Modern Archery Is !: What Is Archery Like

By Jake Veit

Jake's involvement in Archery parallel's changes in rules and equipment to today. His life membership in the NFAA & USAA since 1984 helped his involvement as a competitor, instructor and judge in National and World Archery. People compete for awards but Archery offers so much more as a diversion to everyday life.

The author, who began his foray into archery as a ten-year-old in 1951, shares photos to help you hone your effort. He also details his wide array of experiences with the National Field Archery Association, the US Archery Association, the International Field Archery Association, the US Archery Association and the World Archery Association. Plus involvement with three State Archery Association; Ohio Archers, Idaho Field Archery Association and the Georgia Bowhunter & Archery Association.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Feb 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665717014

Jake Veit

Jake Veit has been engaging in archery ever since he was a boy growing up in Ohio. His father enjoyed helping new archers and new archery clubs and as an adult. As an adult, the author began an archery club of his own when he moved to an area east of Columbus that did not have one. He is also the author of The Secrets of Modern Archery.

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Copyright © 2022 Jake Veit.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written

permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy

of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Archway Publishing

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

844-669-3957

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed

since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do

not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Interior Image Credit: I made all the diagrams and took most all the pictures

ISBN: 978-1-6657-1703-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-1702-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-1701-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021925857

Archway Publishing rev. date:  02/24/2022

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CONTENTS

Foreword

Archery Is (What)

Equipment

A Review Of Archery

A Chronological History Of Archery

Polarity In Archery

Normal Experiences In Archery

Bowfishing As A Youth

My Secrets

Personality And Competition

Trait Sport Confidence Inventory

Sports Psychology

Foundations Of Sport And Exercise Psychology

Introduction To Psychological Skills Training

Preparation, Effort & Results

Archery Algorithm

World Mail-In 1983

Archers Come & Go

Fitness For Archery And Life

Basic Archery Shooting Technique

Improving Shooting Form & Execution

Fear Of The Outcome - Liability

Thinking About Coaching Archery

My Coaching Is

Pictures To Help You With Your Shooting

Ageing And Performance

Instinctive Shooting

Nutrition For Archers – And Other People

The Perfect Round - O

Silhouette Shooting

Archery Golf

Field Archery

Target Archery

Olympic Archery

Paralympic Archery

Round OR

Old Field Archery

Old Target Archery

OLD INDOOR

OLD 3-D

Archery Schedule

Appendix I: Stringwalker’s Trilogy

Appendix II: Glossary Of Archery Terms

Things You Can Do With Your Bow & Arrow

Authors Involvement In Archery

Image Of Archery

Archery For Money

ARCHERY IS! this book to me.

first printed in 2014 from computer

Over the years shooting around the country

I have met many dedicated archers &

workers at the local level but

they where not interested in traveling to compete.

This is to the Unsung and Unknown

promoters around the US to the sport of ARCHERY.

All Forms of Archery

Thanks to my wife, who has put up with me and archery.

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All the pictures and information I have competed over the years.

FOREWORD

I think you should know where I’m coming from. Archery has always been there for me.

Archery to me started in 1951 at the age of 10. The Ohio Archers (OA) at that time was an active field archery and bowhunting organization with its own awards programs and tournaments, affiliated with the NFAA, but the OA did not use any of the NFAA awards within the state, just their own programs. New archers in the Columbus, Ohio area looked to us as experienced bowhunters and field shooters for help and for information because we were the 1st. I helped my father with archery classes and promotions for years helping other interested groups and new shooters. Members of the O.A. were working to get an archery only deer-hunting season in Ohio, something we take for granite today. You had to join OA/NFAA as the same time. It is a combination state/national deal and is the same today. But there were few NFAA awards seen in Ohio or other NFAA programs promoted by the OA. All tournaments and programs were OA awards but shot under NFAA tournament rules and regulations.

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My father started the Southeast Archery program within the Southeast Conservation Club. On the conservation land we had a practice area with a few targets.

Many of our students where not conservation members. We found an old building to shoot our winter indoor leagues in under NFAA rules. Ohio started shooting the Flint Indoor Round during the winter of 1952; flint simulated Field indoors (still on the books). The Flint round was an official NFAA indoor round, they (the NFAA) also offered an indoor 300 round. I remember the camaraderie (mostly fish stories for archery) was a big part of the enjoyment of shooting together feeling a part of something. The only archery we know was OA/NFAA rules and rounds through the Ohio Archers. Everybody shot instinctive with longbows and wood arrows at that time. There were so many archers during the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s that the OA divided the state into eight distracts, so as to cut down on scheduling conflicts of local tournaments. You had to qualify for the state indoor championship in the 70’s because of limited space at the championship location generally about 150 shooters. There where over 500 shooters at the OA state outdoor field championship in Ohio. It was a nice weekend outing for the family of camping and shooting.

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As with most archery competition, youth shooters as with the women shooters, there were and is less competition, in numbers of competitors than in the adult men’s classes of competition. My brother, my mother and I won a lot of archery awards at local and state competitions, we shot a lot of tournaments. At one time my dad was known as the Veit chauffer just for us to collect awards, because he rarely won an award. But at the age of 18, as an adult I wanted to win an O.A. state championship. To show winning as a youth was not a fluke or luck or lack of competition. I choked at every close effort in competition for an OA state title. Twice I was in the lead and didn’t even medal. I was very frustrated and I nearly quit archery, but could not. I learned later that I was just trying too hard, letting my feelings and emotional needs interfere with my shooting. I was shooting to win, not just trying to shoot my best and let the scores take care of themselves. I had been shooting competition with my family for eight years, but somehow now I felt alone as an adult. I could not just quit archery, it was a part of my life, so I stopped shooting as much and started teaching in 1966, I went back to shooting Barebow less gadgets.

At age 22 I got married and moved to a suburb of Columbus; Reynoldsburg, no archery clubs near by. I began teaching for the Reynoldsburg Parks & Rec. department on a public archery range I built I affiliated it with the OA as a club.

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I found out there was little to no adequate or standard archery instructional material at the time, just a word of mouth from experienced shooters or material from the national organizations promoting themselves. In retraining myself in the barebow style of shooting, just shooting form and execution one shot at a time with few accessories. Now with a minimum of accessories I’m learning to aim without a sight it was a challenge. I learned point of aim long ago (a system of aiming with the tip of the arrow). I found by teaching and shooting to do my best I set myself up as an example for my students. I was not just shooting for myself anymore. So I started writing what I learned and taught and promoted archery from my own experiences and point of view. I wanted to be an archer for life not just a winner of a few tournaments.

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New archers wanted to learn how to score better not just shoot better, that takes time and effort and a lot of self-examination to just enjoy your effort to do your best. The Reynoldsburg archery club was in the OA District 5. Each OA Districts had their own shooting schedule for their district clubs each year but there was a statewide tournament schedule to consider. No local shoots were on OA State tournament dates. We hosted mostly field tournaments during the summer and indoor leagues for club members during the winter. But with the formation of the PAA, Professional Archery Assoc.; in 1961 we hosted money pot shoots for the Pro’s, just to promote all archery. We could not guarantee a monetary purse of $1000 as larger tournament were because you did not know how many shooters would show up to shoot for money prizes. I myself didn’t like shooting for money, I worked for my money; archery was a hobby. There was some animosity between the top Open shooters and the pro’s. The Open shooters would shoot for money at our pot shoots, where they could and did win money, but did not join or support the PAA.

My father started an archery activity (kind of a club like mine) within a conservation club. I helped him with his archery classes in the 1950’s when he started, just to many shooters for one person to teach. I continued teaching archery on my own for the Reynoldsburg Parks & Recreation in Ohio after my marriage in 1963. I taught archery plus built and maintained a public archery range with 15 permanent target butts for the Reynoldsburg area.

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I received my 1st certification to teach archery from the NFAA in 1967. We were a registered archery club with the O.A. we hosted sanctioned O.A. invitational tournaments (mostly the 900 target round or PAA round) and gave shooting demonstrations to promote our program to local groups. It really was a one-man archery club with some local help, not all shooters. I was elected as Governor of OA District 5 and got involved with archery politics, someone had to do it was the way I looked at it, but very frustrating at times. Archers seemed to like to shot but not do the work getting ready for tournaments or promotions. I had only heard rumors of old-time Target archery (the NAA), but never had seen it in action, at least not in the OA. The 900 round was shot by the OA and it was an NAA round, but we did not know that at the time. The NAA had around 2000 members’ nationwide then. The NAA had few state affiliations. The NFAA had some 30,000 members’ nationwide at that time, with an affiliated archery organization in all 48 states. The OA and my club were busy helping new archers and new clubs form and learn field archery or NFAA archery for bowhunters. I did not know anyone who shot Field that did not bowhunt, except some women and youth.

The compound bow was patented in 1966 and was marketed by 1967. This was a big change in archery for bowhunting. The compound did not look like a real bow (recurve or longbow). It was outlawed for competition by archery organizations like the PAA & NAA, not the NFAA. Now the compound was made for bowhunting and many non-competitive archers bought and used it. This started the archery product boom with some 95% of all archery equipment sold in the US today for and to bowhunters. Soon NFAA shooters where using the compound to hunt with, they wanted to shoot it on the field course for competition. The NFAA was bowhunters and they changed the rules to make a compound bow as a legal bow for their competitions for its members in 1971. It was just a regular bow in the NFAA. Yes we recurve shooters competed against the compound finger shooters with the same accessories or style, everybody was not happy. The NAA and PAA did not accept the compound for their competitions and just moved on doing there thing. The Pro’s shot for the best score possible and the compound with a release aid shot the best scores. The PAA again refused to accept the compound bow and the NFAA formed it’s Pro division in 1973, very active today. The PAA eventually accepted the compound but not until 1985, and then it was to late. The NAA was promoting Olympic Archery and FITA would not allow the compound bow.

It was not until I saw archery in the Olympics on TV in 1972 (all 7 minutes) that I took any notice of amateur archery or Target archery and the NAA. The Olympics was and is a recurve bow finger release only competition. I felt I was already in organized archery (field archery) and I had trouble making contact with anyone in the NAA. Through an archery magazine I found I registered for the NAA 1973 National Indoor in Harrisburg; an American 900 shot indoors, really. There were others interested in Olympic amateur tournaments. Four of us registered to shoot the 1973 NAA National Indoor. I traveled with 3 other archers to shoot in that tournament. The 900 round indoors, that is 60 yards indoors. I was shooting a 33# recurve barebow. I discovered in 1973 at this tournament that I had lost my amateur status and did not even know it helping the PAA. I was forced to shot Pro Barebow and won an NAA National Title (my 1st) shooting in pro-barebow. I would of placed 5th in the amateur barebow competition, but they made me shoot pro. I shot well because I didn’t expect anything but I got to shoot with Hardy Ward and John Williams (look them up), targets were assigned alphabetically. No matter what I shoot it looked bad, ended up shooting my best score ever on the 900, indoor or outside. When I got back to Ohio I worked hard to tell all of our archers in Ohio to learn of the Olympic amateur rules, especially for the kids. In 1974 shooting a recurve Olympic style, I won my 1st OA State Target Championship shooting against compounds’, only took me 14 years. I won a national title before winning a state title, not normal. Yes the O.A. shot target archery but not under NAA rules. The NAA and FITA, Federation Internationale de Tir a l’Arc (founded in 1931); where trying to define what an amateur archer was since 1960. They interpreted any archer shooting for money was a non-amateur. Not win money just compete for money your amateur status was gone.

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I affiliated my Reynoldsburg club with the NAA, so I could host qualifying FITA tournaments under amateur rules. We could host three sanctioned tournaments a year with a normal annual NAA club affiliation with no extra fee. Amateurs winning 1st, 2nd or 3rd in a qualifying NAA tournament would earn points to qualify to compete in the NAA Olympic Trails and for national ranking.

I did this for archers who could or would not travel to earn their points to try for a place on the U.S. Olympic Team. Sometimes we had only three shooters, a minimum for official competition. I was a one-man club for 13 years in Ohio. I was just getting started with the promotion of the NAA Junior Olympic Program and was working with the new NFAA Bowhunter Education program through the OA in 1975. I started running an Amateur Target Championship through the O.A. under NAA rules in 1974. This was in addition to the regular OA state target championship under NFAA rules at the time. I have taken up shooting Olympic archery equipment for the challenge and I had been shooting a recurve on and off for some 23 years now. I never thought of shooting a compound at that time. Interesting point, five of the top ten amateur NAA shooters in the nation lived in Ohio; few of these archers attend OA state tournaments because of constant schedule conflicts of major tournaments, I think. Darrell Pace won his first Olympic Gold in 1976 was from Cincinnati, Ohio. Our O.A. shooting schedule was set before the NAA set theirs, we never got together because Ohio was not an NAA state. We never met these archers or saw them shoot, I was just finding out about amateur shooters and the NAA programs as I was promoting Olympic archery the best I could.

Since there were so few recurve bow finger shooters left in the NFAA they did not feel a need to separate compound and recurve shooters of the same style, your choice, come and shoot. Even thou I was an NAA member at the time, information was tough to come by; no internet or newsletter.

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After shooting in the 1978 NAA National Indoor in Harrisburg, Pa. as a pro recurve shooting Olympic equipment I placed 6th in the NAA Nationals as a Pro. That same year I attended TWAC, The World Archery Center; under a scholarship sponsored by Bill Bedner a PAA pro in Ohio. I could not justify in my mind the full cost of the camp and I thought I was a dedicated archer. I later thanked Bill. TWAC is a two-week camp on just archery, all phases of archery. I felt two weeks of nothing but archery I would find out if I would burn out on archery. TWAC was considered the best in the world at that time (sorry not active today). There were 4 teams from foreign countries that year. It was an awakening to me of archery as a whole throughout the world. I never even thought about archery overseas. I learned a lot, including how fast archery was changing. I learned that TWAC had a great attitude and history of mostly target archery but little technical help for NFAA’s serious competitive archer or compound shooters. TWAC was the standard for world archery in the US. The compound bow was new to the NFAA competition (1971), but the compound was not allowed in NAA or PAA competition. TWAC instructors know little of the compound bow, some of the guest instructors where PAA shooters. But I cannot say enough about the best program in archery for background, scope and attitude presented. I came away from TWAC with a desire to promote all of archery to help standardize archery information. Archery has always built on the past, how else can you learn and improve. But change is slow and new things accepted slower. Until this time the NAA perpetuated archery’s past and traditions with some new FITA rounds. The NAA’s active instructor program at this time was through colleges and TWAC. So you received a certification from TWAC and the NAA after completion of their two weeks of their archery program and completing a written test, plus a FITA tournament to finish the program. I was lucky enough to shoot on the same target as Darrell Pace at the TWAC tournament; he beat me by less than 90 points (that’s good). All of TWAC instructors were volunteers and their was not yet a standard program.

In late summer of 1978 we moved to Boise, Idaho; new job. All I had to do after settling in was contact the NFAA to locate archery clubs in the area; there were no NAA clubs in Idaho, only NFAA clubs. I did help start a NAA club, but there was little interest, it didn’t last long. I joined the Boise Bowmen, which held public archery classes and I helped with the classes. I was shooting my recurve bow and had to compete with compound finger shooters in all NFAA state and sectional tournaments. In 1979 I won my 1st NFAA Sectional Field Championship in Oregon, it feels good besting compound shooters. In 1979 I was elected as the Sec./Tres. of the Idaho Field Archery Assoc., IFAA. The NFAA Director from Ohio had told the NFAA Director from Idaho at a national NFAA board meeting about my background in archery, I think it was a setup. But I did not refuse; I looked forward to it after TWAC. I helped run their state championships and put out a quarterly newsletter until 1986. During this time I attended 4 NFAA Annual Board Meetings representing the IFAA (state) as an alternate delegate because our NFAA Director didn’t want to take time off. At these meetings I was vocal about archery instructional material of the NFAA. The NFAA started an instructor program in 1955 but it was not active at this time 1981. The NFAA Instructor had pasted away and was never replaced.

Dr. Jim Shubert, NFAA President in 1981; asked me to act as the Instructor Chairmen for the NFAA. Their archery instructor program was still inactive nationally and I had to start from scratch, there was little to no material up to date from the old program that I could of used. I sent out a request to some 70 NFAA certified instructors and 13 Master NFAA Coaches, with only one response that was of little help to me. It took me 11 months to write the new material from existing (mostly old PAA material) and my experience over the years. At the next NFAA Annual meeting when I presented my program I got a lot of criticism after reading the new material at their Annual Meeting. I almost quit as the NFAA Instructor Chairman, I just walked off the stage; I did leave the podium. No one wanted to help and now everyone knows better than me. But I continued and made their changes. This material was used until 1992 by the NFAA. The NFAA flow me all over the country to present my material and certify new NFAA archery instructors, no Masters program. During this time I joined the NFAA and NAA as a life member. It was great, I felt the desire to learn and promote archery, all of archery at these seminars, not just NFAA. But I was asked to resign as NFAA Instructor Chairmen in 1986 after a motorcycle accident and was incapacitated for some time. I gave my last certification class for the NFAA in Phoenix in a wheel chair.

We moved to Georgia in 1987, job again. And again I contacted the NFAA office to locate their affiliated archery clubs in the area. I joined the Gwinnett Archery Assoc. and the Gainesville Archery club, plus the state organization Georgia Bowhunter and Archery Assoc, GBAA. There were no NAA clubs in Georgia and only 5 NAA members (3 just joined for the magazine) in this large eastern state. There were only 2 of us shooting recurve set up under Olympic rules at the time. I became GBAA State tournament director in 1989. I helped set up and run 3 NFAA state tournaments in Georgia and represented the Gwinnett Archery Assoc. at state GBAA meetings. I started as an NAA Judge in 1990 at the JOAD Outdoor Nationals held in Georgia by Norma Mills.

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I attended the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs in 1991 for instructor training. The NAA was starting a new instructor program, the one still in use today with modifications. The NAA accepted my TWAC certification as a Level II under their new instructor program. I earned their Level III and Level IV over the years. You cannot change rules and procedures from the outside, get involved. As in Ohio and Idaho and now in Georgia I started a JOAD club, Junior Olympic Archery Development program of the NAA. The Gwinnett JOAD was the 2nd JOAD club in Georgia. Norma Mills affiliated as the 1st that same year, the Nock Buster’s. After years of encouraging Don Riley, he started 3 JOAD clubs in the Augusta area. As an NAA Level IV I helped run NAA Level I and Level II classes for anyone who had an interest. I was accepted as an unofficial NAA delegate to the GBAA. I helped start an NAA state affiliation in 1995. We had 5 JOAD clubs in the state at that time. I wrote the constitution & by-laws with the name Georgia Archery Assoc., GAA under new NAA affiliation rules. The GAA now has 22 JOAD clubs in Georgia, with over 250 members statewide, most shooting recurve bows. The compound is part of their program since 1984.

Let’s regress; in 1988 I decided to compete in the IFAA, International Field Archery Assoc.

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World Field Championship to be held at Darrington, WA. In the NFAA I had to compete against the compound bow in the Freestyle Limited Class at this time. I had shot 3 NFAA National Field championships at this location while living in Idaho. At one of these competitions I was shooting with an excellent shooter from the Midwest. We were on target No.2 the final day of competition, which meant we were shooting in the top 8 shooters in our division at a national level. His comment after the last arrow was shot said, I’ll be glad to go back home where they think I’m good. I had placed in the top 6 against the compound finger shooters at these tournaments. The IFAA World Field championship was to be held in conjunction with the NFAA National Field Championship in 1988. The NFAA always had a Pro/Am shoot the day before the outdoor nationals starts. With over 100 shooters in the Pro/Am, I was the only recurve shooter on the line. I did not even notice, except for a comment from the gallery. Sorry but I did not win any money but it is always good practice. After 5 days of competition I won the IFAA World Field Championship with record scores. When major tournaments are won by 5 points or less, that’s a lot. I had a 53 point lead setting a new world record in Field, Hunter and Total. In the NFAA national championship I placing 9th against the compound finger shooters.

The Gwinnett Archery Assoc. helped me build a 14-target field unit, it was mostly shooting 3-D. We hosted invitational field shoots and a couple GBAA state field championships over the years. 3-D was first organized at the national level in 1984, the International Bowhunter Organization, IBO; in the mid-west. We use to make life size handmade animal targets to shoot from unknown distances as a novelty round in the 70’s. The NFAA rejected making the 3-D round an official round in 1983; no standard course could be established, still isn’t. The Gwinnett Archery Assoc. GAA (founded in 1976), is affiliated with the GBAA and the GAA. But Gwinnett was mostly a 3-D archery club with a few old-field archery club members active. This is common even today. A few of us still shot the NFAA/GBAA tournaments and the archery club allowed me to represent them in GBAA matters. In 1999 I was elected as GBAA President. This made me the NFAA Delegate for Georgia and I went to the annual NFAA Board meeting in Feb., it was the same at the national level as before, dealing with current matters. I got the NFAA 900 Round rules up to date. The Gwinnett Archery Assoc. changed its name to Peach State Archery Club in 2000 because we had to move our range out of Gwinnett Co. Most archery clubs seem to have to move ever five years or so.

Let’s regress again; in 1992 the NFAA started using FITA style class in their tournaments, including separating recurve and compound into classes. This is because as a national archery organization the NFAA was challenging the NAA to become the NGB (National Governing Body) for Olympic Archery in the US, because only NAA members could be on the Olympic Team (and because the NFAA was the larger group). During this time I won my first NFAA National Field Recurve Championship in 1993. The NFAA had settled the challenge with the NAA in 1993 with a reciprocal participation agreement, as long as you were a member of one or the other national archery organization you could participate in either’s national tournament. The NFAA drop all the FITA class of competition in their tournaments, to save on awards in 1999. The 1999 the NFAA National Indoor was the last national indoor with FITA classes. But the national indoor tournament was held in conjunction with the IFAA World Indoor championship in 1998, the year before the class changed back. I won both the World and National Senior Championships with record scores in both organizations, got to remember that one. And in 2001 I won my 2nd IFAA Veteran (over 55) World Indoor Championship. Every interested archer should attend at least one major archery tournament, not to watch but to shoot in; that is where you learn and see what archery is all about. No matter how many shooters, only one can be the champion in their style of shooting at that tournament. All I wanted to do was win a state championship in 1963, what a ride. You do not have to win but just shoot your best to enjoy a major tournament, but it is a great bonus if you win. If you are going to brag about the good scores you have to accept the other scores, you shoot them all. I’ve lost more tournaments than I’ve won. There is nothing like a well-run tournament to enjoy shooting archery. Archery is a pleasant diversion from everyday life that almost anyone can do if you give it a chance with qualified help. I shoot NFAA tournaments and judged and coached with the NAA.

In 1994 as a NAA Judge I was picked to represent the NAA at the Canadian National Outdoor Championship in an exchange program. I earned status as a National NAA Judge by attending a FITA Judges seminar in Canada. In 1995 I was picked to be the Chairmen of Judges at the NAA Outdoor Nationals in Oxford, Ohio. As luck would have it, in 1996 I was picked as one of the Olympic Scoring Judges. I also judged in the Paralympics in 1996, what a pleasure. Somebody likes me. It is hard to describe my pride in archery at that level. Tournaments are for the archers; it is enjoyable to shoot in a well-run tournament even for others. Archery in the Olympics is not like what normal archers know at other tournaments. Recently I have been judging at the JOAD Outdoor Nationals plus the NAA National Indoor Regional Championship in Georgia. They have a rule that you cannot judge and shoot the same tournament, go figure. Know the rules, live by the rules at the time because they are going to change, that’s archery.

In 1990 the state of Georgia started the State Georgia Games in preparation for the Olympic Games. Archery was a part because of Harold Kramer former president of the NAA who lived in Georgia; I’m always a good helper. Since 2003 I have been running the Georgia Games, GG archery through the GAA until 2016.

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We have many shooters with no affiliation to organized archery in Ga. The GG shoots a modified 900 round to allow as many as possible to shoot and enjoy archery. At home in Gwinnett Co., it took me 5 years to convince the Gwinnett Parks & Recreation to let me teach archery for them. In 1995 they started advertising archery classes for Gwinnett County residence, which I continued to teach until 2006. The county has never given our club any public land to shoot on. I hosted a six-week sessions five times per year using my archery class format. In 1996 we held 2 classes a week because of interest in Olympic archery.

We encourage graduates of these classes to join our club and state archery programs, few did but they all had fun. It would be best to give them a trial member in our club, but you have to have the OK of the club? Giving archers something to do with their equipment is my goal. But most go on their way with other activities.

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Archery has always been a minority sport. Most people relate archery to bowhunting and there are some four million bowhunters in the US. As competitive archers we are a minority of a minority. Archery is a part of me or I of it. I spend a lot of time to support local archery and use most of my vacation time to judge or shoot in sectional and national tournaments. There are so many styles of shooting in both organizations; there is something for everybody, learn the rules. Most competitive shooters like indoor shooting best, it’s close. It is hard to master one style of shooting much less two, so shoot 3 or more styles for fun and enjoyment, don’t take it to serious. With the diversity of archery you can try different styles of shooting over time and never get bored. Schedule archery into your life and it will become part of your life. Archery is a life sport, so you have lots of time.

The GAA with David Aven as President and me as Vice-President, in 1995, we started our state affiliation with the NAA. This was the year the NAA accepted the compound bow. The GAA wished to promote all of archery in Georgia but mostly Olympic archery. We started hosting 2 JOAD and 2 Open championships each year (1 indoor & 1 outdoor each) as the new NAA state representative in Georgia hosting official NAA tournaments. We sanction our GAA Georgia Cup and our outdoor state championship as FITA Star tournaments, so any national and world record scores would be official. You must be an NAA or NFAA member to compete for a state title or higher competition. At the state level you do not have to accept the national reciprocal agreement but the GAA and GBAA did. The GAA hosted the 2000 NAA JOAD Outdoor National Championships; Dave did most of the work on this first one, with a lot of help from our GAA membership. I was elected GAA President in 2001. The GAA hosted the South Region of the NAA National Indoor championships in March, still hosting it today . We now have a great group running the GAA. We have some of the 4H archery clubs involved in our JOAD tournaments. We hosted the NAA JOAD Outdoor championship again in 2004. In 2007 we hosted the first leg of the Olympic Trials for the 2008 Olympics. We were awarded the 2012 JOAD Nationals but the acceptance was reversed to combine the JOAD with the NAA outdoor nationals in Ohio. You just never know, I turned 70 in 2011 that put me in the NAA Masters 70+ classification. You can’t judge and compete; so in 2012 Outdoor Nationals I shot in that USAA Outdoor championship. I checked on line the national records for my new class. Only scores for male was for the 18M indoor. But no one has submitted any others? So I set a new national outdoor record at our 2012 GAA outdoor championship for my age group. It is up to the archer to submit for a national record. It is not automatic with the USAA; you have 10 days after the tournament to submit your record score for consideration signed by an NAA Judge. In 2012 I shot the NAA National Indoor and Outdoor with record score that I submitted. I submitted a total of 6 scores for national records in 2012 for the USAA. The USAA changed their National Record keeping to World Archery regulations. World Archery only recognizes Master (50 and over) not Master 50, Master 60 & Master 70 like USAA does. SO my record scores in Master 70 where not posted.

The pervious year I shoot my compound with a release aid locally, I just didn’t like it but the scores where better. I stayed with the compound but was shooting fingers, the USAA Master has a compound finger class. I started shooting in the Georgia Golden Olympics at the state level in 1995. The Golden Olympics has 5 styles of competitive styles in male & female with every five years of age for classes in competition for people 50 & over. This starts at age 50 to 54, 55 to 59 and so on, until 80 to 89 and 90 to 100 in each of the 5 styles of shooting. At the National Senior Festival tournament the oldest competitor I have shot with was 101. Can you believe still shooting at 101. As of 2005 I have won a gold medal in all 5 styles of shooting at the state Golden Olympics. The best I have finished at the National Senior Festival was 2nd in 1999. That was an enjoyable tournament, shoot very well just got beat. I have placed in the top 5 shooters seven times at the national level. Today it is getting a little expensive for just shooting one round at state level every year and national level every two years. I still host our Gwinnett Co. Golden Games for archery every year in May.

I was involved with NAA & NFAA national archery until 2015 and promote archery at the local level to anyone interested. I have won three IFAA World, two IFAA North American Field championships and 5 National championships, 3 NAA & 2 NFAA. My nomination was accepted for membership in the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. Not likely, but an honor, that is what I tell myself. Nominees are voted on ever year for ten years, my time expired in 2011. I believe you should learn archery basics, using a minimum of accessories and build knowledge and experience by using different styles of shooting. If your to busy to shoot archery, your too busy in my opinion. It is a great individual sport, a great family sport and the kids love it, they just do not stay with it. Unfortunately it takes a commitment of a lot of time.

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I was certified as a delegate for the International Paralympic Committee, IPC, in the US in 2007. We sanctioned 3 of our GAA outdoor tournaments with the IPC until 2011. Today if you have a Star FITA it is sanctioned with the IPC. I plan on getting involved with the Paralympics archery; we have two shooters in Ga. who have made the World Paralympic team for 2012. The above is a biography of my 65+ year journey through modern archery. As an adult all I wanted to do was win that state championship. In my journey I have accumulated accolades beyond my expectations. This book contains some of the things I have enjoyed through the years. Today if they let me shoot I’m happy.

When I wanted to win at all cost, I just tried too hard and could not win. Called chocking but it is really a lack of concentration or concentrating on the wrong things. Later I just tried to do my best, to shoot against myself; and let the score take care of itself. Giving 110% is a load of crap, shoot your average and you will do just fine anywhere. Archery is so diverse that it truly is a life sport that anyone can do. The general public is afraid of archery because it is a weapon. Liability (someone is going to get hurt) is their excuse. But the respect given this weapon makes it one of the safest sports in the world. With competitive archery equipment, even if hit, it is non-lethal. I have never seen a shooting accident in an archery tournament competition, any archery tournament. I have seen many shooters come and go over the years, their loose. Few have taken the time to learn what archery has to offer. They just look at archery from the outside or from the edges and after a superficial effort and they move on the something else. I wish to help just one person learn a little about modern archery. I recommend basic shooting with a minimum of accessories, to learn where archery came from and enjoy your effort. It is hard to understand something you have never experienced. You must start somewhere and get involved and give it time. Most of this book is a concept of something to do as a pastime and most of archery competition is a mental game but do not over think it. Archery is a great hobby, just don’t try to hard and enjoy my experiences, I did eventually.

This is to our archers and potential archers. Archery is a fascinating ancient endeavor that challenges and pacifies most people. It is fun just watching an arrow fly; hitting your target is a bonus. Depending on your personality archery has every human curiosity to occupy your spare time; history, tradition, hobby, club, competition and just fun in your back yard. Depending on your personality archery is a pleasant diversion to everyday life, you can’t shoot well mad. Don’t make a job out if shooting just do your best with the time you have to put into your effort. Don’t take it to serious, have fun. For me archery has been a gratifying pastime shared with other people interested in the ancient art of shooting archery. Shooting alone is no fun, you well find a friend.

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Above is Harry Drake on his back shooting a foot bow, longest shot ever made, over a mile. The picture above to the right is a flight bow, overdraw and all.

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Ishi in on the far left and William S. loved to bowhunt. Kids love to shoot but seem to grow out of it as they get active in other activities. Most competitive shooters are adult male but archery is great for everybody. A lady to the right shooting for distance. What could you find in Archery today you may enjoy?

Thank you for reading this, archery is just one little part of our past, less a part of today’s life but a great interest to me and I hope you. If you want to learn more about Modern Archery please read on. Archery is learning to use the bow & arrow. There are many ways to do that.

ARCHERY IS (WHAT)

A rchery is what you do with the bow & arrow? Over thousands of years the bow and arrow became an integral part of man’s culture and survival. Not just one culture but all over the world in a time when communications was almost nothing between groups of men. In war if you were defeated, you learned what weapons are best.

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It is a credit