Every year the news seems to suggest that fewer people are taking part in Sport. But is that true?
According to Sport England, year ending September 2016, Archery is one of the top 30 sports by weekly participation.
Weekly participants aged 16 years and above: 32,400
Change from 10 years ago: +38.46%
The top 5 sports, by weekly participation, are Swimming, Athletics, Cycling, Football and Golf.
It’s a great time to be an archer.
Beginners today have access to more coaches, ranges and shops than ever. People on every continent are enjoying archery as the sport grows exponentially, sparking even more demand for places to shoot, train and host tournaments.
Among archery’s newest venues is the World Archery Excellence Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland, which held its grand opening in December. World Archery is target archery’s global governing body. It’s responsible for international competitions like the Olympics and world championships. The Excellence Centre took nearly seven years to plan and build, and World Archery hopes it will become the epicenter of target archery. Read more
The Pan American Games follow the Asian Games in adding compound competition to the programme.
For the first time since archery was introduced to the Pan American Games in 1979, the multisport event programme will include a compound competition for the 2019 edition set to be held in Lima, Peru from 26 July to 11 August.
The continental games will be the second to include the compound bow after the 2014 Asian Games. read more
The 2017 GWAS AGM will be held at 2:30pm on Sunday 2nd April at the Worlds End Pub, Bradford-on-Tone, Taunton, Somerset TA4 1ET.
For Directions click here
The venue for this year will be the Worlds End Pub Bradford on Tone, Taunton Somerset TA4 1ET and being a pub venue those attending may wish to arrive earlier and enjoy a lunch and a drink.
All Council positions are required to be elected annually at the AGM. This year there are a number of Council positions that will be vacated and specifically need to be filled, namely:
The Communications / Web Content Officer is a new role created to replace the historic Webmaster role, but without the need for specific HTML skills and with an increased focus on developing, communicating and managing important regional information on the new GWAS website, which will be launched in March 2017.
The 2017 Coaching AGM will include a Workshop event with Guest Speaker Richard Cheetham MSc, MBE. The event will be held on Sunday 2nd April as part of the Coaching AGM and is open to all members of GWAS.
Richard is a Senior Fellow in Sports Coaching at the University of Winchester where he has worked since 2005. Since May 2014 he has worked with the UCI World Cycling Elite Coach Education Programme in Aigle, Switzerland. Richard’s research focusses on a more holistic approach to coaching with time spent since 2013 at Saracens RFC within the Academy programme, Fulham Football Club, and more recently with British Triathlon with their skills school initiative. He has gained recognition nationally and internationally within coach education and has been an invited speaker for World Rugby, British Cycling, Cycling Ireland, Rugby Canada, England Handball and the England Cricket Coaches Association. Richard is also an experienced Rugby Union Coach Educator for London South region and Hampshire RFU as well as a Tutor for SCUK on the Fundamentals, Coaching Children and Talent Foundation workshops.
Whilst the Workshop is targeted at Coaches, as part of their Continuing Professional Development, it is open to all GWAS members. Spaces may be limited so booking a place early is recommended. If interested in attending please contact Lizzy Rees, Regional Coaching Organiser.
Congratulations to Dave Jones of Chippenham Archers who has been voted BBC West’s Unsung Hero of the Year!
Dave, who has dedicated the last 20 years to the club, has coached more than 600 archers, including internationals like Jo Frith who won gold and silver medals in Rio.
Jo said: “He was the first person I thought of when I looked down at my medal. I thought, ‘this is not my medal – this is mine and Dave’s medal.’ He helped me get this and I am so proud to be associated with him.” watch the BBC video
Congratulations to Gordano Valley Archers.
More than 300 people watched as Club Chairman Paul Maines and his son, Christopher, accepted the award from double Olympic silver and bronze medallist Steve Backley at the Bristol Marriott hotel.
Paul said: “This is one of the proudest moments I have experienced in sport. This award is a testament to all the hard work undertaken by everyone in the club and would not have been possible without the support of Wesport and Archery GB.”
So what clinched it for the club? The award citation said: “Gordano Valley Archers have been working tirelessly over the last 12 months to raise the profile of their sport. They have increased the number of people taking part in archery in both the club, within schools and in various community settings across the West of England.”
The club introduced an equipment loan scheme to help new members and the idea has paid dividends with membership up 15 per cent in the last 12 months. It has also been working with more than 40 primary schools, as well as supporting the University of the West of England to establish a new club.
World Archery have advised Archery GB that the partnership between World Archery and Bjorn Bengston Sweden AB has terminated, therefore target faces from this manufacturer are no longer accepted by World Archery.
As from 1 August 2016 these target faces cannot be used for World Record or Arrowhead status events. This does not affect club and UK record status events.
More information can be found on the World Archery Website and the Archery GB Website.
Phoebe Pine, who narrowly missed out on selection for the Paralympics in Rio after making it to the final para-archery shoot-off, will be travelling to Brazil after all to help prepare for her Tokyo Games bid in 2020.
She will fly out to Rio on September 13, 2016 for a week after being selected as part of the Paralympic Inspiration Programme in which a select band of athletes thought to have the potential to be picked for the next Games in four years’ time are given the chance to sample the whole experience and atmosphere.
