It's alota fun

[shawasha]

I'm sure, that quite often, someone at your club will suggest a fun shoot for some reason. Well I'm not of the belief that sport should be fun. "Fun" is a sort of flimsy word suggestive of frivolity. Sport should be enjoyable, not fun! Surely we're not the fun brigade, attending our archery clubs for fun.

OK, rant over for now. But can somebody think up a different terminology for this kind of activity.

There is a reason for this message though. Often these "fun" shoots entail fastening something to the target and shooting at it - Balloons/bang/waagh - ha ha - fun - see?
Perhaps it would be more "fun" if there was some point to the "fun" shoot so that it becomes a proper competition of some sort. Maybe some of you already have figured this out and are having different, interesting types of competition and maybe you don't call them "fun". If so, or if you can think of any, then I'd like to know. Or maybe you don't agree with me and are of the opinion that everything should be fun, fun fun. If so tell me.

Good shooting to you all (but no fun)
Shawasha

[Barry C]

Sport should be fun or you are wasting your time competing. But I agree partly, fun shoots are much less fun than normal practice. I cringe when my club holds a fun shoot, there is a balcony and many people watch, all they see is a bunch or scrawny nerds shooting at baloons and chocolate bars, when they should be seeing keen archers practicing hard for their next competition. I guess its the kind of people archery attracts.

[pelican]

We hold a couple of fun shoots each year, halloween and christmas. I must admit my heart sinks, even though I'm often the one who helps make the targets. I can never hit the spider/ghost/santa!!!! so I certainly need serious practice. The juniors in particular absolutely love picking the teams, being captain, handing out the sweets etc. Those in the club who compete seriously tend to grin and bear it, after all, it's only two nights. It can in fact be very flattering for the "good" archers, as the kids pick them first, nice to be wanted by someone!!
We have scoresheets with usually about 12 ends of three arrows, as scoring is more complicated, leaving balloons for the last end. Christmas past, we shot pretty quickly, so after scoresheet filled and prizes awarded, we left a couple of Xmas targets for the kids, and put up real faces for us, everyone happy. The best consolation is the amount of sweeties consumed!!!

[Newlass]

Barry C - 11/4/2005 2:33 PM

chocolate bars,.

Wow chocolate bars!! Let me join your club! Do you win the bar if you hit it?????? Tell me more.

Only balloons and teddies have been seen by me!

[Shirt]

pelican - 11/4/2005 5:45 PM
I can never hit the spider/ghost/santa!!!! so I certainly need serious practice.

Neither could anyone else. That snake/spider in the webcage was downright EVIL, Liz! I'm going to register a protest with FITA...

[Barry C]

Newlass - 11/4/2005 6:52 PM

Wow chocolate bars!! Let me join your club! Do you win the bar if you hit it?????? Tell me more.

Only balloons and teddies have been seen by me!

You win what is left of the bar if you hit it. The good archers win enough chocolate to make themself sick in the first couple of ends, then the rest of the club shoots until they are bored or also sick. Then they pull out the archery darts... That is the cue to head for the bar

[gwynn]

I like fun shoots! Weekdays I shoot target and am bored stupid after an hour, I love my weekend walk in the woods to throw my arrows at various animals [face, 2d, 3d] and a fun shoot is just an extension of that. It's the variation I think, no two are the same size, height off the ground or distance. Real archery!

[Dolphin Boy]

Teddies!
I was doen at Lyne Akers last autumn, shooting teddies from 20 yds. I hit something
that wasn't stuffing and the bouncing arrow made it back to the shooting line!

Those teddies ain't so defenseless!!

[Haywain]

Fun shoots are important for the kiddies. You have to keep them interested, because shooting at nothing but a FITA target can get extremely boring for a child (even if they're scoring well). Probably why my two decided on Field Archery

However, archery should still be a fun and interesting sport regardless of how long you've been at it. If it no longer holds you in that way, it's time to look at someting else. Try doing something else on your clubs "fun" shoots. If it bothers you to be shooting at baloons and chocolates, try setting one up yourself where the targets hold more of your interest. (pop up soldiers are often a good laugh)

[gwynn]

Haywain - 13/4/2005 2:28 PM

. Try doing something else on your clubs "fun" shoots. If it bothers you to be shooting at baloons and chocolates, try setting one up yourself where the targets hold more of your interest. (pop up soldiers are often a good laugh)

At my club we shoot painted targets, fairy tale characters. Eg. the three pigs and the wolf, the tricky bit is that you dont know what you've scored till you pull your arrows and read the legend on the target, the sky might score you +10 points, a pig -30. It's nice in that it levels everyone out, the best shot in the club can be beaten by a beginner