Youth Newsletter

Youth News - 2017

Youth News - June 2015

Hi Everyone

Below is the latest, and my final, Youth update. For those that are not aware, I’m shortly due to leave NZ with my family as I have accepted a new role in my day job based in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. So, it is with mixed emotions that I write this update and ask you to put your thinking caps on because, if it is not out already, there will shortly be a call for a new JAMA convener. So long and “thanks for the memories!”.  
 
Youth Postal Rounds (Phil Sanson)
The first part of 2015 has seen a similar pattern emerge from previous years, with 140-plus shooters for February and March, followed by a small reduction to around 110 shooters in April.  Perhaps it is something to do with the weather? 
However, it is still great to see such a high number of archers submitting scores each month, particularly those that have now been around for a good number of years.  The Cub and Intermediate grades remain strong, but the increasing number of Cadet shooters on previous years highlights the continuation of shooters in the sport through the age grades.  With the move to the winter indoor rounds from May we saw good retention of numbers last year, so hopefully that will set the scene this year. Below are the figures for the first few months of 2015:

Pins and Badges

The new ‘720’ score badges have proven popular but also a significant increase in the number of perfect claims have kept Charlotte busy. A breakdown of the claims over the months Jan to Apr (2014 in parentheses) is below:

Youth NI and SI Outdoor Championships

2015 saw another couple of successful Youth Championships. The North Island Champs, once again hosted by Rotorua Archery Club, saw a total of 68 (up from 49 last year) juniors compete, including three in the open (novice) division. The South Island Champs, hosted by Dunedin Archery club, saw a total of 37 (34 last year) juniors compete, including three in the open (novice) division.
 
Based on my experience of the NI competition, everyone appeared to have fun but with that number of archers on the line and the inclusion of a 1440 round and a match-play it did make for a couple of long days. A call will soon go out for hosts for the 2015 NI Champs soon, at which point clubs will need to decide what format they want to offer so please make the effort to provide feedback as to what kind of competition is preferred.

Archery In Schools Programme (Maria Tucker)
Term one saw 104 (down from 208 last year) individual scores submitted, with archers representing 38 (59 last year) schools from across the country with a total of 31 teams competed for the titles in their respective categories. The number of competitors was down but on a brighter note, a total of 12 (up from 9 last year) archery clubs and coaching bodies took up the challenge to provide access to our sport in support of this competition. Also, the competition appears to be changing with the open recurve division upsetting the traditional dominance of the limited recurve division for the first time. This may just be a blip but could also reflect our recent NZQA accreditation, time will tell.

Winners of the 2015 Term 1 team competitions are listed HERE

2016 Trans-Tasman Challenge

Archery Australia have just made contact but nothing to report at this stage.
 
Cheers
Chris

Archery Rubrics now available

Youth News - February 2015

Hi Everyone

And a belated ‘Happy New Year’ to all that I haven’t already seen at the Nationals or since and welcome to the kinda fourth quarterly Youth Newsletter and roundup for 2014:  
 
Youth Postal League
Overall the league continues to go from strength to strength. Participation has been steady throughout the year with up to 150 archers per month taking part in the competition and, with one or two bumpy months, a steady level of pin-score achievements. We have also seen increased participation by clubs with a number of new clubs, or those that have not contributed archers in the past, joining in the nation-wide competition. Below are the figures for the final few months of 2014:

For those of you that couldn’t make it to the AGM, Phil put in a staunch effort when I dropped him in it and managed to calculate the ‘most improved’ archers in the league for 2014 and the winners were acknowledged at the meeting. In summary we have:

Boy's Recurve:
1st          Connor Stulich, Mountain Green
2nd        Alexander Shaw, Mountain Green
3rd         Chris Billington, Auckland
 
Girl’s Recurve:
1st          Serina Li, Mountain Green
2nd        Jade Lusty, Mountain Green
3rd         Natasha Skuljan, Shore
 
Boy's Compound:
1st          Jordan van Waas, Manawatu
2nd        Travis Kaandorp, Manawatu
3rd         Yazdy Mistry, Mountain Green
 
Girl's Compound:
1st          Lauren Tucker, Grey Goose Wing
2nd        Aspen Pugh, Wairarapa
3rd         Aurora Agustin, Auckland
 
Congratulations to all those named, unfortunately there wasn’t time before the Nationals but we’ve now had trophies made up for those who achieved first place. So can the Youth coordinators of Mountain Green and Grey Goose Wing remind me of your full postal address so that I can get them to you to present them at a suitably auspicious occasion?
 
Now there was the suggestion at the AGM of us setting up a postal 720, just once a term like AIS, in order to give our youngsters more competition. I like the idea but would prefer it if someone could put their hand up, like Phil and Maria have done for the monthly postal and AIS shoots, to help set up and then run this competition. So, if you think it a good initiative and are interested in supporting it further please let me know and I’ll see what we can do.

Pins and Badges
Well claims have been coming in thick and fast and it’s great to see the juniors sporting their badges on their quivers. I’m, with a little help from my friends (my wife Charlotte heard my plaintif cry at the AGM and has offered to take on this responsibility in the future to try to reduce my workload), endeavouring to do my best to get awards sent out as expediently as possible. A breakdown of the total number of badges that have been awarded during 2014 is below (2013 in parentheses). With the newly designed 720 badges now also available, and a growing junior membership, I think that the number of claims is just going to keep on increasing and am very glad for the assistance (same process, same address I just hand the claim to Charlotte).