Types of Archery Tournaments
Here are some types of archery that usually play by archers around the world. Different types of environments determine the type of archery game you play. You can choose from indoor and outdoor gaming for archery. This is a plus for being able to participate in competition during inclement weather situations. Choose to play in field competitions, or run, influence, and flight archery games.
1. Target Archery
Target archery is the only form of archery allowed in the Olympic games and has over a hundred member nations throughout the world. These nations are represented by the Fédération Internationale de Tir à l'Arc (F.I.T.A) which is the international governing body for the sport.
There are quite a number of different target archery rounds, but generally, target archery consists of archers shooting a fixed number of arrows at a specified distance. That target is circular with 10 concentric rings. The inner ring of the gold scoring 10, to the outer ring of the white scoring 1. After an end of arrows, usually 3 or 6, all arrows are scored. At the end of the day, the person with the highest score wins! Simple!
A wonderful and probably unique aspect of archery is the opportunity for competitors of any ability to compete.
A paraplegic archer won the Gold Medal at the 1982 Commonwealth Games, paraplegic archers also competed at the 1984 and 1996 Olympic Games alongside the able-bodied competitors.
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| Outdoor target archery |
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| Archer is taking his score and mark arrow holes on the target face |
2. Field Archery
Field archery is, in effect, hunting with a bow. The quarry is not a deer or a hare but a substitute target set in a 'field' environment. These targets can be of the concentric ring variety or 2D representations/pictures of animals or even 3D replicas of animals. Shooting is often made more difficult by having to shoot up or downhill, by having to shoot 'around' a tree or an obstacle (so that you cannot shoot in the upright T-form as you would in Target archery) and by having to shoot across varying light - from full sun to shade or from shade to full sun.
As in Target archery there are many rounds which can be shot but, unlike Target archery, the distances can vary from one shot to the next. A typical field round will involve shooting at 14 or 28 targets, one after the other. The archer starts from the first 'peg', shoots at the target and then walks on to the next peg and the next target. Depending on the round, the distance to the target may be marked or it may not and can be anything from 20yds to 80yds. As often as not the distances are not marked and the Field archer has to rely on judgement and instinct for each shot.
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| Aiming for accuracy |
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| A 3D target in field archery |
3. Clout Archery
Clout archery takes place in a flat field, similar to Target archery, BUT in this type of shooting the target is marked out horizontally on the grass. A series of 5 concentric circles are laid out around a central marker flag and the archer shoots from a distance of 180yds (less for juniors). Alternatively, no circles are marked out and scoring is achieved by pivoting a rope or cord coloured for each scoring zone around the marker flag. In a Single Clout 6 ends of 6 arrows are shot, and a Double Clout consists of 12 ends of 6 arrows. Scores are 5 for the innermost circle, down to 1 for the outermost. A large field is needed for clout shooting - at least 250yds to allow for overshoot.
'Clout' is an old name for cloth. Originally a piece of cloth would be set on a short pole as the central marker. Again, the origins lie in medieval archery practice - shooting at long range against a foe.
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| Clout archery target on the ground |
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| Retrieving arrows after a few shots |
4. Flight Archery
Flight archery is about shooting for maximum distance - pure and simple.
This type of archery needs a lot of space and level space at that. As in other types of archery there are various classes for different bow types - longbow, recurve, compound and specialist flight bows. Flight bows and arrows are at the cutting edge of archery technology as flight archers strive to get the maximum possible from them. It's like Formula 1 motor racing, where improvements to the cars and engines (like ABS or computerised engine management) can eventually be adopted by the mainstream car manufacturers. Metal risers, carbon arrows, faster strings and a lot more have come from flight archery.
3 arrows an end are shot, and then the archers go looking for their arrows. If they find them, the furthest arrow of the end is marked and another 3 ends are shot (in the USA, only one end is shot in competition). Furthest distance wins!
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| Special bow for flight archery |
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| Aim high to score best points |
5. Papingo Archery
Also called Popinjay or Parrot archery. Not that common in the UK but incredibly popular in Belgium for some reason. It is mentioned here purely because of The Ancient Society Of Kilwinning Archers from Ayrshire, Scotland who have hosted a Papingo Shoot since 1483 (or 1488 according to some sources), with a break here and there. This is the earliest recorded archery tournament in the UK by some margin.
In Popinjay, or Papingo, arrows are shot vertically to try and dislodge wooden 'birds' fixed to a wooden pole at height. There are usually a few birds, the 'Cock' scoring 5, four Hens scoring 3 each, and a minimum of 24 Chicks scoring 1 apiece.
In the Kilwinning Shoot, the pole extends 10ft out from the tower of Kilwinning Abbey, at a height of 116ft and is host to a solitary 'bird' or 'parrot'. Archers take turns with longbows and blunts - arrows with rubber tips to prevent any more damage to the tower - shooting from the bottom of the tower with one foot on the Abbey steps. The order of shooting is decided by a Butt round which is held beforehand. Whoever shoots the bird down first gets a very old silver trophy.
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| Aiming in vertical position |
6. Horseback / Mounted Archery
A horse archer, horsed archer, or mounted archer is a cavalryman armed with a bow, able to shoot while riding from horseback. Archery has occasionally been used from the backs of other riding animals. Mounted archery was a defining characteristic of the Eurasian nomads during antiquity and the medieval period, including Iranian peoples (Scythians, Sarmatians, Sassanids) and Indians in antiquity, and by the Mongols and the Turkic peoples during the Middle Ages. By the expansion of these peoples, the practice also spread to Europe (via the Sarmatians and the Huns) and to East Asia. In East Asia, horse archery came to be particularly honoured in the samurai tradition of Japan, where mounted archery is called Yabusame.
It developed separately among the peoples of the South American pampas and the North American prairies; the Comanches were especially skilled.
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Shooting while riding
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