Are Kids Really The Future Of Archery??

[Macbow]

Everyone says that children are the future of any sport and that you should develop that potential. OK I know kids are the future of the human race but are they the future of archery? Is it worth devoting so much time and energy coaching them about form just to see them quit in a few months when the next hobby takes their fancy? How many juniors actually make it to adult archers what with school, uni, teenage romance and other pressures and attractions? It seems to me that archery clubs should be targeting the older market - people who have some disposable income and free time now their own kids are a bit older and have the maturity and insight to realise what archery can actually give to you. Perhaps just teaching kids to play safely at archery and have fun is sufficient (unless of course they want to develop their archery).
It was was making my own kids garden cane bows and arrows that rekindled my interest in archery - even 10 years ago I was too busy being a husband/dad/provider/businessman to piddle about playing Robin Hood in the woods.
When my kids come along to club nights they have a blast shooting the 3D bear in the backside but they switch off quickly if I start coaching them or counting scores so I seldom do. I'm hoping when they get older they'll remember the fun they had and pick up a bow again. If they stick with archery into adulthood I'd be delighted but I won't be disappointed if archery takes a back seat as they set off on their own life adventures.
Older people often take up golf for a social sport or all sorts of esoteric new age spiritual stuff as they search for answers about themselves. Archery. Guys in their 40s buy motorbikes, dads are buying guitars and starting bands - midlife crisis or seeking a new challenge? Archery. For the elderly instead of bowling they could easily pick up a bow. I can't wait until I'm retired so I can spend more time on the course - one of the best archers I know is a pensioner.
It's all about time. Kids already have so many demands on their time and archery is something that demands time. Retired people have lots of time in the time they have left. And the best thing is there is an endless supply of old timers.
I say clubs and the archery industry should be marketing themselves better to adults. Its too good for kids.

[Mr Gane]

Some good points.
I first got the archery bug as kid. My dad would make me bows out of bendy sticks and garden twine. I always had an interest in it, but I knew it was a sport for later in life. When all the distractions you mentioned had passed. Now I find myself in my 'midlife crisis' and am able to take my archery seriously. I don't mean the 'winning is everything' seriousness that some seem to have. I think you need a bit of maturity to fully appreciate the challenge of our sport.
Perhaps its' like good wine - improves with age.
Maybe we need to plant the seed with the children when they are young, so they'll return to archery later.

[grantwomack]

I think juniors are definitely the future of archery. One of the main problems at the moment is that archery (in this country anyway) isn't seen as a "cool" sport do pursue.
The most important reason for targeting young people for archery (pardon the pun) is that they are still easily adaptable, with not yet fully developed muscles, and usually have parents who are willing to spend money on them for a sport. By trying with lots of juniors, they're sure to get a couple who really enjoy it, are great at it and are able to make it all the way, with prospects of a long career ahead of them.
If it were all about increasing GNAS numbers just for the sake of increasing GNAS numbers, sure, target older people with more time and money. But it certainly won't help raise the profile of the sport in the public eye, which is what GNAS is trying to do by recruiting juniors.

[Max]

Getting any kid into any long term activity as early as possible pays dividends IF you can keep their interest. They learn at an alarming rate and generally do exactly what they are told without getting too analytical about it. The problem is keeping their interest. I tried to take my 8 year old daughter to archery with me, but she quickly complained of being cold, or thirsty, or any of the usual moans kids come out with when their attention span is being challenged. Stangely, now she has taken up horse riding, she will happily plod round a stable yard in all weathers for hours on end. I can see that field archery might well offer a more varied and challenging environment for a kid than standing on a line popping away at the same target for two hours.

Adults of course (particularly males) are obsessive about their interests and will live, eat, sleep and breath archery (or golf, fishing etc. etc...). To reach the top in archery I would guess that there is a time limit for the point of entry (although there are always one or two exceptions). Fitness and stamina are important, as is disposable income - good kit is not cheap and travelling round to tournaments costs money.

I took up competitive dinghy racing in my mid 30's - I quickly realised I should have started when I was 18. I started Archery at 52 and wished I had done it at 40 - maybe I could have been a contender (to paraphrase Hollywood).

The problem with investing heavily with pre-teens, is getting them to keep up the effort through puberty/beer/opposite sex/exams/college/university/job. If their interest in archery (or any other pre-teen activity) survies that onslaught, they must be very keen. So probably the ideal age is about 25 - 30.

[Macbow]

Thanks for the input so far - basically our club is looking towards the future and where our resources are allocated so all opinions aprreciated. Our club coaches give heart and soul to the junior beginner program and often take it personally when they see kids with the potential to be good jack it in. Very demoralising. We also have a sizeable body of older archers who would probably quit themselves if our course was overrun with kids being kids (noisy & excitable as they should be).
I think archery as a sport isn't cool and never will be. But as adults we are past caring what is or isn't deemed cool. Lots of good things aren't cool in the eyes of young people.

[Raedwald]

It's a difficult one. I think every organisation has the same issues - from my dealings with the Scouting and Sea Cadet organisations at any rate.

There are several ways of looking at it, I suppose. Yes, there will be a lot of drop-outs, but there should be a few who stay the course and develop a life-long interest (that could take them who knows where?) - it might be a little late for a newbie to be in a position to win gold at the 2012 games, but you never know! But 2018?

Our club has just been asked to provide some basic training/support to a local cob pack that's holding its annual camp over the coming Bank Holiday. THere's no way that all those cubs will keep up with it after the camp (many wont keep an involvement with cubs/scouts beyond the change to secondary education). But if we can sow the seeds in some, then that's a bonus, whenever that seed might grow.

Not sure about whether field would be more attractive to children than target, but it's a thought. We have a few juniors, including my own 14 yr old son, who's interest has just increased because one of his friends (our chairman's son) has also joined. They're even going to be trained/coached together. Hopefully, the fact that there are two of them might help to keep the interest alive.

[JohnK]

At my club, we saw junior after junior leave the sport after a year or so, sometimes less.

Then two years ago I suggested we set aside specific times, indoor and outdoor, for juniors to all shoot together under supervision. This has resulted in a massive retention of junior members over the last two years. This Tuesday we had over 12 kids shooting at distances up to 60 yards. Some of them are pretty much only recreational archers, but there are at least two with ambitions to get onto the GB squad.

In other words, if you devote the time, resources and effort to build up a junior section, you will. If you don't, you won't.

And most of our kids think archery is very cool indeed.

[wingate_52]

Don't discount the older folk.Experience, transport and some money(maybe).

[simon m]

Trouble is if your inundated with juniors the child protection problems start.

You may not have enough adults at any given shoot to supervise safely all the juniors.

I believe our junior membership is limited to 25% to try and stop those problems occuring

[Ffish]

I hear the point you're making here, and as a father of a 9 yr old who's been doing archery for a whole 3 months now, I can sympathise with the problem. But surely if all sports took that approach, where would the next Beckham/Henman/Wilkinson/Button all come from? The future of ANY sport is at it's grass roots. I once witnessed two old ladies (60+) playing tennis in our local club, moaning about the "raucous antics" of the juniors, when all the juniors were doing was learning the game, and trying to get the ball over the net - it wasn't until I pointed out to them that Andy Murray was probably doing EXACTLY the same thing only a matter of a few years ago, that they shut up!
Kids at pre-teen age should see it as fun, and a way to get a good grounding in the sport, not to be competing at Olympic level at the age of 10. If they enjoy it, they'll stick with it - if they dont, they wont.