Archery history: The sport that pioneered equality for women’s participation
Archery has long been celebrated for gender equality in competition. Particularly in the modern era, women have taken an equal role in competition – and increasingly in governance as well. The sport was among the first to include a women’s event at the Olympics – in 1904 – and World Archery was the first international federation to have a female president.
Benefits of Archery
The physical, mental and wellbeing benefits of archery. Archery requires focus, strength and determination – Whether you’re a performance athlete or just having a go, archery is great for body and mind. Top archers train daily for many hours at a time, but even for recreational archers, the health benefits of archery are clear. Shooting takes concentration, calming your mind as you focus on the target, and can mean that any worries you have are left aside while at the range.
Archery is a highly accessible sport, one of the few that almost everyone, regardless of gender, age or ability, can enter, enjoy and potentially excel at.
Archery is great physical exercise
Drawing a bow takes energy, burning calories and toning and strengthening muscles in your arms and back. Walking to the shooting line and then to the target to collect arrows also burns energy and means you’ll get your steps in faster than you think.
When exercise is enjoyable, we’re more likely to do it, and what could be more enjoyable than spending time with your club, shooting arrows and working on your aim?
Archery is fun!
Even the most serious of performance archers enjoy their sport and have fun with it – it’s unlikely they’d get far if they didn’t. While improving your scores, progressing and winning competitions is important if those are your goals, they don’t have to be. It’s perfectly acceptable to just shoot for the love of it, you don’t even have to record your scores if you don’t want to.
Engaging in activities which you find fun and entertaining helps lighten the load and sets you up for the rest of the week.
Not one for team sports – Try Archery
Archery is perfect for those of us who either do not enjoy or excel at team sports. Archery is not about being better than anyone else, it’s about being better than you used to be.
Bow and Arrow Selection
When you walk into an archery shop for the first time is can be rather daunting. What you will need will depend on the type of bow you wish to shoot. Here are some of the options, all of which are currently shot at Cressy Archers so why not visit and see them in action.
Types of Bows
There are five main types of bow that you’ll see in archery – the recurve bow (includes Horse Bow), the compound bow, the longbow, the barebow and the cross bow – and all can be used in the various disciplines, although there are different rules for each.
Traditional bows are generally one-piece wooden bows that come in Longbow and Recurve. The horse bow is effectively a short recurve.
Recurve bows
The recurve bow is the modern equivalent of the traditional bows that have been made and used for thousands of years, around the world. The recurve bow is the only kind of bow currently used in Olympic archery.
Drawing the bow stores energy in the limbs which is transferred to the arrow on release. Arrows can be shot downrange at speeds of more than 200 kph. While historically these bows were handmade from wood, modern recurve bows are built using technically advanced materials such as laminated carbon fibre and carbon foam in the limbs, and aluminium or carbon fibre in the riser (handle).
Recurve bows are fitted with sights and stabilisers to improve your shooting. Limbs can be universal which means you can change them up or down to change the poundage of the bow.
Compound bows
Compound bows are designed for maximum efficiency and power. Using a system of pulleys and cables means that less physical strength is needed from the archer, and it is easier to hold the bow at full draw. Archers can use magnifying sights and mechanical release aids, making the compound much more accurate from a greater distance than other types of bow.
Compound bow risers can be made of aluminium or carbon fibre and the limbs are usually made from fibreglass.
Barebow
Barebow shooting is archery done using a recurve bow, but without stabilisers, sights or any other accessories. Fans of barebow shooting say that starting with barebow is a great foundation for moving on to any other kind of bow, as barebow archers work on consistency of draw length and careful aim.
Barebow was traditionally used in field archery but is now recognised in target archery as well.
Traditional One-Piece Wooden Bows and Horse Bows also fit into this category.
Horse bows are based on the bows used by mounted archers in the Middle East and Asia. They are much shorter in length than the other kinds of bows and have highly recurved limbs. Their shorter length allows them to be used more easily on horseback. Sadly, no horses at Cressy but there are shooters of Horse Bows.
Longbow
The longbow is the most historically accurate and traditional kind of bow, having been made by highly skilled bowyers for thousands of years. Nowadays longbows are still made from wood – traditionally they were made from yew but there are more sustainable options such as bamboo.
If a bow corresponds to the traditional form of a longbow but is made from any other material it is called an American flatbow. The flatbow can even be made of carbon fibre making it incredibly lightweight.
These days longbows are available with or without an arrow rest.
Cross Bows
Crossbows are horizontal bows which use mechanisms to draw and release arrows. They cannot shoot against other bow types in the same competition, but crossbowmen and women may compete against each other.
Arrows
Selecting arrows can be quiet challenging and the arrow charts really are a guide only. There are simply too many variables that can impact on the spine of arrow and point weight you might require. It is recommended to start with inexpensive arrows until you find the ones that best suit you and your bow.
Types of Arrows
If you are going to shoot Long bow in competition you have only two choices, wooden arrows or aluminium.
All other disciplines generally shoot modern carbon arrows. There are also combinations of carbon arrows with an aluminium core, and barrelled arrows that are wider in the centre.
Cressy Archers 