How to encourage younger archers to join your club

[SVL]

As a follow on from the average age poll ......

I was once a young archer in a University club in Ireland and when the holidays started the archery stopped because everybody went home. After the first time this hapened I had a chat with our coach to get a list of all the club and some contact details, followed through and set up a system so that people in the club going home for the holidays knew where the nearest club was and who to contact about shooting during the summer. It worked, I got the club shooting outdoors for the first time ever and the local clubs got new archers joining from the universities instead of the archers giving up archery when they finished university.

Then I came to the UK, settled in Southampton. Came in summer hols so found a local GNAS club (AC Delco) and then joined the University club when everybody came back. So for a year or so I shot with both clubs .... then I got some of the AC Delco coaches to come to the university to coach and the university members to the local club competitions. Again a sucess because even though I left over ten years ago they still have the coaching link between the clubs.

So if you are a club near a university club ..,, encourage them to join you in during the holidays, let them know when you train and if they can come along , have a small competition between you, maybe offer a bit of coaching. I would be good for everybody involved.

Sandra

[Wrexham Exile]

a good example of this is our club and the foxes in leicester.

we cant supply our own ground so instead they have allowed us to shoot with them. their indoor venue is right near us and we always feel very welcome.
we pay them £2 each a week shooting fee when we go so they get extra income and we get a venue. we also help them out during their have a go and try to get to local competitions with them.

[joetapley]

What a good idea. large .
Has to be promoted by the Uni clubs though - we don't know where you live.

[Kae]

beat them with a stick................

[bundy]

Originally Posted by joetapley

Has to be promoted by the Uni clubs though - we don't know where you live.

Its all well and good saying that, but have you looked at the contact list on gnas recently? The website has lots of details missing.
When I go home this summer I want to go to the local club, but only got the details when I was speaking to one of the people at chiltern archery. He also happened to be the area sec so had a list of local clubs.
If people really want to encourage new members, perhaps they should make themselves more contactable, including details of where/when they shoot, and if they do want new/temporary members.
( and yes I am aware that not everyone has web access, or wants to, but if we really want to promote archery isn't this a cheap and already available resource that could be put to better use? )

[SVL]

Originally Posted by bundy

If people really want to encourage new members, perhaps they should make themselves more contactable, including details of where/when they shoot, and if they do want new/temporary members.
( and yes I am aware that not everyone has web access, or wants to, but if we really want to promote archery isn't this a cheap and already available resource that could be put to better use? )

I never see advertisments for archery clubs in my travels ..... Do any clubs actually put up posters in libraries, schools, supermarkets, tourist offices .... etc
You don't just need to use the internet.

Perhaps run a have a go for a local school as part of their sports day. Do this prior to a new beginners course and bring follow on info. I had two full courses last time I did that. Doing this also allows us to show our grant funders that we give something back to the community ... i.e £200 grant for equiment suitable for juniors and we do some free junior have a go sessions.... this brings in beginners and helps grow the club.

How about a beginners course just for juniors during the summer holidays ?

[joetapley]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/joetapley/alfind.htm


Is an alternative (which works better than GNAS with Google etc) but again it depends on individual clubs being bothered to put their name in lights.

[greydog]

Sounds like a great idea SVL

[Little Miss Purple]

I know of a club that doesn't advertise so that they don't attract the 'wrong' sort of person!! If someone makes the effort to find out the club details then they must be keen!

[Bald Eagle]

We get 3 Archery U.K's delivered, so we put one in the local library "read area" with a contact name and number. It works!