Disappearing beginners

[NoAngel]

So going back to the idea of structure coaching, I am still interested in peoples views on the FITA Award Scheme as feature in the last issue of Archery UK.

The scheme allows a novice to work towards achieving competence levels where you are awarded FITA Feathers and FITA Arrows. You have to complete a number of tasks where you are assessed on your skills and abilities.




http://www.archery.org/clients/fita/...9?OpenDocument

As I said before I personally feel that it not only gives the beginners something to work towards, but it’s also a very good way of getting the clubs to teach their beginners very basic skills which seems to have been forgotten in a lot of clubs these days.

[geoffretired]

Having a structure to the coaching (or progression) is a good thing. If there is an awards scheme up and running then it makes some sense to use it;it saves the individuals from all the trouble of organising things.
Whether the scheme is home made or brought in, still depends on the members being willing to give their time to it. One person can make a difference. If they keep plugging away there will often be others who will join in. Not all of the club will get involved, but that is not a problem. There will be something on offer for those who do want to chart their progress. There should be room for all sorts in a club. One thing I would say about having those who join in a scheme and those who don't; make sure the different interests don't become different "sides".Having some in the scheme and some not, should add variety to the club;it offers more choices. It can become a source of friction if not managed carefully.

[SVL]

[quote=NoAngel;63893]





http://www.archery.org/clients/fita/...9?OpenDocument

/QUOTE]

I have been having a good read through the FITA beginners awards and I really like it especially the fact you need to show skills other than just hitting the target. I have just assessed a six and eight year old for their red feather award (they passed) It helped focus them on little things such as standing on the line properly and checking the arrow was put on the string correctly. Now they are just waiting for their badges to arrive. Over the indoor season I am going to start assessing our more senior beginners for the arrow awards.

[NoAngel]

Originally Posted by SVL

I have been having a good read through the FITA beginners awards and I really like it especially the fact you need to show skills other than just hitting the target. I have just assessed a six and eight year old for their red feather award (they passed) It helped focus them on little things such as standing on the line properly and checking the arrow was put on the string correctly. Now they are just waiting for their badges to arrive. Over the indoor season I am going to start assessing our more senior beginners for the arrow awards.

SVL, not knowing to much about the awards, other than what I have briefly read in a couple of articles, can you tell me what the requirements are to become an assessor.

It refers to Archery level one coaches, would this include GNAS Level 1. Also it suggest you operate using the “FITA Level 1 Coaching Manual”, is this is the same as the GNAS coaching book as advertised on their website?

Looking at the arrow assessments, it states manual references, so would a club have a buy a FITA manual to be able to correctly assess these levels?

If a club only has one qualified coach who is not prepared to do the assessments, then how could a member go about attaining these awards, join another club?

[Trunkles]

"The management of the FITA Beginners Award Scheme in the UK will be entirely in the hand (sic) of GNAS Club Officials. The verification of the award should be made by the Club's Coaching Development Officer (CCDO). Where this is not feasible the advice of the local County Coaching Organiser (CCO) should be sought."

Can't cut and paste from this document from the CD - but thats how it supposed to work - it is entirely up to your club how you do it.

[Frommy]

There is some great stuff in this fascinating thread.

Our small outer Sydney club (30 odd members) has the same problems with retention of newbies as discussed here, however in Oz most clubs run an introduction course designed by AA which calls for 6 to 8 hours of coaching, using coaches approved by the RGB/AA and accredited by the Oz Coaching Accreditation program.

These used to be called level 2 coaches and had sport specific training. Level 1 coaches were people who had been through a General Principles of Coaching course run by the Government, and general for all sports, who could then run “av-a-go” days. The nomenclature has recently changed I understand, but I cannot be bothered to look up the new rules, as my RGB has not adopted them.

Our club arranged for two senior archers to obtain level 2 qualifications about four years ago, but one of those guys has hardly taken any courses since. BTW, keep in mind that we do not have indoor/outdoor seasons in Oz; we are outdoor all year round. So the upshot was that we were running nearly continuous 3 and 4 week courses year round with one coach for 2 to 5 people at a time.

Needless to say that this coach has now told us he will no longer run the courses, but will assist, as he wants to get on with his archery, and I do not blame him at all for that. But we are now left in limbo as to how the club will handle the potential newbies, and as the club contact, I have now about eight people wanting to come and learn.

Back to the subject of retention.

There are some good ideas expressed here, and the only thing that I can add is that I am a gear scrounger for newbies, and can often source good gear for them through AF. We have no scheme in Oz similar to the bow hire scheme operating in the UK. That scheme sounds like a great idea.

Oh, another thing. Every month we hold a formal club shoot based on a handicap system. Over here we have a series of rounds based on the FITA 900, called Canberra rounds. A Canberra is a FITA 900, Junior Canberra starts archers 10 metres forward, and short Canberra, another 10 metres forward again. So competitive rounds can be shot from starting distances of 40m to 60m. We also encourage raw newbies to compete, with club equipment if necessary, in rounds of either 90 arrows at 20m or 30m, which are rateable under the Oz rating system. These rounds generally tend to form the basis of our club shoots, but we do vary it, and throw in a FITA Indoor (shot outdoor) every now and again.

The keen newbies love this idea, and, as they are continually improving at this stage of their development, are kicking a*se in the comp as they have such a low rating to start with. On these days we also have a free club BBQ (one senior member is a semi-retired butcher, so free meat).

So where have the other newbies gone, with our retention rate so small? Buggered if I know.

Before our club relocated to our present home 3 years ago, shooting started at 1:00 pm, and time before and after was social interaction/coaching/bow maintenance etc. Shooting in the morning was not possible due to the unfavourable direction of flight. The club at that time also only had about 15 members. But we were all together.

Now, at our new home, some members turn up early, shoot and go home, or stay, or turn up later and shoot. There is nowhere near the level of social interaction as previously experienced, and this makes it harder to get newbies into the group dynamic. We used to be all on the line or off it, but now it is all over the place, as I imagine it must be with bigger clubs, outside of a formal shoot day. But something must be working as our club has more than doubled in membership in the past 3 years!

We have several experienced members who actively assist newbies with setting up gear, tuning, making strings etc., as well as providing guidance and other assistance, and this helps to retain the people who join after coming through the intro course.

Another thing we have in Oz are awards for achieving an all gold at any distance, or a perfect round of 6 arrows in the 10 ring. The newbies love these when starting. They are given out free by the clubs, and that encourages them to strive also for the 3rd, 2nd and 1st class archer classifications as well as encouraging them to move back to the next longest distance.

Sorry for such a long post. Just a few late night (for me) observations from the perspective of my club experiences. And I still do not know where the potential newbies go!

Brian

[NoAngel]

Originally Posted by Trunkles

"The management of the FITA Beginners Award Scheme in the UK will be entirely in the hand (sic) of GNAS Club Officials. The verification of the award should be made by the Club's Coaching Development Officer (CCDO). Where this is not feasible the advice of the local County Coaching Organiser (CCO) should be sought."

Can't cut and paste from this document from the CD - but thats how it supposed to work - it is entirely up to your club how you do it.

How about the use of Coaching Manuals, are the technical references the same for the GNAS ans FITA manuals?

[Trunkles]

The FITA beginners manual has been "customised" by GNAS for the UK and has all the things that need to be assessed including e.g.page 16 an assessment form . You just tick that they can do/know these things and then send off your £4 to GNAS for the badge. Odd that FITA sell them for $2 though. I thought it was only Dixons that converted dollars to pound in that way.

[pelican]

Our club is going to implement the scheme this indoors, see how it goes etc, but I find the cost of the badges a bit steep. Peter received two of them a couple of weeks ago (some were still to arrive from FITA) and to be honest they are a bit tinny and cheap looking for the price. Was a bit disappointed with them, the Roses and Stars are far superior quality for a cheaper cost.

We have some keen newish archers and have just this week finished a beginners course, so fresh guinea pigs. Did have to explain to Cal he couldn't be assessed at each level and claim the badges, that wasn't how it worked.

[NoAngel]

Originally Posted by pelican

Did have to explain to Cal he couldn't be assessed at each level and claim the badges, that wasn't how it worked.

Um, how does it work then? Can you only ever claim the one badge..?