Competition?

[MrM]

Originally Posted by ThePinkOne

Up to Bowman actually. Provided you shoot a round where you can get a Bowman classification- you have to shoot your full distance, i.e. gents will have to shoot 100-yd rounds and ladies 80yd rounds to get Bowman. It is then the club Records Officer who collates scores and ratifies the claims- some clubs also award the classification badges up to and including Bowman at the end of the relevant outdoor season.

I must have had a blonde moment - you absolutely right there! We tend to give out calssification badges as and when they are acheived!

[ASW1973]

you do want your cake and eat it dont you?
If you want to shoot in the club and not compete dont expect to get the rewards that REQUIRE you to compete.
Daly that is just the way the system works so to be fair conform to it or dont get upset about not reaping its benefits

[Little Miss Purple]

Originally Posted by ASW1973

you do want your cake and eat it dont you?
If you want to shoot in the club and not compete dont expect to get the rewards that REQUIRE you to compete.
Daly that is just the way the system works so to be fair conform to it or dont get upset about not reaping its benefits

Wow, that's a bit harsh isn't it??

Many people have no wish to compete for many reasons or are unable to attend competitions- why should they not get the classification they deserve??

[nfinite]

I have never been "pressured" into competing since I started but found that the social side of going to shoots is what attracts me to run round the north of england.

I you don't want to compete,,,, fine.

As said earlier, you can shoot rounds at your own club under the rules of shooting and acheive a classification upto bowman.

Same as some others that at my club,100+ members and maybe a dozen regular comp archers.

Most just like to meet up, shoot a few arrow and retire to the pub for a chat.
A few take it a bit more serious and the odd one are international standard working on the next big shoot.

All that matters is you enjoy the sport and work to acheive what makes it a better and more enjoyable experiance.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Little Miss Purple

Many people have no wish to compete for many reasons or are unable to attend competitions- why should they not get the classification they deserve??

Because, like-it-or-not, those are the rules. If you want the reward, you have to put in the mileage. If you don't like it, find another sport.

Adam

[Bulldog]

Part of being an MB or GMB is the fact that not only can you shoot well but you can perform under high pressure.

It is so much eisier to shoot reel high scores in practice on your own club ground than it is in the field of play.

So yes you can be a bowman in club and you can reduce your handicap anywhere, But to be a Grand Master Bowman takes reel work and you have to show it at competition.

[jet186]

Originally Posted by SLOWHAND

People take up and enjoy Archery for all sorts of reasons and long may this be so. In the three clubs that I shoot at very few of the members take part in competitions or go for classifications.This does not mean that they enjoy the sport any the less, nor does it mean that they are not as keen or not as able as those that enter competions. One of the guys I know shoots longbow (three or four times a week) to a very high standard and would probably win most of the tournaments he entered but he is simply not interested in the competitive side of things.
A tournament does not have to be 'competitive', think of it as a good days shooting for very little money, meeting old friends and making new ones. Some of the people I know enter most of the local tournaments and never finish in the top half, they are not competing against other people but against themselves-trying for pb's, or mainly just for a laugh and a good day out. I dont mean this to sound dissrespectful in any way but if you if you are bothered about classification then why not give tournaments a go.

Dear Rob as Slowhand says, a lot of people attend tournaments not to win but to participate, make new friends and meet old ones, and others go to experience the atmosphere of a competition, knowing full well they're not going to win,(me) or come anywhere near,(me) but go anyway for the fun of it(me). You don't have to get all serious about tournaments, some clubs I know never hold tournaments and aren't bothered, but reading between the lines I think you really want to get your classification, so go on what have you got to lose, have a bash at it.And I hope you've fully recovered from your encounter with that chunk of wood. Regards John

[CaptainBarrett]

Hi all!

I've been lurking on this site for a few weeks now (work avoidance, and all that) and could resist commenting on this.

Is there too much emphasis on competition? Well, it's the nature of the competitive to be competitive and they'll likely always take up more bandwidth than those folks who're in the sport for their own personal satisfaction. Perhaps the non-competitive types should compete with the competitive types for airspace ;-)

Achieving Master Bowman without having to compete? To me, being a Grand/Master Bowman (which I'm not) is a respectable honorific, which means that you really are quite a good archer! But to be a meaningful honorific, performance needs to be adjudicated and validated so that everyone can trust that all Master Bowmen have achieved a minimum exemplary performance -- and competitions are the most convenient places to have adjudicated rounds with validated scores. (Not that I'd suggest for a moment that folks in a club setting might egg up their own scores a tiny wee bit if it meant going up a classification... Or maybe having a few more sighters than is strictly necessary...etc)

Some of the Japanese martial arts have systems where you go up the belts based on attributes other than winning (e.g. you don't fight in Aikido, you do, er, other stuff a bit like fighting that isn't). Given my average archery performance, I'd certainly be a Grand something or other under one of these systems...

[Shirt]

Originally Posted by Little Miss Purple

Wow, that's a bit harsh isn't it??

No. No, it's not.

[jet186]

Originally Posted by Raphe

As others have said, you can to an extent through club shoot scores and postals, but the added tension of the event day is part of the skill of archery, at the top level. The quality shot under pressure was historically important to the hunter or the military bowman (a French heavy cavalry charge probably qualifies as 'pressure'), and finds its place in modern competion - especially the head to head.

Maybe thats we're all missing! Shooting at the French No only Joking. Maybe Rob should try out Field Archery which tries to recreate the thrill of the hunt for food, now don't get me wrong I used to be in the Meat industry but I would no more shoot an animal for fun than the next man, when i was shooting 12 bore shotguns the only thing I ever killed was a clay disc, now I know I'm starting to ramble but my point is no matter which discipline you choose, the whole point is to have fun and hit the target, whether you want recognition for how competent you become is surely up to each individual. John