Hoseasons on board to deliver the archery experience

rohenwto

Member
......Looks like there could be a large influx of enquires, shame we will not be in a position to help many of them.

From GNAS News

February 2, 2010
By Peter Jones

Archery GB and the holiday company Hoseasons have entered into an agreement that will see holidaymakers enjoying archery as part of their Go Active Breaks.

An archery experience will be delivered through Leaders, and completion certificates will direct participants back to the Archery GB web site - and hopefully on to relevant clubs throughout the country.

Hoseasons expect over 10,000 people to participate this summer.

"This is great news," said David Sherratt, chief executive of Archery GB. "It's a great way of getting our sport in front of lots more people, giving them all the opportunity to give it a go.

"Hopefully that will lead to plenty of them wanting to take up the sport on a more regular basis."
 

its my party and

Active member
Ironman
Is this really the right way forward?

I think this is very good for Archery GBs participation numbers and will lead to more funding, but there are many pitfalls to people learning archery this way. I think unless the structure is absolutely bullet proof in its detailing this may lead to lots of problems within our current club structures. Expect retailers to be very busy though and retention after the first two months at about 40% and about 2% - 10% after 6 months. Mark my words here! Huge pitfalls lay ahead!
 

Thunk

Well-known member
Ironman
I think impa's predictions about retention are probably right - however, that doesn't detract from the fact that it exposes more people to archery which can only be a good thing.

David Sherratt is probably being hugely over-optimistic in his hopes of "plenty of them wanting to take up the sport on a more regular basis." - but then it could be argued that it's part of his job to be unrealistically bullish. The bottom line is that if even a fraction of one per cent of the people who try archery in this way go on to join a club and become committed archers, it's a gain for no effort on our part. Game on, I say.
 
On the plus side:
Good news, after all the more exposure the sport gets the better. You never know where a future champion will be discovered, and this certainly makes the sport more accessable.

If ArcheryGB get things right here they can sell associated mechandise, and maybe get a bit of commercial revenue coming in.

On the down side:
How are the clubs supposed to deal with these new archers? If the archer has a completion certificate, is this the equivalent to a beginners course certificate? Or will archers turn up to a club expecting to be able to shoot, only to be told they have to go through a complete beginners course? It will be interesting to see how this is communicated through to the club level.

I can see some archery snobbery surfacing here as well. 'What you learnt to shoot at a holiday park! How terribly awful, that's not how it was done in my day you know.'
 

Stace

New member
I think that archery tends to be a very closed shop when it comes to new members anyway.

Beginners courses tend to a bit thin on the ground - possibly due to the amount of people required to make it worthwhile. When I first showed an interest in archery, my local club had a beginners course in a month's time which I signed up for. Due to lack of interest, the course was put back until July - some 6 months later. So from my first contact with the club, it took almost eight months for me to get a bow in my hand.

If this is common amongst other clubs, I wonder how many people would have been put off and taken up another sport?

If these holiday certificates are just an award to say they've tried archery and they then need to complete the usual beginners course, then surely that's a good thing for clubs? The more people that take part in archery results in more money for clubs and retailers.

If however, this certificate replaces the standard beginners course, then there will be problems. I think more facts are needed before we can speculate any further.

I am intrigued about the OP's comment: "shame we will not be in a position to help many of them". Why not?
 
The main issue is that club's facilities indoors tend to restrict the number of members shooting. We regularly have 25 people shooting on an evening indoors and the hall cannot realistically accomodate many more. Yes we could run beginners courses, but what happens at the end when you may have to tell them that they cannot join the club as there is insufficient room for them to shoot?
In our case it is not lack of interest, but lack of facilities that restricts the influx of new members.
I think many clubs are approaching maximum level of members due to restriction of facilities.
If Archery GB want to increase participation and membership, are they going to provide the additional facilities that may be required to accomodate them?
 

mk1

It's an X
Supporter
The main issue is that club's facilities indoors tend to restrict the number of members shooting. We regularly have 25 people shooting on an evening indoors and the hall cannot realistically accomodate many more. Yes we could run beginners courses, but what happens at the end when you may have to tell them that they cannot join the club as there is insufficient room for them to shoot?
In our case it is not lack of interest, but lack of facilities that restricts the influx of new members.
I think many clubs are approaching maximum level of members due to restriction of facilities.
If Archery GB want to increase participation and membership, are they going to provide the additional facilities that may be required to accomodate them?
It more the government and local government policy with regard to sports facilities that causes the problems. As a Governing Body all ArcheryGB can do is hassle government.

There is supposed to be legacy from "The Games" - up here in Scotland we've got the Commonwealth Games in 2014 too (no archery) and we've the Archery World Cup this September here in Edinburgh - they still haven't found a venue for a "legacy" archery Club - no wonder I gave up running one - if the council can't sort out a venue for themselves what chance did I when they screwed things up!!

There was a phone in on Radio Scotland from 9-10 yesterday morning on sports and participation ( I got to listen to it all as I was stuck in a snow jam) - all the sports were complaining about lack of access and the cost.
 

Trunkles

The American
American Shoot
My local school ( A "Community" College) wants ?25 per hour for a gym with no storage facilities. So we would need 25 people shooting guaranteed per session and paying ?2.50 each to dare to hire it. We pay ?6.50 per hour at the Miner's Welfare (Community Association), can just get 20 yards and can get 5 bosses up. So a potential to have 20 shooting but not with all the kit.

So how do we break out of that cycle.
 

Stace

New member
I know this is very easy for me say but a whole other story to put into practice but shouldn't the facilities be adjusted for the number of archers rather than the other way round?

More members=more revenue=better facilities surely?

If you're in an area where you might benefit from addition members, there should be larger sports halls available.

What about doing two sessions so that everyone can shoot. During the indoor season, competitive archers could take one session and 'social' archers could take the other. Similar to swimming pools where one session is reserved for 'serious' swimmers (apologies for the labelling).

There are ways around these problems, they just need a little extra effort from the clubs. I would rather be a member of a club with a larger 'active' membership that a small club with no ambition. I'm sure I'm not the only one. People get different things from archery, so should they practice at the same time.

Just my thoughts.
 

Trunkles

The American
American Shoot
Its a chicken and egg thing - need the extra revenue to pay for it before we have the extra revenue
 
I know this is very easy for me say but a whole other story to put into practice but shouldn't the facilities be adjusted for the number of archers rather than the other way round?

More members=more revenue=better facilities surely?

If you're in an area where you might benefit from addition members, there should be larger sports halls available.

What about doing two sessions so that everyone can shoot. During the indoor season, competitive archers could take one session and 'social' archers could take the other. Similar to swimming pools where one session is reserved for 'serious' swimmers (apologies for the labelling).

There are ways around these problems, they just need a little extra effort from the clubs. I would rather be a member of a club with a larger 'active' membership that a small club with no ambition. I'm sure I'm not the only one. People get different things from archery, so should they practice at the same time.

Just my thoughts.
I don't think that sports halls come in too many different sizes, ours accomodates 10 bosses, so is fairly large. Setting up a new indoor facility is quite a task, as not only do you need a hall, but storage for stands , bosses, target faces, equipment etc and of course the additional cost involved
 

Stace

New member
I don't suppose they do, Steve.

I was thinking about the small village hall we shoot in compared to a leisure centre's sports hall. The increase in size would be quite substantial.
 
Top