articles coming up in the near future Clicki?

i believe there was some coverage of today's Have-a-Go and there will be some highlighting the archery exhibition that rrac will put on in september to coincide with their river festival.

i should mention that whenever anyone contacts us about under 12s joining, we point them to the local clubs we know provide this. so we're giving them business, too!

[Ffish]

Nearly 3 years ago now, I do remember being quite disappointed when I first approached RRAC about joining that my (then 9 year old) son would not be allowed to join them. I am aware that faces there have changed since that time, but I also remember thinking to myself that by the time he gets to 12 he'll have 3 years experience under his belt. Indeed, he's just made Junior BM, so the policy that the club in question has is (IMHO) losing them potential good members. We were lucky, and joined (again IMHO) a great club which is only a stone's throw away - although we had to find it for ourselves, and weren't guided to GOA by anyone other than the GOA website.

I'm digressing though - I think it's a great article, and well written in an informal yet informative way. I hope it goes to promote our sport in a positive way and all local clubs benefit from it.

[clickerati]

Forgot to mention that our club was contacted by Which Car? last month to do a photo shoot on our grounds. The chairman shot the gold with his longbow, then kitted up the model in his gear. Something about said car being *as fast as an arrow*. The club will get a mention. More archery in the public eye can only be a good thing!

[grimsby archer]

Originally Posted by Ffish

I also remember thinking to myself that by the time he gets to 12 he'll have 3 years experience under his belt. Indeed, he's just made Junior BM, so the policy that the club in question has is (IMHO) losing them potential good members.

Sadly (for me as much as anyone else) it is also my experience that the majority of juniors under the age of at least 13 are just not disciplined enough (I'm trying desperately to find a polite way of wording this) and are very "high maintenance"!
What for your son turned out to be 3 years experience, for most would have been 3-6 months experience before moving on to something else. My club accepts juniors over 10 (and I wish sincerely that we didnt)
I regularly get phone calls from irate parents wanting to know if the 10 year limit includes their 8 year old, or their 6 year old. You gotta draw the line somewhere.
Our beginners courses are limited to 12 people at a time and when you have course after course full of 11 year olds and you have to start turning away adults because the course is full, it makes you weep. Knowing that the conversion rate for under 13s is about 5% (long term) compared to over 50% for adults. Children are NOT the future of our sport, our sport is merely a temporary stop before the next hobby comes along.
And before anyone thinks that my attitude to the younger beginners that stops them joining the club long term, I have very little contact with them

[FlightyRachel]

I was just wondering, GA, how many of your adult beginners similarly shoot for 6 months to a year, and then move on to other things?

Kids can be fickle, but so can adults!

[grimsby archer]

Originally Posted by FlightyRachel

I was just wondering, GA, how many of your adult beginners similarly shoot for 6 months to a year, and then move on to other things?

Kids can be fickle, but so can adults!

At a guess without checking the actual figures I would say of the adults who complete a beginners course and join the club 50% rejoin at the end of the year. Same is probably true of the "older" teenagers. Like I said, its much greater than the u13s.

[Murray]

We don't take ANY children under 12. And the beginner's course is first come first served... so if it's all kids, that's fine. Of all the children we've coached, none have stayed in the sport.

Unfortunately most of them seem to see archery as a way to play bows and arrows (or some misguided aspiration to be robin hood/legolas/etc) - of course those kids fall away very quickly once they see that it's not all fun and some discipline is required.

The other thing that stops kids staying, is that we insist the adults stay with them for the full session as we ARE NOT a babysitting service. Unfortunately, few parents have the commitment required.

Of the kids we DID find who had some talent and dedication (all two of them), one went off to play golf and the other couldn't get over a bout of target panic and so went to football.

Anyway - that's all a bit off topic... any publicity is good publicity, right?