Why choose Archery?

The benefits of Archery include:

Fitness – Archery helps to build muscle endurance and flexibility, develop hand and eye coordination and body strength. Archery trains the hands to work together while performing different tasks, aiming and firing the arrow based on input from your eyes. Coordination improves with repetition and practice. Balance is also paramount to success in Archery, as the body must be held still while aiming and making a shot. Over time, the core becomes better at gaining control of the body’s balance and helps with more accurate shooting.

Archery is one of the few sports that can be practised by disabled and non-disabled athletes on a level playing field.

Hand and finger flexibility – finger and hand strength increase in archery. They also become more flexible because they are fully in use while aiming at a target.

Mental Health – Archery helps with mental focus, drive and resilience, perfect for mindfulness and letting go of everyday stress.

Diverse – Archery is for all genders, ages and abilities. It truly is an all-inclusive sport. People with the most severe disabilities and even the blind use special tactile equipment and are able to join in making this a great family sport.

Increased patience – Archery is a sport that requires patience because it is not about speed but is about precision and precision can take time.

Strength building – the arms, core hands, chest and shoulders are all used when practising a proper draw. Similar to lifting weights, the tension on these muscle groups is typically maintained for several seconds before the archer releases the string to fire an arrow. With repetition, the act of drawing and firing a bow leads to muscle development in most of the major muscle groups of the upper body.

Increased focus – archers need to tune out all distractions, focus on their form, and release the bowstring consistently. The concentration practiced during archery can help with coping in high pressure situations, and in day-to-day life as well.

Good exercise – at competition level, archers walk the equivalent of five miles sometimes carrying heavy loads during a days event. In addition, ‘prevention’ magazine stated that drawing a bow burns 140 calories per half hour, the same as walking at a brisk, 3.5mph race.

It is very good for those that are not very good/not comfortable with team sports as with Archery you are only competing against yourself and the terrain.

Improves confidence – in archery, competition can be against others or against oneself. Because of this, results are measurable and improvement in one’s form and technique results in a boost in self – esteem and self – confidence.

Relaxation – releasing an arrow, watching it fly, and having it hit a target can relieve stress. The act of focusing while building strength and confidence is overall a satisfying and relaxing experience.

It’s a social sport – people of any age and from many walks of life enjoy Archery. Almost every age group can participate, competitors from the age of six all the way into their eighties are shooting. It also teaches the benefits of teamwork in some cases with some competitions involving groups of people.

Archery facts:

Archery made its debut at the Olympic games in 1900, and has been a permanent fixture in the games since 1972.

ParalympicsGB has won 60 medals since the sport debuted in 1960, 18 more than any other country!

A recent survey found that archery is the sport 77% of Brits wished they could have learnt during P.E!