Disappearing beginners

[JohnK]

In my experience, to create a thriving club and retain beginners you need the following:

1. Regular and frequent beginners' courses run by people who actually know what they're doing, have a positive attitude and (dare I say it) a "youthful" mindset.

2. Support and encouragement for new archers when they start coming along on club nights. For example, if you have two shooting evenings outdoors, state that one is for shooting scoring rounds and the other is for practice at all distances. You don't need to enforce this totally, but it could help encourage the new members to come along without the pressure of starting shooting at the longer distances immediately. Conversely, it is also a good idea to encourage them to score if they want to.

3. For juniors, it's essential that you give them the above in spades. My old club ticked over for a number of years with a handful of juniors. Then indoors we started to run 1.5 hour sessions for juniors, and outdoors from 4:30 to 6:30 was reserved for juniors on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Within a year we had ten juniors shooting regularly, and we got to the dizzy heights of 16 or so. There was (and still is, I hope) camaraderie and friendship across all the age groups and they gained a reputation for not only shooting well at local tournaments, but also for being polite and good company on the shooting line.

In short, you get out what you put in. Some people have to sacrifice their time, but the overall benefit is huge... provided you have someone who knows what they're talking about when it comes to the coaching.

[ChipDouglas]

Originally Posted by Jacqamoe

I've noticed this problem of beginners not staying with the club or just taking the course and giving up too. I think when we joined we were lucky as there were three of us as we're a family, so we were never that alone... But it did take a time for many of the club members to talk to us and actually bother to get to know who we were. Had I been on my own I'd have been pretty put off by this approch, so I've done my best to make sure that as new members join I take the time to intruduce myself and my family to them. That instantly gives them 3 people they know at the club! Each week I take the time to talk to most of them, so they know they can ask questions and the like. While I may not have the answers, I've now been at the club long enough to know who will have the answers, so can not only point the new members in the right direction, but introduce them to some of the older members who are a little more stand offish than myself. I think this is working as I've had the pleasure of hearing a few of our newer women members that they've felt very welcomed and included.

A little change of attitude can go a long way and our membership is increasing all the time. Those newer members from last year that I took the time to make feel comfy are doing the same for this years influx of new members, it's really gratifying to see, and more to the point I can't wait for each time I shoot now as it's such a pleasant and happy atmosphere!

Jacqamoe, I think the main problem is that the club has quite a young committee, all of which are busy individuals with only limited time and can't all be at the club every sunday, so it's difficult to set up a system where new members are guided over the first few weeks. Especially as there are new members all the time and many committee members can be away at shoots. It's fair to say that most other clubs have older and often retired members looking after the club, who have the time. Where possible, i know that the club coaches who have taught the beginners on the beginners course, do try and make sure at least one of them is there when they join the club. But as the beginners often don't join the following week, it isn't always possible to do this.
I don't think senior members at your club are as stand offish as you say, for most, sunday mornings is the only time they get to shoot. Remember that for some, in order to shoot well they may wish to be a bit antisocial. But, i'm sure that if any were approached for help, they would be more than happy to assist.
I agree that it's good to make new members feel welcome and maybe more could be done, but saying that though, there are those at the club who do spend the time with the newer members and take the time out from their own shooting time to make sure they have the correct club equipment and try to make them feel welcome. I'm sure your effort is appreciated but you are suggesting that you're the only one, so i would be careful not to upset some of the other members.

[Jacqamoe]

I didn't say that no one else at our club bothered, far from it. But I did say that I noticed that there was a bit of an isolated feeling when we first started and I'm sure I'm not alone in having felt that. Once you get to know people this changes, but those first few weeks are critical for keeping new members! Before they go and buy their equipment and commit themselves financially and before they get to feel at home on the field...

I know I'm not the only person who makes this effort, but since a lot of the others who do so are our coaches and committee members at the club they are often short of time. By taking the time to say hello and introduce new members to a few of the longer standing ones you know yourself, you can take the pressure off those club members who already give so much time and effort to the running of the club and the coaching of it's members. The more all club members do to help new members feel welcome the better it is for all and as I've noticed hopefully the attitude is catching and the effect snowballs! Leaving the coaches free to coach and the other committee members free to do the running and organization that they do so well. Being part of a club does hopefully mean just that, playing your own little part in helping it and it's members improve over time...

[Damage]

My daughter and I were on a beginners course last October. Of the six of us who were on the course three of us have joined the club and shoot regularly. I'm still using a borrowed bow but my daughter and the other beginner now have their own kit.

You do notice a bit of a change when you move from the beginner's course to shooting with the regulars....nothing specific but a reticence to engage perhaps on the part of the more established archers? Maybe it's just us new archers who are a bit in awe of the more experienced guys.

[Florence]

There's a fine line to be drawn here....

Ideally, any club should have members who all want to do their bit (and this applies to all clubs not just archery clubs), however we don't live in Utopia, and that means that some members will do a vast amount, some members will do some things, and there will always be some members who will do nothing !

I understand totally that for an established acher to maintain his / her standards, they have to dedicate lots of time to their own shooting, and therefore don't want to get too involved in the running of the club, or with beginners, but ...

IF OTHER PEOPLE DIDN'T STEP IN WITH TIME AND EFFORT, THERE WOULDN'T BE CLUBS FOR THOSE SAME PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT TO GET "INVOLVED" TO SHOOT AT IN THE FIRST PLACE !!!!!

and....

THOSE SAME PEOPLE WHO DON'T WANT TO HELP OUT NOW, PRESUMABLY HAD SOMEONE HELP THEM OUT WHEN THEY FIRST STARTED !!! SO SOMEONE HAD TO GIVE UP THEIR TIME TO GET THEM TO THEIR CURRENT LOFTY POSITIONS !!!!!

Sorry, for shouting, but I feel a bit better now !!!

Confuscious says "many hands make light work !"

[Des]

Originally Posted by Damage

My daughter and I were on a beginners course last October. Of the six of us who were on the course three of us have joined the club and shoot regularly. I'm still using a borrowed bow but my daughter and the other beginner now have their own kit.

You do notice a bit of a change when you move from the beginner's course to shooting with the regulars....nothing specific but a reticence to engage perhaps on the part of the more established archers? Maybe it's just us new archers who are a bit in awe of the more experienced guys.

That was deffinately part of it when i remember joining our club. I remember feeling like i had joined a serious club, where it wasn't very sociable as such because people were there to shoot. I guess it depends on the club, i've been a member of a few now and they are all different. There are a lot of newer members now at SALT, so there is more oppotunity to get to know other relative newcomers to the sport.

[ChipDouglas]

An archery club should be a place where a member can go to shoot arrows at a target.

A good archery club should be a place where a member can go to shoot arrows at a target, and which provides a good platform for archers to get help with improving their shooting if they need it, no matter the ability or age of the archer.

[Jacqamoe]

I've got to agree with you there. Being able to improve and learn is such a huge part of what I and my family love about archery and we're lucky enough to have some fantastic coaches at our club!

Originally Posted by NoAngel

What do beginners expect from archery?

It seems increasingly common that beginners are taking up archery, shooting for 6 to 12 months, and then give up, why is this? At the end of our clubs last beginner’s course we have 16 people join the club, we are now lucky if we see more than 2 of those more than once a month.

I would like to know what a beginner expects from a club once they take up archery and what they would like to see. What methods of encouragement could be used to keep people in the sport, and what puts a beginner off from coming back to the sport after a break.

Obviously some people give it up because they decide it’s not the sport for them, others give up cause they find it’s to hard, and others cause they cannot commit the time they would like, well that’s fair enough. But I am interested in the people who are keen, and want to do well, but feel that they are not getting the support and encouragement that they would like.

Your thoughts?

I started shooting in January on a beginner’s course at a local sports club. Before I started I decided that if I was going to get the most out of the course I needed to make myself known to a local club early on. As luck would have it the club I chose was also the club for the coach on the course.

Three other beginners, now archers also joined the club. All of use have shot on the course and at the club. Our Club is so encouraging of new archers that once we had 6 hours of supervised training the club bows we used where transported by our coach so we could shoot with them on the course too. How are they encouraging? well it is hard to put your finger on it exactly but I think it is culturally ingrained in our club. Richard and Jackie the club coaches are exceedingly friendly. Alan, the club secretary (and our beginner’s course coach) is passionate about archery. All the members will just talk shop about their kit, archery as a sport, how you are doing, etc. One thing that is really very positive and clearly sends a positive message to all members is the communication from the 'committee. A weekly email newsletter is sent to all club members and all members are trusted and valued. From the start it feels like your club, you are part of it, rather that ‘their’ club. That's our club which works very well and I really enjoy it.

As for myself, well I hooked up with 2 other beginners and apart from the motivation from the club we kept each other going. All of us though did spend a lot of time thinking about the eventual expense that would be coming our way, the bow + arrows + bow stand + quiver + sight + string + stabiliser + stringer etc, etc, etc... Okay so some of those items don't cost much, but they add up. I'm sure most new archers get a copy of the Quicks catalogue early in their career and start looking at all the new toys! Then slowly the cost of these toys starts to sink in. So you can start with a trainer bow if you wish, but most don't want after a few months archery. Lets face it, to get a half decent setup which you will be happy with you will not see any change from £400 and in the end you may have done £600.00. At the start it looks cheap, £40 beginners course, £10 a month club subs, but then the real expense start to raise its head.

A friendly club atmosphere with all round encouragement and good communication is what keeps people coming. However, the start-up costs is the biggest factor that stops people coming.

[SVL]

Originally Posted by Silverbow

A friendly club atmosphere with all round encouragement and good communication is what keeps people coming. However, the start-up costs is the biggest factor that stops people coming.

Totally agree, it is can be expensive. Hence at our club we continue to allow our new members to borrow the equipment (especially juniors) until they get their own. This can be anything from 2 months to a year. During this time I encourage the juniors to ask for small archery related items for their birthdays or Christmas so as to build up the kit they need. Even if it is just getting their own quiver, tab amd armguard. The seniors just don't know when to stop buying... they all want longbows now I even heard the word compound mentioned