Mixed Team Archery: Speed Dating With Arrows?

congratulations .. I now pronounce you a team.

After some earlier trials, mixed team archery was first added to the competitive world archery scene for the 2010 World Cup in Poreč. It is therefore a comparatively new competition format where one male and one female archer from the same nation compete as a pair against other mixed pairs. There are specific team rules that apply and it's pretty exciting as well as very inclusive. But you have to wonder, has anyone ever considered the potential dating opportunities this type of format creates?

Shared interests, aligned goals, mutual support in a stressful environment ... this is custom made to build romantic connections. Did World Archery accidentally invent a Cupid free, arrow based dating format? We think it's worth examining even if it's just for the lols...

Reworking Team Match to Date Match

Right, let's look at this match's fundamentals. Rounding down to its basics you have a team consisting of:

• two archers
• obviously shared interests - archery at the very least
• approximately 80 seconds to establish communication
• needs intuitive coordination
• a shared goal
• one of you inevitably says "Are you ready?" .. the other says "Yep."
• then one of you shoots a 6 and there is a brief period of profound interpersonal reflection.

So you're proposing 550 spine, 130 grain points, and pin nocks?

This is basically speed dating with stabilisers. How often are you brought into proximity with someone this compatible? Someone who understands your pain when your X10 goes to the great quiver in the sky. Someone who already owns more allen keys than cutlery. Someone who considers a discussion about arrow spine an acceptable use of date night. And honestly, this looks like we are on to something here.

There are definitely some advantages over conventional dating. Dating apps spend an awful lot of effort trying to establish compatibility. Team archery immediately answers life's important questions. Can they communicate under pressure? Can they recover from disappointment? Will they blame the wind for everything? At the very least, you know your partner understands the importance of saying "good shot" when what they actually mean is "Jesus Christ, what happened there?"

Archery Dating App

Moving on from speed dating, this could transfer really well to a dating app. Your profile is going to be pretty straightforward to fill in. Bow type, brands, how do you feel about WA 1440s? It's all very insightful. Handicapping, personal best and national ranking give more reasonable expectations than six-foot, six-pack and six figures. It would simply be a swipe right to get your archery profiles compared and team compatibility measured. To quote Pacific Rim - "it's a dialogue, not a fight" - Can you work together getting on and off the line? Communicate under pressure? Know when to encourage your partner and when to shut up because they are clearly in the middle of having a small existential crisis?

MATCHING Your TEAM .. Your compatibility score: 97%

Shared interests:
✓ Riser compatibility - Win&Win
✓ Similar shooting pace
✓ Shibuya products
✓ Degree of Korean admiration - High
✓ Favourite excuse - Blaming the wind
✓ Willingness to spend four hours discussing arrows

Your match just shot a 10. Please proceed to the shooting line.

But obviously there isn't always a happily ever after to every H2H. There would inevitably be the post-match relationship status update. Some are going to read "It's complicated." 

Because one of you shot 19 and the other shot 15, and you're both sitting there pretending the last arrow didn't happen. Can there be another match or has this team been left swiped into the archives along with that time you shot the wrong boss? If a relationship can overcome a fluffed shot in a 70m team head to head .. you can survive forgetting to put the laundry on, burning the chilli or a full-blown zombie apocalypse with ease!

Scoring and Dating App

However, it's not like we need to release an archery themed dating app in isolation. This could easily be packaged with a scoring app. And since we actually know someone with a scoring app - TargetAce - could we get the resident club developer to modify his creation? It would be the world's first archery scoring and dating app just by adding another option on the menu:

"It's a Match!"

Admittedly the app would have to amend its website privacy policy because "we collect your scoring data" suddenly acquires an entirely different meaning.

Marketing the app takes care of itself ... TargetAce .. Score your arrows. Track your rounds. Find your soulmate.

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Romantic arrow discussion by StockSnap from Pixabay