Archery is a sport suitable for all ages and is one of the few sports where family members can participate together. If you are a beginner it is highly recommended that you undertake a series of lessons. Nearly all Archery Clubs affiliated to Archery New Zealand conduct regular Beginners Courses throughout the year. Contact details for a club nearest you can be found here. Archery Clubs 

About Archery New Zealand

Archery New Zealand is a TARGET archery association. This means that we shoot at Targets on a ground laid out specifically for that purpose.

Archery New Zealand is affiliated to the International Target Archery governing body, called FITA, ( Federation Internationale de Tir a l'Arc). Olympic Archery is Target archery. There are other types of Archery like Field where archers move around a course and shoot a limited number of arrows from various distances at different sized targets. The New Zealand association for that is called “New Zealand Field Archery Association”. NZFAA

Archery New Zealand clubs also shoot other forms of archery such as Clout and field (as mentioned above).

Archery New Zealand holds two National Tournaments a year. The National Outdoor Championships and the National Indoor Championships. Both of these events are open to archers of all ages and abilities. There are many events held at Regional and Club level where archers can get together and compete in a warm and friendly atmosphere. The Archery clubs themselves hold regular organized tournaments and fun shoots for members and visitors from other clubs.

Archery New Zealand is a fully voluntary organisation run by a Board of Governors who are elected from within the membership at our Annual General Meetings which are usually held during the course of the National Outdoor Championships. Archery clubs affiliate to Archery New Zealand while still retaining their independence.

Membership

Affiliation to Archery New Zealand is arranged through your club secretary.

Equipment

It is not wise to go out and purchase archery equipment prior to starting a Beginners Course. Archery Equipment needs to be tailored to the archer and this means that it must be setup to match the physical build and skill level of the new archer. The coaches at the archery club where you undertake your lessons will guide you in the purchase of suitable equipment once you have finished your Beginners Course.

There are several equipment classes within Target archery and also different equipment to suit these disciplines.

Recurve – This is the style of bow that is shot at the Olympics. The basic bow is semi-traditional in design but is made of modern materials with the addition of sights and stabilizers.

Compound – These bows do not resemble a traditional bow at all. They are made of modern materials and incorporate wheels (or pulleys) that increase the power of the bow without increasing the effort to the archer. They are extremely accurate and have all sorts of additional fittings to improve the accuracy and efficiency.

Longbow or Barebow – This is a class for the traditional English Longbow or American Flatbow. The bows have no additional fittings and wooden arrows are used. 

Arrows – are made from several types and combinations of materials. Alluminium arrows are inexpensive and come in many variations. Carbon arrows or a little more expensive and there are carbon/aluminium arrows that are used for top competition. This large variety is there to suit all types and levels of competition.

Targets – In New Zealand we use a material called Pinex which is compressed wood chips. This is cut into strips about 200mm wide and stacked in bundles. We shoot on a variety of Target faces. The largest is 122cm in diameter and the smallest is 40cm. Target archery use a standard face design of concentric circles, scoring from the centre to the outside in ten zones, 10 to 1 points.

Shoots or Rounds – We shoot a large variety of rounds at many different distances to suit ages and skill levels. There are particular rounds shot at Major Tournaments such as the FITA or FITA 70m. These are the rounds shot at International Tournaments. There are also scaled down versions of these to suit the various Junior (JAMA) age groups.

Where to go to see Archery

There are clubs all over New Zealand and it is recommended that you contact one closest to you and enquire about when and where you can visit the club. Please see the list of clubs and their contact details here .