Category: Rules

  • How Does the Olympic Archery Quota System Work?

    How Does the Olympic Archery Quota System Work?

    (I’m going to keep this article updated over the next 2 months as the quotas finalise) Lots of people have been requesting some explanation about how the quota system works for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The official policy, if you want to read it is here, but it’s a little bit tricky to digest,…

  • UK Indoor Archery Rounds – The Finer Details

    UK Indoor Archery Rounds – The Finer Details

    A while ago, I wrote a post about all about rounds – what they are, how they’re structured, all the different familys and formats. That covered the basics, but after seeing lots of lively discussions on social media recently, I thought I’d drill down into some of the finer details of the indoor rounds, which…

  • Overview of the New Indoor Handicap and Classification Systems

    Overview of the New Indoor Handicap and Classification Systems

    (Quick links – Full indoor tables here, mobile-friendly tables here, and custom tables here) The indoor classification has been in need of some serious changes for a very long time, and finally, going into the 2023-24 indoor season those changes have been made. The old system was not very inclusive at all. The only categories…

  • Beginners Series: Part 1 – Rounds

    Beginners Series: Part 1 – Rounds

    Most of the articles on this site focus on the intricate details of archery data, rules and scoring, but by popular demand, this short series will focus on some of the basics, for archers who are new to the sport. First up is rounds. A round is just a shorthand way of describing what we’re…

  • How to be an Archery Club Records Officer: Part 4 – Outdoor Classifications

    How to be an Archery Club Records Officer: Part 4 – Outdoor Classifications

    Just like the coloured belts in karate, the classification system in UK Archery represents a set of 9 milestones on an archer’s journey for beginner to master. It is the job of the club records officer to track the classification level of each club member. As with all the articles in this series, I would…

  • How to be an Archery Club Records Officer: Part 3 – Handicaps

    How to be an Archery Club Records Officer: Part 3 – Handicaps

    One of the key roles of the records officer is to maintain a list of handicaps for the archers in the club. As with the other articles in this series, I would strongly recommend you use some records management software to do this as it can be quite time consuming to do it manually. However,…

  • When’s the best time of year to run youth archery events in the UK?

    When’s the best time of year to run youth archery events in the UK?

    Recently, someone mentioned to me how hard it was to get the best juniors to attend tournaments in the first few months of the outdoor season, and this immediately set me wondering why that would be. The answer, of course, is obvious – exams. The first months of the UK outdoor season, typically April and…

  • How to be an Archery Club Records Officer: Part 2 – Club Records

    How to be an Archery Club Records Officer: Part 2 – Club Records

    One of the most fundamental duties of a Club Records Officer is to maintain a list of the Club Records. We need to be clear on terminology here though as the word “records” has two different meanings here – This article is all about the second of these, maintaining a list of the clubs best…

  • How to be an Archery Club Records Officer: Part 1 – The Basics

    How to be an Archery Club Records Officer: Part 1 – The Basics

    I get lots of questions from people who are new to the role of Club Records Officer about what the role involves and how to do it, so I thought I’d write it all down into a multi-part guide. This first part will cover the basics of what the role involves, and then subsequent parts…

  • Effects of New Age Group Definitions on Records

    Effects of New Age Group Definitions on Records

    As I’ve written about before, in October 2023 ArcheryGB made some quite significant changes to the age groups for target archery in the UK. This included adding some new groups (50+, U21, and U15), and also crucially, changing the definition of how age groups are even defined. So, even for the age groups that don’t…

  • Mobile Friendly Classification Tables

    Mobile Friendly Classification Tables

    The standard PDF classification tables are perfect for printing out and putting in your bowbag. You could even fold them down the middle and laminate it in an A5 pouch if you’re really keen. However, when you’re out on the field, the wide A4 Landscape format is not ideal for looking at on your phone.…

  • What is in a (round) name? Why one person’s Albion is another’s Long Windsor

    What is in a (round) name? Why one person’s Albion is another’s Long Windsor

    Note: This article previously featured the equivalency of Albions and Long Windsors prominently. After a recent AGB decision, Albion is now the preferred name for all categories of archer, so classification tables now reflect that. For now, both round names are still listed in the Rules of Shooting, but the reference has been removed from…

  • Raw Data for the New Handicap and Classification Systems

    Raw Data for the New Handicap and Classification Systems

    This article is aimed at fellow archery geeks who are interested in the data behind the new handicap and classification systems. For non-geeks, this data is much more accessibly presented in the official tables, available from ArcheryGB, or from the links at the top of this page. One of the key principles of the new…

  • Overview of the new 2023 classification system

    Overview of the new 2023 classification system

    The new UK archery classification is a significant change compared to the previous system. Let’s take a look at the what’s new – Classification Levels Old System New System 3rd Class2nd Class1st ClassBowman / Junior BowmanMaster Bowman / Junior BowmanGrand Master Bowman Archer 3rd ClassArcher 2nd ClassArcher 1st ClassBowman 3rd ClassBowman 2nd ClassBowman 1st ClassMaster…

  • Understanding the new ArcheryGB Age Groups

    Understanding the new ArcheryGB Age Groups

    In October 2022, ArcheryGB changed the standard age-groups that are used for target archery in the UK. The 5 previous age groups were supplemented by 3 new age groups bringing the total to 8. The addition of the 50+ and Under 21 groups brings the UK in line with the standard World Archery age groups.…