University of Birmingham Archery Club

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Advice for Beginners

Or, Pissing With a Quiver On, and everything else they don’t tell you—but should—when you start archery!

Written by Steven Johnson, Club Captain 2006-8

This is not a guide to archery, just all the stuff that you should be told but people often do not get round to telling you. Written for the poor beginners who are lost in a sea of knowledge. Most of it is just facts, some of it is my own thoughts, but all of it should be useful to you.

Personal Kit

As a beginner you will not need your own bow or arrows. If you go and buy a bow too soon, the coach will call you a prat and make fun of you. There is however some basic stuff that is worth getting. After a few weeks you will probably want to get yourself:

• A tab to protect your fingers. Just a basic platform tab will be fine but make sure it is for the correct handed-ness. It may need to be hacked at a bit to give you what you want but remember it is impossible to stick bits back on!
• A finger sling to hold the bow. Best thing for this is a bootlace cut in half, knotted and then looped at each end – ask someone to show you. Get a good thick lace that doesn’t stretch too much, if it does it will cut off the supply of blood to your fingers.
• An arm guard to stop the bowstring hitting your arm. When starting archery you will want to get yourself a nice big arm guard that covers the entire arm, elbow and anything else you are able to hit. The little Beiter ones that all the experienced folks wear are very pretty and come in a multitude of colours, but offer minimal protection. And before anyone tries to convince you otherwise, you don’t get left and right-handed arm guards.
• A quiver to keep arrows in. If nothing else, it is good to keep all your other kit in. You can get side quivers or back quivers. Back quivers are a bit silly and will make you look like Robin Hood so do expect heckling if you buy one, otherwise a good side quiver with a couple of pockets is all you really need. Like tabs, these are different for left or right-handed archers.

In addition to that you could get an arrow puller, score pad, tool kit with Allen keys and pliers, knife, binoculars, spare tabs and never forget a cuddly toy for you quiver.

If you’re looking for more detailed information on all the different bits and pieces that archers adorn themselves and their bows with, take a look at our page on the topic.

Technique

Not all techniques are the same. People’s techniques differ hugely depending on who taught them, how long they have been shooting and how often they shoot. It is easy to spot a good technique and a bad one, but any technique can work as long as it is consistent. As long as the anchor point on the face is the same, the release is smooth and the front arm doesn’t flail like a fencer it should be pretty good. There are many books written by far more qualified people to read up on technique, good ones are “The Simple Art of Winning” by Rick McKinney or the more advanced “The Heretic Archer” by Frangilli. A good starting point is the Archer’s Reference Guide, which is good on many different topics and can be downloaded for free in PDF format.

Competitions

The reason most of us do the sport – the opportunity to drink with a completely different group of people. It is like any other time that you shoot. As always, it is back to basics and stick with what you know. Enjoy the day and chat to the people on your target. Beforehand ensure you have tab, quiver, arrows and bow. Bear in mind that over your first three or so competitions your scores will improve drastically, after that your scores may begin to fluctuate; this is normal. You will get bad days and good days, and on those bad days just keep going, try to figure out what you are doing wrong and never just give up. On the good days remember what you were doing, how you felt and write it all down so you can look back when you have a bad day.

Shooting

When at a competition, a set number of arrows are shot at a target at a certain distance. We have a comprehensive list of rounds you may shoot on this website. The most common indoor round is the Portsmouth: five dozen arrows shot at 20 yards (18 meters) at a target with a diameter of 60cm. 3 arrows are shot in an “end” then you go to score and collect. On the target there will usually be 4 people: A, B, C and D. A and B shoot first, A on the left hand target and B on the right, followed by C and D who shoot left and right respectively. The first two ends are for practice, known as “sighters”. Then the round starts and the shooting order alternates: on the first end A & B are first, on the second end C & D are first, third end A & B are first, and so on.

If an arrow hits the target and bounces back, known as a “bouncer”, then call a judge by stepping back from the line and waving at them. If they accept that it was a bouncer, you may shoot another arrow. Also if you have an equipment failure, call the judge as soon as possible. You are allowed to have time to fix your equipment during the shoot.

Scoring

Do not touch the target face or any of the arrows until they have been scored. Archer C is the target captain and will record the scores on the score sheet. When the target captain calls your name, call your score in the order of highest to lowest, for example “9, 6, 5”. If you had an arrow that didn’t score, call a “miss” and it will be recorded with an “M” on the score sheet.

If an arrow is touching a line then it scores the higher value. If you are unsure or if it is not obvious call the higher score but draw the attention of others to it and let them decide. If there is a dispute over the value of an arrow call a judge, his word is final.

If a score has been written down incorrectly then only a judge can change the mistake, which he will do in red pen. While others are calling their scores check that what they are calling is correct, it is very easy to make a mistake when calling arrows so feel free to correct them. At the end of a shoot, remember to sign your score sheet and always thank your target captain.

Tuning

Unless shooting above 550 on a Portsmouth, tuning will do very little to help you and your time is better spent shooting. Tuning is a process by which the pressure button on the bow handle is adjusted to make the arrow fly smoothly out of the bow. If you are a beginner you will probably have been given arrows with a suitable enough spine to shoot well and do not need to worry about tuning. The unsurpassed guide to tuning is the Easton Arrow Tuning & Maintenance Guide, another handy PDF download, which tells you everything you ever needed to know.

And finally…

Pissing With a Quiver On

• For men: With a back quiver this is not a problem, with a side quiver it will need to be moved around but be aware you will be stabbing the guy next to you in the ribs with your nocks. Remember to take your tab and finger sling off before peeing, they will get in the way and must be done before anything else.
• For women: Just give up and take the damn thing off.

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