The group may be put atvarying distances

The group may be put atvarying distances

The National Archery Association of the United States had its origin as a resultof our own country’s history.

After the Civil War, Confederate soldiers were notallowed to own firearms. Two brothers, J. Maurice and William H. Thompson,learned to hunt with the bow and arrow and became accomplished archers.

Theywere both founding members of the N.A.A. in 1879 at Crawfordsville, Indiana.Archery tournaments, as we know them today, can also be traced back to England.Competitions were held as part of community festivals as early as the 17thcentury. Archery became an official event in the modern Olympic Games in 1900and was also featured in 1904, 1908 and 1920.

International rules had not yetbeen developed, though, and each host country used its own rules and format.Because of the confusion, the sport was eliminated from the Olympic programuntil 1972. Target archery competition centers around specific distances,usually from 20 to 90 meters or yards, with target faces of various sizes andcenter-scoring rings marked off in centimeters.

A game in archery is called around. Examples in target archery are the 600 Round and the 900 Round, named forpotential perfect scores. Up to four archers may shoot at the same target in agiven round, each using his/her own distinguishable arrows. An end makes up thenumber of arrows shot in a row before a score is recorded and the arrows arepulled. In target shooting an end may be from three to six arrows, dependingupon the size target and the distance involved. One archery game that is growingin popularity is a spin-off of the rifle and handgun game silhouette.

In archerysilhouette, however, foam plastic targets replace the metallic version used withfirearms. The silhouette target shapes are the same as those used in theoriginal game chicken, pig, turkey and ram, but the actual contest has anadditional challenge that makes it even more attractive to archers. Targets areplaced at various distances in-groups of three. The first target in each groupis positioned at a known distance, from 25 meters for the chicken, out to 70meters for the ram. The remaining two targets in each group may be put atvarying distances up to but not beyond the next set, forcing the shooter toestimate the distance to the target. To score a hit, a target must be completelytoppled.

While this game is ideal for the bow hunter armed with a high techcompound bow, the bare bow archer is also equipped to handle the course of fire.In some archery silhouette events, an added challenge is a timed match, wherebythe shooter may have just two minutes to get off 36 arrows. This type game allbut eliminates the use of fancy or sophisticated sighting devices. Most shootersuse a bow with a draw weight of at least 40 pounds and draw weights in excess of70 pounds, capable of dropping the ram target at 75 yards, are not uncommon. Instandard FAA events, equipment is divided into four categories: bare bow,freestyle, competitive bow hunter and competitive freestyle bow hunter. In barebow there are no sights or sight-marking devices of any kind or mechanicalrelease devices. In freestyle, practically any sighting or release device,stabilizer or arrow rest is allowed.

There is a variety of archery equipmentavailable today from ancient wooden bows and arrows to sophisticated compoundbows and carbon-graphite arrows. Most archers take advantage of technicaladvances in equipment. This includes the latest in compound bows in variousarrangements and components of glues, carbon and graphite. Steel cables arefixed in different ways over off-center wheels to permit easy holding at fulldraw. Better string material, sighting aids, draw stops, vibration dampeners,overdraws, arrow rests and stabilizers are some of the improvements added to thebow to make them more effective for those who can use their advantages.

Arrowsare available in wood, plastic, aluminum alloys and carbon-graphites. The pointsof the arrow have evolved from the famous flint arrowheads of the Indians to themodern screw-on replaceable heads used today. There are other popular games inarchery such as the Clout, where arrows are lobbed long distances (150 yards andmore) at a single target. The Wand shoot is where a thin vertical stick of woodor reed serves as a target, which is a carryover from ancient times. Both theNational Archery Association (NAA) and Field Archery Association (FAA) shootsimilar games. The first, however, is more closely concerned with excellence onthe target line and is the sponsoring organization for Olympic Shooting in theUnited States. National Field Archery Association deals with the hunting scene,with targets simulating actual field shooting situations.

The NAA, in additionto its role as Olympic governing body, also implements a youth archery-trainingprogram, Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD), which exposes thousands tothe sport. Internationally, Federation Internationale de Tir A L’arc (FITA) setsthe rules for target archery for member nations, including the United States;The World Archery Center teaches various levels of learners and instructors frommany nations.Bibliographysources: http://users.ox.ac.uk/sedm0127/archery.html http://www.worldsport.com/worldsport/sports/archery/home.htmlhttp://www.dellarco.com/ontarget/