Archery is one of the many sports offered at Assumption, and even though archery often goes largely unnoticed, our team performs well consistently. The season runs through winter, with practices starting in October, and this season, our team has received awards in five tournaments both as a team and individually.
Unless you are an active member on the team, or are close to a person on the team, archery can be a confusing sport. Although many students may have picked up a bow and arrow in grade school physical education, they have never thought about it again. From afar, a tournament seems very individualized and lacks the structure and rules seen in other sports. However, there a lot of rules and guidelines go into a tournament.
Guidelines for each tournament are set by the NASP (National Archery in the Schools Program) regarding arrival times, set up, equipment, scoring and awards.
Each tournament has a total of six scored rounds and two practice rounds. The first half of the tournament is shot 10 meters away from the target and the second half is shot 15 meters away. Archers stand at the line, share a target with another competitor, their lane partner, and silently shoot five arrows at the target each round.
After each round, archers walk up to the target with their lane partner to score. Lane partners score each other’s arrows, to prevent false scoring, and sign their scorecard to signify they agree with the score. Arrows are scored between zero and ten, with the highest possible score each round being 50.
Various safety protocols are in place at every tournament to ensure no one is injured. Staff members and volunteers use whistle blows to signify when it is time to walk to the line, shoot the arrows, and walk to the target for scoring. The whistle system guarantees that no arrows are shot when it is unsafe to do so. Additionally, volunteers are placed along the lines and raise a green flag when all archers in their section are ready to begin shooting.
Assumption’s archery team competes in these tournaments throughout the season following these protocols. So, even though at first glance archery seems straightforward and simple, a lot of thought goes into the safety and flow of each event.
