Disappearing beginners

[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?

[GeoffT]

It has always been so...I've been shooting since the 1960s and it has always been the same.

[NoAngel]

Originally Posted by GeoffT

It has always been so...I've been shooting since the 1960s and it has always been the same.

So do we just accept it, or try to do something about it. I am a very passionate committee member at my own club and I would love to see our beginners wanting to come back week after week. Rather than just watching their keenness and motivation fade away until their eyes cloud over.

If we just say, look most of you aren't going to be here in a year but that’s ok, I personally think it’s very defeatist attitude, as I here the same thing from our own “older” club members. I am sure some clubs to better than others, so what ideas have they put into practice to encourage their beginners?

[Ffish]

Our club suffers from the same beginners apathy too. Out of a beginners course of about 10 in March, there are only two regular attendees every week (me and my sprogg). And some of the dropouts have even paid their membership fees for this year, and still not bothered coming back. Nobody from the club has followed it up as to why this might be, but it should be analysed IMHO.

It's a very personal thing, but having been shooting for about 6 mths now, my motivation is to compete with peers of the same class/h'cap as me, and hopefully beat them, but learn at the same time the reasons for me failing to do so! The Class system is good, especially for kids as it seems much easier for juniors to achieve their badges, and (in my kid's case) he's desperate to get his 1st class this season. For adults it's a lot more difficult to achieve, but not unrealistically so, so for me it's the betterment of my h'cap that drives me on, rather than a tin badge.

I would like to see things like "Intermediate" courses run though, to learn more about equipment, how to improve your scores, and general coaching on a more formal level. My club is great if you ask someone, and there's always someone there who'll help in whatever way they can, but it's not done on a formal basis. (*note to self* - maybe they're scared of the competition!)

It does seem a shame though that we lose archers like this, as after all, todays beginners are tomorrows champions. Well, maybe!

[SVL]

Originally Posted by NoAngel

So do we just accept it, or try to do something about it. I am a very passionate committee member at my own club and I would love to see our beginners wanting to come back week after week. Rather than just watching their keenness and motivation fade away until their eyes cloud over.

If we just say, look most of you aren't going to be here in a year but that’s ok, I personally think it’s very defeatist attitude, as I here the same thing from our own “older” club members. I am sure some clubs to better than others, so what ideas have they put into practice to encourage their beginners?

I find if beginner archers are given something to try and achieve during their first year then it really helps. During the past year we have had our beginners scoring rounds and getting their classification and handicaps ..... our annual club shoot is a handicap shoot. So our beginners know they can shoot against the senior/experienced archers on a level playing field. It really helps.
I only have two new beginners who joined during the year who I have not seen in the past few months ...... but I know that is down to injury.

I hope to get 100% renewal this year

Sandra

[Zanda]

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?

At the club I shoot at, the new beginners all state the same thing, theres no one to coach us, so we dont know if we are doing it right, its a general feeling of being left alone, and some folks are too shy to actually ask "what do I need to do", also as a new comer myself of 12 months, I felt very much an outsider, there were established groups, recurves, compounds, and I found it very hard to become part of the club, I think I am just about part of the furniture, but I am fairly outgoing, the quiet shy ones soon seem to disapear, dispite some folks doing there best to make tham feel welcome

[PorlyP]

As a beginner myself, I found that I was scrutinised in a way, almost to see if I was serious, or there for the social side and solely for enjoyment.

Now, I'm an archer for both reasons, as I enjoy the company of my fellow club members, and love the sport, so much so I'm borderline obsessive (I frequently forget which side of that line I'm on too!)

One thing I'd like to see more of as a beginner is less of a gulf between finishing the beginners course, and shooting with the rest of the club. Luckily, I was driven enough to decide I was going to go every sunday I could, whether I sucked at the distances or not, because it's all experience, and I knew I'd improve if I kept going and taking things on board.

Also, a course or coaching session dealing solely with form would be a great option for those wanting to assess themselves in order to make the next step. Going from a beginner to 1st class seems to not be noticed much from the comments I've heard today, but I must say at our club the 3rd class scorers as well as Bowman scorers all had a drink together and congratulated each other. That's what we need to see more of, as after all, the ones who score better usually know more, which can be of great use to the new people.

Sometimes when you're new, you either blend into the background, or you try and blend in with the club. I'm definitely the second, as I mix it up with more or less everyone. But for those who are shier than me, it might be nice to have a beginners liaison/coach, someone charged with being available to the new people be it for tips, or simply contact with the rest of the club.

Sometimes it only needs one person to remind you how great the sport can be when you're going through a tough patch in your shooting.

I'll be doing this sport for years, unless I have a very bad experience. Let's hope that doesn't happen, as right now taking it up has been the best decision I've made in ages.

[NoAngel]

From my clubs view, 2 years ago I introduced “Improvement Shoots”, they were basically rounds where beginners could come along and shoot in a competition scenario, but no medals and such were awards. For example we said Nationals rounds, so anyone could shoot any round they wanted, short, junior, national, long, it was up to them.

We then arranged it so a number of the clubs more experienced members would be on hand on these days to offer advice to the beginners. They would not be shooting, just walking up and down the line ready to help anyone who asked. The first one was a complete flop, the second we had 2 beginners, there after we didn’t see any but still had 12 fully paid up beginners in the club.

[GreenSteve]

well to a certain extent there will always be those that take up archery following a sample on holiday/have ago etc, some may stick with it and continue on others however will burn out as they will have satisfied an interest and move onto the next.
However i do believe that more can be done to encourage beginners to stick with it in the form of post beginners course guidance, perhaps a continuation of the beginners course in the form of at a certain time once a week (11am sunday for example) a coach will spend 1/2hr going over form, bow tuning and rounds/classifications with the ex-beginners

just my thoughts based on after my beginners course i dragged information out of other archers around me and now pass on what i can to other beginners at the club

[NoAngel]

This year as a bid to encourage our beginners I got the committee to agree that the club will pay for classification badges for all members, achieving from 3rd class to Bowman. We have now handed these out to some of the members, but still it only seems to scratch the surface and give them a mild interest.