Over the weekend (Feb 7-9th) the Las Vegas shoot took place. The Vegas Shoot is probably the largest and most prestigious indoor archery tournament in the World with over 3700 archers competing in all the main archery disciplines over 3 days.

The three-day competition features the traditional 20-yard Vegas Round. 3 rounds of 30 arrows on a 40cm 3-spot for your final qualifying score. Only the worthy advance to any shoot-offs if they are required. Over the competitions history, 275 compounders have shot a perfect 900 point score (editor: unbelievably they get to use the whole 10 ring not just the X!!!!!!) making it a somewhat ho hum score.

However we’re not here to talk about compounders shooting pedestrian 900 scores but a recurver shooting perfection for the first time in this competition’s history.

Archers continue to mistake medals for biscuits

In 90 arrows over 3 rounds, US archer and No1 in the world, Brady Ellison did not drop a single point to become the first recurver in the history of this prestigious and storied competition to post a perfect 900 points. He hit 66Xs and finished 14 points ahead of second place to win the Recurve Male Championship and the top prize of $10,000.

And just to rub salt into many compounders hurt feefees … Brady was the only recurve archer to dispute the new $10K-a-Day Championship Shoot-Off for 300-point shooters on Friday and Saturday, were lines are dominated by compound shooters.

Brief interview with Brady here. If you jump forward in the video you can see some of the shoot-offs later on ie the mens compound shoot-off is at 1hr 32 or here if you prefer a link.

As any archer will tell you, Archery is one of the most accessible sports open to all. No matter age, ability, disability, race, all thumbs, competitive, non-competitive, gender … archery welcomes everyone. But to stay in this place we need to know if archery is delivering on its promises.

To this end the SAA have partnered with sportscotland to collect and collate surveys to aid their efforts in ensuring that all staff / coaches / officials / board / members / participants are treated fairly.

So we’d like to ask that you take a little time to fill in the survey especially as our club could win £300 from Scottish Archery and also £1000 from sportscotland to go towards equipment, coaching or club development. The survey can be found here with an article describing its intentions and rewards linked below.

Thank you for keeping us a welcoming sport

Links:

Scottish Archery article on the Equality Survey

Editors note …. this post should be read while imagining the authors teeth gritted in unbridled rage and jealousy.

My Precious!

Congratulations are in order to East Kibride Archer Cameron Ross who shot a Bray 1 – 272** this afternoon to qualify for the highest rated indoor badge GA have. While Cameron is currently an associate member at Glasgow, his family have a long history of lurking on our line and its great to see him put up this score.

Cameron is also an archery judge but we cant really hold that against him, much as we’d like to, because he holds the power of life and death over every line cutter of ours he adjudicates.

Obviously this is just more banter and we all applaud Cameron’s achievement …… well, mostly all.

** Actually his score was 273. We’re sure the above was just an editorial error and not retaliation for all the linecutters denied over the years!

While browsing the internet I came across an article from World Archery saying that since 2017, Doctors across France  are able to prescribe physical activity to patients. One of these prescribe-able activities can be archery.

I’ve already touched on how good archery can be health wise but how great would it be to drop into the doctors feeling depressed and be given a prescription for ” … an hour of blank boss, fletch a dozen arrows, shoot a Portsmouth round then come back and see me in a week if you dont feel better. We might book you in with a specialist to give you and your bow a tune-up”.

I’d feel a lot more enthusiastic about seeing a doctor under those circumstances.

Shoot 36 of these each day for the next week and see how you feel.

Links:
Archery now available as prescribed health activity for doctors in France
Medicinal Archery

Rule no.1 Dont forget your bow!

Glasgow Archers will be running a beginners course over 4 evenings – Wednesday 11th/18th/25th March plus 1st April at Craigholme Sports Hub starting around 6:20pm. The cost should be £75.00 per participant. (max of 8 students)

So why do you need to do a course? Archery isn’t hard. Pull a string and let go!

Well, to join any club in the UK overseen by Archery GB you need to do a beginners course. It covers the basics of how to shoot properly, how to shoot without hurting yourself BUT most importantly it instills in the student the safety procedures that keep us all safe. We guarantee fun, challenges, banter, ballistics and perhaps even a trophy!

Drop us a note here if you are interested and we will get back to you with more details.

Archery ……. better than a gym membership with a lot more laughs thrown in.

After last Saturdays attendance soared to the giddy heights of 17 … Saturday 18th must have thought to itself … “hold my quiver”!

Todays attendance was up to 19 with several regulars missing from their usual spots. It was so crowded that we had to run out 7 bosses AND move the hockey goals.

Great to see so many folks having fun (or suffering the usual archery angst) on the line. Even Chris returned for a near unprecedented 2nd week in a row – going for the hat trick next week chris? ;o)

Excellent turnout on Saturday 11th with 17 archers on the line. Even Chris came out of hibernation early to attend. This is a far cry from last year when it looked like we would have to close down weekend sessions due to disinterest.

Also we took delivery of 3 new bosses with 2 more to come Wednesday (Michael needs a bigger van). Even after a full rebuild on our old bosses we were almost getting pass throughs on some and the amount of debris getting blasted out the back was getting messy. These bosses are of the lighter variety much to the relief of those humphing the bosses about at set up and takedown times.

Dateline : Craigholme, Wednesday 8th, 6pm

Our first night back shooting.

So what should you be doing tonight?

•  Take it easy as you probably over indulged and exercise was limited to lifting fork or glass to mouth. (limit number of arrows shot and arrows per end)
•  Focus on good execution as your form will be sloppy and the bow will feel like it weighs a 100 tonnes. (a good night for blank boss practice – see a coach or mentor for details of how to do this)
•  Consider your bow if you dont normally do regular maintenance. Give it a major check up. String, screws, bolts, sights, arrows … spot anything iffy or if you arent confident, ask for an opinion from an experienced archer or coach.
•  Finally a good night to talk to someone new or someone you never really speak to. We are a social sport (except for the dribbly competitive types) so be social. The club is what YOU make it.

With so many people considering new year resolutions to get fit, I wonder how many have considered archery. Archery is quite unique because it brings physical, mental and social benefits coupled with an inclusivity that’s hard to beat.

Focus, confidence, patience and relaxation** are just some of the mental benefits archery brings let alone making good use of that OCD. Physically? You get improved strength, hand eye coordination and endurance … think how far you walk collecting all those arrows at 70m. A calorie ripper par excellence!

All of the above can be practiced in archery by everyone, no matter age, gender, ableness or ability. Its a social sport. Its a relatively inexpensive sport. Its a cool sport that makes you interesting – say to someone “I’m an archer” and theres instant “ooOOOoo, thats different”. We even have our own superheroes – Hawkeye (Marvel Avengers), Green Arrow (DC Comics), Katniss Everdeen (Hunger Games), Abigail Whistler (Blade Trinity) and for the disney princess fraternity – Princess Merida.

So consider all those poor people starting expensive gym memberships this week after their new years resolutions. They would be better off having fun with us on the line rather than straining muscles pumping boring weights/trudging on that treadmill.

**Editors note: Yes I know we have some members who seem really uptight about their archery but I’m sure they have a zen like calm inside no matter the bad language.
HAHAHAHHAHA!!! … sorry, couldnt type that and keep a straight face.

World Archery article on Health Benefits
12 Health Benefits of Archery
Archery GB’s mental health initiative

While endlessly fiddling with my bows brace height and tillering this morning …..

getting it just right ……… getting IT just right …… GETTING IT JUST RIGHT! ……… GODDAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!! ………… <taking a break …. and breathe> 

……. It crossed my mind that Archery is a sport where any OCD issues are not only helpful to your shooting but probably so common to the sport as to be damn near mandatory!

Right bow, prepared to be tillered some more!