Coaching on the line - allowed or not?

[Ffish]

Had a fantastic day yesterday at Woking (thanks to all at WAC for a great shoot). Shot a new low h'cap (for me) of 51 for a Bristol 2, so I was well pleased.

There were some seriously good junior archers there too - young kids with Helix's and G3's etc - you could tell we were in Surrey!

However I noticed one junior who when he was shooting, was looking surrepticiously back over his shoulder after every shot. It wasnt till I turned round to see what he was looking at, did I notice that his parents were among the tents with a spotting scope, telling him where his arrows were going, and advising to go left/right, up/down etc. And after every single shot he'd look round and get their input on what he'd scored. There were little hand signals and all sorts going on.

This went on all day long between the kid and his parents, so it got me wondering whether it's legal or not to do this? It was the way in which they were kind of doing it slyly that gave the impression that it wasn't totally above board.

Is this allowed?

[clickerati]

I asked for some coaching help yesterday at our target day and, while I was given some, was told that coaching isn't allowed on the line (say if we were shooting a proper comp).

[Ffish]

This was most certainly in a proper comp, yes! There were trophies up for grabs, and (IMHO) this kid was getting an advantage over his competitors on every shot.

[whisky]

The short answer is no, this type of 'coaching' whilst on the shooting line isn't allowed. Sometimes it depends on the staus of the comp as to whether the judges bother to do anything about it. If it's just a friendly little shoot with the aim of encouraging new archers then they might do nothing but if it was a FITA star etc then you'd like to think it would be picked up on. That is, if the judges see what's going on!

From what you say about the equipment it sounds a bit like the 'competitive' dad scenario?

[whisky]

Originally Posted by Ffish

This was most certainly in a proper comp, yes! There were trophies up for grabs, and (IMHO) this kid was getting an advantage over his competitors on every shot.

If you see it again have a word with the dad if you think you can or report it to a judge - thats what they are there for

[tel]

This was going on at a record status shoot I was at recently, only with a senior gent and who I took to be his wife on the scope. I didn't say anything because I didn't want the hassle but this is clearly against the rules which state "Whilst an archer is on the shooting line, he shall receive no information by word or otherwise from anyone except the Judge."

[Furface]

No, this is definitely not allowed, and not only because it is cheating. The young archer is actually being prevented from gaining their own analysis of the relationship between the shot and the result, and is too dependent on parents. I have seen this several times around the country, and found that a quiet word with the parents only sometimes helps. This can be followed up by standing in front of the "spotter" at the operative moment, or speaking to the judge.
One archer I know well was like this. After every shot they would look round for father to comment. Only when father was almost forcibly stopped from doing this did the child develop beyond a performance plateau and start putting in MB scores.
On the other hand, if Littlest catches me noticing a bad shot she really loses her rag!

[Murray]

Perhaps a letter to the secretary of the club of which the person is a member would be appropriate, outlining the observation and the rules - it's possible that no-one has told them what is, and is not, acceptable.

I'm always gobsmacked by the number of people who are encouraged to go to a competition, but never encouraged to read the rules!!!

[Little Miss Purple]

This is an interesting view...you often see 'partners' spotting! I know you are not allowed coaching on the line, but this had not occurred to me to be coaching

[wingate_52]

Why not spot from the line, I know that it breaks up your concentrationa and maybe our stanc However, looking back at the coach/parent/partner also is disruptive. Standing in the sight line of the spotter is a great solution.Lol