Training week 1

Author

Message

Rider
Cub Poster

Posts: 26
No Commercial Interest
Location: Tetbuy, Glos

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:15 am Post subject: Training week 1

There are many posts relating to the first week of training and here is another! My first ever session with a bow and arrow and it was great. Met up at the hall with about 15 others of all ages. Firstly introduction to the bow, what the various parts are etc. Intro to the arrow and I finally learned what a notch fleck was! A bit on the health and safety then fitted up with the arm guards and measured with a piece of dowling to confirm the correct draw length. Then onto the firing. A quick intro to the technique then split into groups of three with an instructor overseeing each group. No targets this week as this was the week for getting the technique right. Set the feet, set the arrow, elbow high, draw back using your shoulder blades, draw hand to your mouth,sight, release. Of course this was week one and no prizes for accuracy but everyone there was trying to hit the centre of the board anyway! All in all, I shot 12 arrows and they went into the target. No real difficulties but maybe I need to work on my drawer action. I tended to pull the string back instead of using my shoulder blades to draw it back. The string did catch me and not the guard on a few occasions but my bow holding hand was a bit twisted. Once this was adjusted the problem disappeared. A real good first week and I enjoyed it. I forgot to ask this question today but is the training a requirement by law or just something the individual clubs choose to offer or not as the case may be? I personally think the training is important but after completion is there an end result? For example, affiliation to a national organisation or a certificate you have to present to any archery club if you wish to join? My guess is that it is just a training period offered by most clubs with no end result except the ability to shoot safely. That is absolutely fine by the way! I merely pose the question.

Club:
Bow:
Sight:
Arrows:
Accesories:

Liam
Admin

UK East Mids Area Rep (NFAS)

Posts: 6644
Archery Website Publisher
Location: AR HQ

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:33 am Post subject:

I don't think there is any legal obligation to provide training, but any responsible club will not let you loose with a bow until they are satisfied you can use it safely, the way clubs get round this is to insist you partake in training or prove your compitency before you can become a member. _________________ Why not?

Club: Long Eaton Field Archers
Bow: Karel Osage Orange Hungarian Reflex Bow 50lb @ 28"
Sight: Not Brilliant
Arrows: Sitka Spruce 11/32's @ 31"
Accesories: 2 Funny gloves with not enough fingers on them

Chedawan
Grand Master Bowman

Posts: 1494
Club Committee Member
Location: Derbyshire

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:37 am Post subject:

No legal requirement, however, as Liam says if someone came to our club, there's no way on earth they're shooting unsupervised on their first few arrows... no matter how good they profess to be. This said, they wouldn't need to be the worlds best archer, they may even miss with a few, but as long as they are a safe archer they're good to go. I for example learned to shoot at university, we had a scheme there where one progressed from a white arrow archer, to a gold arrow archer, during your training (white, black, blue, red, gold) just something a committee member had invented. Once you had progressed through this, you received both your progress book (training record if you will) and a certificate. Both of which ended up at the bottom of my bow case... which as a few will know was later stolen along with all my other kit. The point being that I lost all my proof of competency, and there's no central registry or anything like that. When I went to join a club later, I could obviously still shoot, but had someone with me for the first few ends to make sure that I was safe (I'm sure this would be the case had I shown them a certificate anyway), and I think this is the way most responsible clubs act. However, some people don't realise there's no legal certification required in archery, and on one occasion walking through Sheffield (Shanks' pony everywhere I went at Uni) with my compound in its case, and was asked by a (what I presume was a very green) Police Officer, what I was carrying, fair enough, big odd shaped bag. He then asked if I had a licence for it... Fortunately my GNAS card placated him. _________________ :: Sig courtesy of CamdogXIII of EMP ::

Club: Forest Bowmen (Field) Greenwood Archers (Target)
Bow: Winact riser (Yellow Gold) SF Super carbon limbs (Black) 43Lb on the fingers.
Sight: Cartel Activa (Black)... Yes I use a sight! You can stop booing now!
Arrows: Yes, ACC's fletched black and yellow.
Accesories: Many, mostly black and yellow, I try wherever possible to look like an angry wasp.

Also shooting KG Cobra Deluxe, with big wooden arrows, there's also a stave of wood in my loft with a longbow hiding in it, going looking for it soon!

joe croatia
Master Bowman

Posts: 833
No Commercial Interest
Location: tyneside

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:41 am Post subject:

good to hear about your course. to answer your questions i did get the certificate at the end of my course which by the way with me being foreign they got my name wrong there was a case just last week in my club where a couple came back 4-5yrs after they've finished their course in the club with their own equipment and like liam and che said they had to go thru safety and knowledge assesment before they could join the club(which by the way takes about 3 wks) and start shooting hope this helps joe _________________ A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new!!

Club: Cleadon Archers
Bow: WinstarII-Winstorm Carbon Limbs
Sight: Cartel 2000
Arrows: ACC's
Accesories: SF Elite 92 Quiver,MAC Triad's

Chedawan
Grand Master Bowman

Posts: 1494
Club Committee Member
Location: Derbyshire

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:33 am Post subject:

I was left to shoot on the line with the competent archers when I first went to the new club, on the first evening. However, I'd imagine I was 'kept an eye on' for the next few weeks. _________________ :: Sig courtesy of CamdogXIII of EMP ::

Dawn
Global Moderator

Outstanding Contribution Award Winner
Posts: 4414
Club Committee Member
Location: Long Eaton, Derbyshire

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:51 am Post subject:

From the point of view of a coach (NFAS) when an archer I dont know wants to come to our club I ask them a lot of questions about where they learned to shoot, how long ago, etc. hopefully in a way that they dont realise they are being quizzed and go through our safety rules with them I then watch them shoot and I shoot round a few targets with them, if they look all fine then I allow them to go round the rest of the course with another member, all fine again we let them carry on as a full member. If I suspect any problems they will only be allowed to shoot with me or one of our more experienced archers, and we would keep an eye on them. I usually find that anyone saying they have done a training course somewhere else do seem to have picked up the basics, but not always able to shoot well, they then realise that they need help and ask for a bit of extra coaching We dont give a certificate or anything as that would not really mean anything to another club, although in the NFAS now all new members have to have their form signed by a coach or a club official before they are allowed to go to an open shoot, again this probably wont mean very much to any other organisation they join. _________________ aka Cherrie Secretary Black Arrow Field Archery Club Last edited by Dawn on Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:21 pm; edited 1 time in total

Club: Black Arrow FAC & Duvelle Bowmen
Bow: Marksman KG1 with nice blue riser
Sight: need glasses to read
Arrows: ACC
Accesories: stabiliser

Samick AFB with wood & feather arrows

Rider
Cub Poster

Posts: 26
No Commercial Interest
Location: Tetbuy, Glos

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:28 pm Post subject:

Thats great, no surprises there. I am not actually a member of the club which is providing the training but I am looking into it. I'm not sure how they attract new members or if they cap the total membership. I am currently looking into this. I was quite interested in the last few posts and how clubs view potential new members. Food for thought.

Club:
Bow:
Sight:
Arrows:
Accesories:

joe croatia
Master Bowman

Posts: 833
No Commercial Interest
Location: tyneside

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:47 pm Post subject:

they usually give you all the info you need to know at the end of the course probably on the last night(tackle talk night) joe _________________ A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new!!

Club: Cleadon Archers
Bow: WinstarII-Winstorm Carbon Limbs
Sight: Cartel 2000
Arrows: ACC's
Accesories: SF Elite 92 Quiver,MAC Triad's

sheep2580
Junior Poster

Posts: 86
Club Committee Member
Location: Selby

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:13 pm Post subject:

When people have done the course at our club they get a certificate that says when they did the course. Its officialy recognised by GNAS so they can then potentially join any target club in the country. Hopefully the club they join if its not ours will still make sure they are safe. When we get people moving to our club from elsewhere we let them shoot but always have several people keeping an eye on them at all times when they first shoot. As far as i know there has never been a problem but its for safety and all that With GNAS a person must have completed a course to be covered by their insurance. _________________ To shoot compound accurately is easy, to shoot really accurately is really hard

Club: Selby Archers
Bow: Hoyt Vipertec
Sight: Toxonics model 3515
Arrows: Easton A/C/C and Easton XX75
Accesories: BlackSheep Long Rod, Tru Ball Wrist Release

Chedawan
Grand Master Bowman

Posts: 1494
Club Committee Member
Location: Derbyshire

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 6:29 pm Post subject:

sheep2580 wrote:

With GNAS a person must have completed a course to be covered by their insurance.

I'm not sure that that's still true... it was a while back, but I think (though I may be wrong) that it's been nixed. There were too many problems with folks who could potentially be national/world champions with another organisation (albeit more likely that you wouldn't be a champion, but could be a competent club archer) being forced to do a six week beginners course, explaining how to hold a bow. I think the current ruling is that one is insured if you're a member of GNAS, however to become a member of GNAS your application must be sent off by a club... theory being, if the club's happy for you to join without taking a course (i.e. you're deemed to be safe and competent), then GNAS will happily send out your card. If not, that club would offer you tuition (usually in the form of a course) before signing you up, and getting you insured as competent through GNAS. Throughout this time your club insurance would cover you on club days/club premesis, whilst (I believe two other) full club members are present. The only problem comes with independents (which I couldn't tell you if GNAS still allow or not, they certainly discourage it... who would be required to obtain a signature (much like the new NFAS system ).

I apologise if I'm awry, but that was my understanding of the latest regulations.

Adam.

_________________

:: Sig courtesy of CamdogXIII of EMP ::

sheep2580
Junior Poster

Posts: 86
Club Committee Member
Location: Selby

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 6:34 pm Post subject:

That could be right, I will look into this as from March I am hoping to be membership secretary so it might help to know lol. Either way, its not law to have to have taken a course. _________________ To shoot compound accurately is easy, to shoot really accurately is really hard

Club: Selby Archers
Bow: Hoyt Vipertec
Sight: Toxonics model 3515
Arrows: Easton A/C/C and Easton XX75
Accesories: BlackSheep Long Rod, Tru Ball Wrist Release

Chedawan
Grand Master Bowman

Posts: 1494
Club Committee Member
Location: Derbyshire

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:07 pm Post subject:

Let me know if you do find out (if you don't mind?) I'd be interested to know. Last time I was secretary for a club was at Uni (for which GNAS has a completely seperate set of rules) where I never had to prove anything about anyone, they just accepted we wouldn't let anyone too mental join up, and sent me a load of stickers and cards for everyone. Our AGM is on thursday, and I can't make it, so I could end up being voted on for anything so I too may end up needing to know _________________ :: Sig courtesy of CamdogXIII of EMP ::

sheep2580
Junior Poster

Posts: 86
Club Committee Member
Location: Selby

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 10:56 pm Post subject:

HAHA! I know that feeling, i was the only junior at the AGM 2 years back so I got stuck with "Junior Representative" which means i represent 20 something people in the club of which about 4 actually shoot/care about the club. This is why I want something more to do, e.g. membership secretary. I will ask when i go to the committee meeting on friday then post what i get told here _________________ To shoot compound accurately is easy, to shoot really accurately is really hard

Club: Selby Archers
Bow: Hoyt Vipertec
Sight: Toxonics model 3515
Arrows: Easton A/C/C and Easton XX75
Accesories: BlackSheep Long Rod, Tru Ball Wrist Release

sunmouse
Junior Poster

Posts: 81
No Commercial Interest
Location: Rhondda, S Wales

Posted: Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:26 pm Post subject:

Myself and my partner attended our first beginners evening a couple of nights ago and it was fun! The people at the club were very friendly and more than proficient at training. We learned a lot in a short space of time, including important health and safety stuff about pulling the arrows out of the targets, something we weren't doing ourselves up in the forestry on a Saturday morning! The older chap who was in front of me didn't seem to be able to pull a match out of the ground, let alone a recurve bow and I noticed a couple of shakes in his bow arm when he was shooting. I was teased quite goodnaturedly for being too fast on the shooting (a habit I have yet to break from the longbow partner) and not getting my hand close enough to my face but I shot quite well, although I wasn't worried about hitting any golds or anything like that. My principle goal was to have fun and do the archery properly, as I've had a few hobbies in the past which haven't involved the other half and they haven't gone well, resulting in me giving them up in a year or two. This hobby, I hope, we both stick at! Heaven knows we've spent enough money on it already, but I think the other half is very enthusiastic about it. The plus side is that it is getting him out of the house and doing a physical activity and that's never a bad thing.

Club: Blandy Jenkins
Bow: Win and Win Pro Accent & Samick Agulla
Sight: Shooter and Arten Olympic and Shibuya dual click
Arrows: Easton 1813 Plat plus and Easton 1616 blues
Accesories: KAP limbs

Bickerstaffe and Ash self bow.