Longbows & Archery

Bow handles (risers) are made of aluminium alloys and are machined for a combination of strength and lightness. Some bow handles are made of a magnesium and aluminium mixture which is heated to liquid form and poured into a mould. Once cooled, it is cleaned, final machined and painted. Some lower cost, children's bows have wood risers, as do some rather expensive, hand made bows.
Bow limbs are generally constructed of man-made materials, such as fibreglass, carbon and syntactic foam. The limbs store the energy of the draw and release it to the arrow. The string and the limbs are commonly removed from the riser when the bow is not in use, allowing for easy storage of the 'knocked-down' bow.
Bows have stabilizers to reduce torque (twisting) in the arrows upon release. They also have sights to aid in aiming and rests to help align the shot.
Most bow strings are made of either 'Fast Flight', a hydrocarbon product that also has medical and other uses, or 'Kevlar', the material used to make bullet-proof vests. The important point to be made about the string is that it must not stretch under normal environmental conditions, as that would change the bows pull weight and make consistency impossible. A layer of string material called the serving is placed where the arrow is nocked to snugly match the notch on the arrow, and a small ring is permanently placed on the serving to mark where the arrow rests when nocked. A small button, called the kisser button, is often used to assure that the back end of the arrow is always pulled back to the proper, repeatable anchor point. When properly drawn, the kisser button rests right between the lips.
An arrow is pulled back to the anchor point using the middle three fingers of the draw hand. These fingers are often covered with a glove or a leather 'tab' which protects the fingers. A tab may have a metal shelf built in so that the two fingers on either side of the arrow do not squeeze it.
On Olympic bows a clicker is a small, spring-loaded lever that is held out away from its resting point by the arrow. When the arrow is drawn back to exactly the same point each time, the clicker slips past the tip of the arrow, producing an audible 'click', which tells the archer he has the arrow at the same, repeatable release point. This causes very close to the same amount of tension to be used on every shot, so the arrow flight is the same.
A sight allows the archer, when the arrow is properly drawn, to line the bow up with the centre of the target by eye. The sight generally has adjustments in up-down and left-right dimensions with calliper-style read outs so that ageing equipment, weather, temperature and distance to the target may be accommodated. Olympic archery allows for sights which do not have lenses or electronics associated with them.
Arm guards and chest protectors protect the skin from string burn, as well as provide a low-resistance surface that the string may skim over easily upon release. A pair of binoculars or a sighting scope allows the archer to see the arrows in the target, and thereby make corrections to the sight as required. A quiver to hold arrows and other paraphernalia completes the archer's accessories. The NAA, in accordance with FITA rules, has established a dress code that is used at all NAA tournaments; this accounts for the 'whites' look of the competitors.

The Compound Bow

The Compound bow, unlike the Olympic bow, is never knocked-down between uses. The great tension preset into the lambs can only safely be countered when the bow is couched in piece of equipment called a bow press. The cams are synchronized when this is done, and are held in place by the tension. Compound bow cases must be able to accommodate the entire bow. Because the Compound bow's forte is accuracy, equipment which increases the accuracy is deemed fair for compound use while it is not for Olympic archery. The site may include electronics and/or lenses to increase accuracy, and a release, rather than fingers, may be used. A release is a mechanical 'finger' that grips the string and releases it when the trigger is pressed by the draw hand.

The Arrow

Arrows in the recurve (Olympic) bow events can travel in excess of 150 miles per hour, while compound arrows can fly in excess of 225 miles per hour. The shafts are made of either aluminium or aluminium with carbon fibres. Aluminium arrows are more uniform in weight and shape, while carbon arrows fly faster and provide less cross-wind resistance, and are therefore more useful in long distance outdoor archery.

The business end of the arrow is weighted and tipped with a target point, designed to penetrate but a short distance in the target butt. Hunting arrows, of course, use a different, extremely sharp cutting point called a field point. All NAA sanctioned events use only target points, except for certain Flight archery events.

The other end features a nocking point, a plastic cap glued or otherwise attached to the end of the arrow. Its fingers grip the string until flung loose, and it provides a protection for the shaft by deflecting hits from later incoming arrows. This generally destroys the nock, but leaves the arrow reusable. Sometimes, of course, the aim is too perfect to deflect; the resulting 'Robin- Hood' is both spectacular and expensive, as both arrows are usually destroyed.

On the shaft itself fletchings are glued to stabilize the arrow's flight. Sometimes they are glued in such a way as to cause the shaft to spin around its long dimension, further stabilizing its flight at a cost to its flat trajectory. The fletchings are generally three in number, one of which (the index feather) has a different colour than the other two. The nock is installed gripping the string perpendicular to the odd fletch, so that it's friends both brush the riser equally, minimally disturbing the arrow's flight.
Fletchings may be plastic 'feathers' or solid vanes, in a variety of shapes, lengths and, of course, colours.
Markings, called crests, may be drawn on the arrows at the owner's discretion. However, the NAA requires that all arrows be marked with the owner's initials so that they can be unequivocally identified while embedded in the target.

The Basics of Target Archery

Archery is a sport in which the participant uses a bow to shoot arrows at a target which has ten concentric circles. The score of each arrow depends upon where it lands on the target. The highest score, a ten, is achieved by shooting an arrow into the centre, or bull's-eye. Scores go down from nine for the next circle out to one for the outermost circle. Missing the target results in a score of zero for that arrow. For indoor compound archery, a ten is scored only when the arrow lands inside the inner ten ring.

After each end of arrows is shot, the arrows are scored. The number of hits (non-zero scores), tens and Xs (hits within the inner ten ring) are also recorded for the purpose of breaking ties in the final scores.

Outdoor

Most major outdoor target archery competitions in the U.S. follow the same format of a FITA Round followed by an Olympic Round.
The FITA Round consists of 36 arrows shot at each of four distances (90, 70, 50 and 30 meters for men; 70, 60, 50, 30 meters for women) for a total of 144 arrows. Scores are then totalled to determine seedings into the Olympic Round. Arrows are generally shot in groups (called ends) of six within a specified time period.

The Olympic Round is a direct elimination, head-to-head style of competition, all at 70 meters. The winner of each match advances until a gold medallist is determined. All matches are 18 arrows, except the quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals, which are 12-arrow matches.
The U.S. Target Championships utilize a FITA followed by an Olympic Round. FITA scores are totalled to determine seeding into the Olympic Round. The targets used at outdoor events have 122 cm diameter faces.

Indoor

Indoor tournaments are held for the Olympic (recurve) and Compound Divisions. Olympic Division events are generally held at either 25 meters or 18 meters.
In a 25-Meter Indoor Round, archers shoot 60 arrows at a 60 cm diameter target face. In the 18-Meter Indoor Round, archers shoot 60 arrows at a 40 cm diameter target face.
Championship events employ a Grand Indoor Round which starts off with a Combined Indoor Round (both 25-Meter and 18-Meter rounds) followed by a direct elimination competition for the top 16 archers. These direct elimination matches are 15-arrow matches shot at a special 20 cm diameter target face.
For the compound division, a Combined Indoor Round includes 60 arrows shot from 25 meters at 40 cm diameter target face. A Double Compound Indoor Round includes two successive Combined Indoor Rounds.
The Grand Indoor Round is used in championships. It consists of a Double Compound Indoor Round from which the top 16 archers go into a direct elimination with 15-arrow matches from 25 meters at a special 20 cm diameter target face.

Tournament Rounds

Imperial rounds (measured in yards) are mainly shot in the United Kingdom. Metric rounds, also known as FITA rounds, measured in metres, are used for most other tournaments. These are the main rounds that are able to be shot in target archery:

How to use the tables

Imperial Rounds

Senior Outdoor Rounds

Junior Outdoor Rounds

Indoor Rounds

These rounds use standard 10-zone scoring. To use this table, go down the first column to find the round you want. Then, go across the row; the second column tells you what distance you shoot at (most indoor rounds are shot at only one distance) and the third tells you how many arrows you shoot at this distance.

Metric Rounds

Outdoor Rounds

These rounds use standard 10-zone scoring. Arrows are shot at increasingly closer distances - for example, in a Gents FITA round, an archer would shoot 3 dozen at 90 metres, followed by 3 dozen at 70 metres, followed by 3 dozen at 50 metres, followed by 3 dozen at 30 metres.

Indoor Rounds

Olympics

Archery was in the Olympics (and the 1906 interlocated Games) between 1900, the first modern Olympics, and 1920. The sport was dropped from the program because there were no internationally recognized rules for the sport- each Olympics through 1920 held a different type of event. With the creation of FITA in the 1930's, set international rules were created. However, it was not until 1972 that Archery was re-introduced with the individual event, and in 1988 the team event was added to the program. Further competition rules changes were made for the 1992 Olympic Games which introduced match play to the program.

The only type of bow allowed to be used at Olympic level is the recurve bow. Since the 1984 Games at Los Angeles, South Korea has dominated the women's event. At the Sydney 2000 games, the Korean women won bronze, silver and gold in the individual competition and won gold in the team event. They also won the gold team medals in the 2004 Athens games. However, recently, China, Chinese Taipei, and Japan have emerged as serious challengers to the domination of the Korean women.

Fun Game Variations

Card Games

Pontoon:

Playing cards are stuck to the target face, face down. Archers shoot 2 arrows, to hit two different playing cards, with the winner being the one with the best hand.

Poker:

Playing cards are stuck to the target face, face down. Archers shoot 5 arrows, to hit five different playing cards, with the winner being the one with the best hand.

Pairs:

Playing cards are stuck to the target face, face down. Archers shoot 2 arrows, to hit two different playing cards, with the winner being the first archer to hit two cards which make a pair.

Darts

Instead of shooting at a FITA target face, archers shoot at an enlarged dartboard target face, which can be purchased from most archery dealers. Normal dart rules apply, with archers being divided into teams and taking it in turns to shoot at the target. After three arrows have been shot, they are collected and the score recorded.

Four In A Row:

Archers shoot at a 4-by-4 board drawn on a large piece of paper and pinned to the target face. They compete head-to-head, shooting in turn, and must try to get arrows in four consecutive squares (vertically/horizontally/diagonally) before their opponent. This can also be done as a team game or a competition between more than 2 archers.

Lucky Dip

This is best done outdoors, at a longer distance. Each archer shoots six arrows and then, before scoring, a piece of paper with scoring instructions is pulled out of the bag containing several different slips of paper. This means that an archer has no idea what their score will be when they are shooting. Scoring instructions might be:

• Normal scoring applies
• Reverse scoring
• Ignore all golds
• Whites score 20
• Two or more arrows in the same colour score nothing for those arrows
• Missing the target scores 10
• Negative scoring (you lose the number of points that you have scored)

Monopoly

An archery variation on Monopoly involves pinning chance and community cards to the target face. Archer shoot to try and hit these cards, which have positive or negative scores on. They might say things such as 'You have scored a personal best! Award yourself 20 points' or 'You miss the target, damaging one of your arrows. Lose 20 points'.

Picture Shoots

Pictures are drawn on a large piece of paper and stuck to each target face. The picture should be simple, using 5 different colours, with each colour being assigned a score (9, 7, 5, 3, 1), depending on how frequently it appears in the picture. Archers shoot as normally, except when scoring.

Raffle

Balloon raffle:

Balloons with raffle tickets inside are pinned to the target faces. Each raffle ticket corresponds to a particular prize. Archers shoot at the targets, until they burst a balloon. Then, all archers stop shooting while the archer who has burst the balloon collects the raffle ticket from beneath the target face. This continues until all archers have won a prize.

Sticker raffle:

Stickers with numbers on are stuck to the target face, with each number corresponding to a particular prize. Archers shoot at the target until all the prizes have been won or, alternatively, all archers can shoot a predetermined number of arrows at each target. If two archers hit the same sticker, it is either the first to do so or the one closest to the centre of the sticker that wins the prize. A variation on this involves covering the target and stickers with newspaper, so no-one know if they have won a prize until the newspaper has been removed. In this situation, each archer would shoot 3 arrows at each target.

Snakes and Ladders

A Snakes and Ladders board is drawn on a large piece of paper and pinned to the target, with each square being numbered in ascending order. Each archer shoots a set number of arrows at the target; if they hit a snake, they take the score of the square at the bottom of the snake and if they hit a ladder, they take the score of the square at the top of the ladder. If they hit the target anywhere else, they just take the score of that square.

Treasure Hunt

A treasure map is drawn on a large piece of paper and pinned to the target. The map is divided into numbered squares and a non- archer chooses a square and writes this number secretly onto a piece of paper that is sealed in an envelope; this is where the treasure is. Archers shoot one arrow each at the treasure map, with the archer that is closest to the 'treasure square' winning a prize.

The Metric System in Archery

Since FITA is an international organization with a French name, started in France by Europeans it is not unusual that it should have chosen to use metric measurements rather than English one. However, the English system, and the influence of British Archery tradition, have not gone unfelt. The traditional indoor shooting distance was 20 yards; the metric equivalent of 18 meters is only about a foot shorter, a trivial, though duly marked, difference. The target sizes of 40, 60, 80, and 122 centimetres closely match English equivalents of 16, 24, 32 and 48 inches. Longer shooting distances are approximated with this chart:

In the end, archery is a mental game of skill and coordination. The ultimate aim is consistency; the ability to do exactly the same thing over and over again. The skill must be learned into habit through practice, while providing the ability to recognize and selectively correct out or incorporate changes into the archery routine.

Archery's Costs

Beginners' Level: Beginners' equipment can be bought for £50-60 and up. Basically, archery is like golf when it comes to equipment - if you want to go out and buy top of-the-line equipment at the start, you can spend up to £500 or more.
Competitive Level: Equipment (bow, arrow, sights & other accessories) can range from £400 to £800, or more.

GLOSSARY

• Armguard: Protects the bow arm from abrasion by the string when the arrow is released.

• Clicker: A spring loaded finger that sounds an audible cue to the archer that the arrow has been drawn to a repeatable distance.

• End: A group of arrows, usually three or six, which are shot before going to the target to score and retrieve them.

• Finger Tab: A flat piece of leather that is worn to protect the string fingers when the arrow is released.

• Fletching: Feathers attached to an arrow which help stabilize the arrow during flight.

• FITA: Federation Internationale de Tir a l'Arc, archery's international governing body.

• FITA Round: A round of 144 total arrows shot at a target from four different distances, the most common round in target archery competition.

• Group: (n) The pattern of arrows on the target. (v) To shoot three arrows on the target.

• Inner Ring: A ring printed on standard FITA targets inside the ten ring. It is used only for indoor compound scoring.

• Limb: Part of the bow from the riser (handle) to the tip.

• Nock: (n) The attachment on the rear end of an arrow which holds it in place on the bow string. (v) To place the arrow on the string.

• Quiver: A case for holding arrows. Usually, a long leather container usually worn on a belt at the waist.

• Release Aid: Mechanical device used to release the arrow, used by most compound shooters.

• Riser: The handle of the bow. The side facing the target is called the back. The side near the string (closest to the archer) is called the belly.

• Sight: A mechanical device placed on the bow with which the archer can aim directly at the target.

• Stabiliser: A weight mounted on a bow, usually extending some distance from the handle, used to minimize undesirable torques of the bow string upon release.

• Robin Hood: An accomplishment named after the legendary character and the feat he performed in the famous archery contest. It occurs when an archer drives the tip of the shaft of one arrow deep into the end of another arrow already in the target. Archers display their Robin Hoods as golfers display their hole-in-one balls. The arrows stuck end-to-end can be found hung with pride above mantles, next to hunting trophies or in offices alongside letters and diplomas.