Rush of Beginners

Geophys2

Active member
AIUK Saviour
At my NFAS field club we were about to run a beginners course for 8 new archers when the first lockdown started, this of course had to be postponed. Over the following months the list of applicants rose to over 50. Last Sunday we ran a 'Have a Go' for the first 24 on the list just to give them a chance to try it out and then confirm they still wanted to do a beginners course. The result being that we had 26 (!) people sign up for our beginners courses. We will be running them from now through to September, then we'll be repeating the process for the other applicants. Myself and the other two coaches won't be getting much shooting done for a while!
 

LittleSkink

Active member
We are part of that problem, and the reason the target club we joined has had to run back to back beginners courses since AGB said they could re-open in the spring

I had done archery before, introduced my daughters to it when lock-down started in March 2020. One got hooked but we couldn't join any clubs or even do any beginner courses until May 2021. We only just got to go to an NFAS club yesterday, as soon as we are signed as competent we are good there too, but Field Archery seems to have been much slower to restart for some reason

The spike in number is partly pent up demand from nearly 2 years of beginners not being able to join clubs, but I also wonder how much lock-down has influenced things. We got limited by what you could do in the garden, and I wanted coaching for my release but other new folks at the clubs we went to had been inspired by Hungers Games, Avengers etc. I seem to remember a previous flurry of interest in archery when Lord of the Rings came out . . .
 

Rabid Hamster

Well-known member
Ironman
My club estimates we're about to lose half the club when agb renewals have run their course. This isnt good as the club would become financially unviable very quickly.

On the positive side I know one local supplier of beginners courses are snowed under with work, my club has got 8 emails of interest in the last 3 weeks. On the bitter sweet side, a local club may have to close due to loss of venue and we may see some members from them jumping ship.
unsettled times, we just have to weather the storm I guess.
 

LittleSkink

Active member
had heard about the drop off in renewals at our club, AGB seem to have annoyed a fair few folks with the insistence of full fees even though competition has been limited and shooting restricted - but guess it runs deeper than that
 

Kernowlad

Supporter
Supporter
Good to hear.
I’m reeeeally struggling on motivation in archery. I’ve tried a new bow style and briefly felt the joy again but it’s faded.
A shoulder injury that seems to ONLY be a problem with archery is a large part of the reason. I do a tonne of other hard exercise without any issues.
It might be time to throw in the towel.
 

Emmadragon

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
We've got a backlog of about 80 beginners waiting for courses at our club right now; we can't run courses quickly enough!
But several of the longer-standing (and previously highly competition-driven) archers are struggling to get motivated, I think.
 

Rabid Hamster

Well-known member
Ironman
But several of the longer-standing (and previously highly competition-driven) archers are struggling to get motivated, I think.
Bizarrely we flipped the other way. notoriously social archers have turned during covid into rabid badge hunters especially 252's as well as my clubs indoor average score badges and even asking about classification badges. While once there would have been a couple of 50m bosses with the rest 30m on the field, now we have targets all the way from 18m (just joined noobs) to many at 70 and 2 at 90m (252 hunters). Its now seen as normal to start chasing the badges so much so I'm running out of the 18m badge.
 

dvd8n

Supporter
Supporter
AIUK Saviour
My club estimates we're about to lose half the club when agb renewals have run their course. This isnt good as the club would become financially unviable very quickly.
It will be interesting to see what happens when AGB renewals come due.

Is our club's current low turn out due to members not wanting to renew for just a few weeks shooting, or are they still nervous about Covid, or are they gone for good?
 

Rabid Hamster

Well-known member
Ironman
yup, renewals will give us a better picture than guesswork.
most of the usual suspects are back shooting but the more marginal archers and beginners we had early 2020 look to have quit. we've tried so many times to get them to talk to us but literally no reply. its bordering on rudeness tbh but so many of them are doing it, we cant work out the problem.
 

Corax67

Well-known member
Good to hear.
I’m reeeeally struggling on motivation in archery. I’ve tried a new bow style and briefly felt the joy again but it’s faded.
A shoulder injury that seems to ONLY be a problem with archery is a large part of the reason. I do a tonne of other hard exercise without any issues.
It might be time to throw in the towel.
Don’t throw in the towel

You are talking to a shoulder injury maestro mate - blew out my left rotator cuff last October, cannot shoot my longbow AGAIN but haven’t hit the “screw it” button this time. Reckon it will be another 8-10 months before I pick up my longbow.

During my enforced downtime my AGB Session Coach (the new version of the old level 1 coach) course started in its all new online guise and WOW have I learned a ton of useful stuff from it.

First and foremost - warm up and warm down drills - what to do, how to do it and the why EVERYONE in EVERY club should be doing them to prevent injury and discomfort.

I wish that you were close enough to come to our club - we aren’t perfect but we are like one big daft supportive, often dysfunctional, mixed up archery family. Part of my love of the sport is my club and the environment in it, one of the reasons our membership grew in lockdown was from members of other clubs migrating to us because of that nurturing environment.

If you could find a club like that local to you then I guarantee your outlook on the sport would change.


As for beginners courses we have 60+ names on our waiting list, are on week 3 of course two this year & as I’m now nearly signed off as ’real’ coach we will begin running staggered courses next week as our week 4’s continue to develop with experienced mentor buddies and our new week 1’s get the intensive coaches.

We also seem to be gaining a bit of a reputation as a ‘para friendly’ club {horrid term} with archers joining us who are visually impaired, wheelchair users, amputees or with other challenges. Some blue sky thinking and an insane amount of internet trawling has been required to create adaptive devices but on the whole it’s been a smooth ride.

Renewal won’t affect our numbers - they tend to fluctuate as people move away from the area rather than leaving the sport and like most clubs we probably have a 30-40% stick rate from beginners courses but I am hearing of other local clubs who are starting to reach a position where falling numbers are threatening their ability to continue.
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
I think covid caused members to re think where their archery fits in with their lives. Those who were getting a little less enthusiastic just before, could find an excuse not to renew. Some, who felt addicted to attending, could find they can survive without it and find other interests.
We have had plenty of interest in beginners' courses. I guess it would be possible to get numbers back to normal pretty quickly if all the beginners turned into new members.
Instead of a slow dribble of new members... clubs might find a sudden surge in new archers a challenge to accommodate in the sense of looking after their needs. I believe that new members do have needs ,different from those of experienced archers. Getting that wrong can have negative effects.( Kernowlad will agree; I'm sure)
 

Riceburner

Active member
yup, renewals will give us a better picture than guesswork.
most of the usual suspects are back shooting but the more marginal archers and beginners we had early 2020 look to have quit. we've tried so many times to get them to talk to us but literally no reply. its bordering on rudeness tbh but so many of them are doing it, we cant work out the problem.
Archery is always going to be one of those things that is very easy to give up in a busy life-style.

Now that the lockdowns have opened up and people are trying to 'get back to normal', you'll probably find that priorities have changed, if people are commuting to work again from not, then they've suddenly lost 1 or 2 hours of every day (from lockdown 'normality') and for a while people will struggle to get used to that, and some hobbies will fall by the wayside.

Also, archery is quite probably one of the 'cheaper' hobbies, so less 'important' mentally, and easier to give up on (eg a £100 subscription is easier to forget and give up on than a £1000 subscription).
 

Riceburner

Active member
Don’t throw in the towel

You are talking to a shoulder injury maestro mate - blew out my left rotator cuff last October, cannot shoot my longbow AGAIN but haven’t hit the “screw it” button this time. Reckon it will be another 8-10 months before I pick up my longbow.

During my enforced downtime my AGB Session Coach (the new version of the old level 1 coach) course started in its all new online guise and WOW have I learned a ton of useful stuff from it.

First and foremost - warm up and warm down drills - what to do, how to do it and the why EVERYONE in EVERY club should be doing them to prevent injury and discomfort.

I wish that you were close enough to come to our club - we aren’t perfect but we are like one big daft supportive, often dysfunctional, mixed up archery family. Part of my love of the sport is my club and the environment in it, one of the reasons our membership grew in lockdown was from members of other clubs migrating to us because of that nurturing environment.

If you could find a club like that local to you then I guarantee your outlook on the sport would change.


As for beginners courses we have 60+ names on our waiting list, are on week 3 of course two this year & as I’m now nearly signed off as ’real’ coach we will begin running staggered courses next week as our week 4’s continue to develop with experienced mentor buddies and our new week 1’s get the intensive coaches.

We also seem to be gaining a bit of a reputation as a ‘para friendly’ club {horrid term} with archers joining us who are visually impaired, wheelchair users, amputees or with other challenges. Some blue sky thinking and an insane amount of internet trawling has been required to create adaptive devices but on the whole it’s been a smooth ride.

Renewal won’t affect our numbers - they tend to fluctuate as people move away from the area rather than leaving the sport and like most clubs we probably have a 30-40% stick rate from beginners courses but I am hearing of other local clubs who are starting to reach a position where falling numbers are threatening their ability to continue.

I'm beginning to think that this forum should have a 'club memberships' list next to every username - it's simply not possible to remember what club every contributor is in, and no-one ever says which club they're in when talking about it! :D

(ok - just going through my profile and you 'can' enter those details, but I can't seem to get them to show)
 

Kernowlad

Supporter
Supporter
I'm beginning to think that this forum should have a 'club memberships' list next to every username - it's simply not possible to remember what club every contributor is in, and no-one ever says which club they're in when talking about it! :D

(ok - just going through my profile and you 'can' enter those details, but I can't seem to get them to show)
I’m a member of a very decent NFAS club but it’s a hell of a long way away; we shot there (club house, 20 yard indoor range) about a month ago. Two hours driving for about 40 arrows. Enjoyed it but just not sure we have the time to commit. The woods are a bit nearer (approx 3/4 hour each way) but unlikely to be open for a while due to rail and forestry work.
And the tournaments; again we’ve enjoyed the two we did very much but it’s two hours drive each way minimum and a whole day; it’s just hard to justify the commitment plus with my AFB, I’ll also be rubbish (did the two with my compound).
It’s a real shame and I have spent a lot on kit but I feel I’ve had decent use out of it (well not the AFB yet but I will still keep at it) and it’ll always be there. It’s just not worth selling it all.
And warming up; I will never shoot a bow again without one! Definitely essential.

So to be a bit negative but it’s a shame when something fun is pushed aside by injury/time/whatever.

I hope all your clubs do thrive and some excellent comments here.
 

4d4m

Active member
we've tried so many times to get them to talk to us but literally no reply. its bordering on rudeness tbh but so many of them are doing it, we cant work out the problem.
I think it's just human nature. Some will drift away without ever really deciding they've quit; they'll think ah not tonight, then after a few months they'll almost forget they used to do it except occasionally when they see the bow case in the loft or something. Others who actively decide to quit may just be embarrassed to talk about their reasons to the club. Still others will intend to reply but just never get round to it, and then forget about doing so. You'll never get more than a small proportion of leavers who give you reasons.
 

Kernowlad

Supporter
Supporter
I think it's just human nature. Some will drift away without ever really deciding they've quit; they'll think ah not tonight, then after a few months they'll almost forget they used to do it except occasionally when they see the bow case in the loft or something. Others who actively decide to quit may just be embarrassed to talk about their reasons to the club. Still others will intend to reply but just never get round to it, and then forget about doing so. You'll never get more than a small proportion of leavers who give you reasons.
I gave a number of reasons to my old AGB club to two members but never heard back.
 

geoffretired

Supporter
Supporter
yup, renewals will give us a better picture than guesswork.
most of the usual suspects are back shooting but the more marginal archers and beginners we had early 2020 look to have quit. we've tried so many times to get them to talk to us but literally no reply. its bordering on rudeness tbh but so many of them are doing it, we cant work out the problem.
From reading posts on here, very few clubs ever find out why members don't renew.
I am guessing that if they left with, strong feelings that the club was responsible by their actions( or lack of actions) then they would be wanting to tell the club, why.
I also think that if there are lots of members leaving; the club might be able to work out the reason if it is something the club is doing ( or not doing). So, if RH can't work out the reason, there's a high chance it's not the club's fault.
 

Riceburner

Active member
From reading posts on here, very few clubs ever find out why members don't renew.
I am guessing that if they left with, strong feelings that the club was responsible by their actions( or lack of actions) then they would be wanting to tell the club, why.
Maybe - but it's funny how you can always find negative reviews of a product or service online, but people (well - most Brits) aren't ready to complain in person about things. ;) I think sometimes people are more reticent to say negative things in person to a club or shop, but will complain bitterly to anyone else not associated with the club or shop (ie, uselessly). It's a very weird thing - it's like we no longer know how to pass on negative feedback politely, or without fearing repercussions.

I think it's more that people drift off almost because they do NOT have strong feelings about the sport or club, (which is a bloody obvious thing to say, but only when someone actually says it).
 

Kernowlad

Supporter
Supporter
I can’t really fault my club; great people who put a lot of time into it. Nice indoor and outdoor range. It’s just a bit far and it’s my nearest club!
 
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