Beginner Courses

Lesson times

Beginners Courses are supervised by certified Coaches, and follow the structure recommended by the national archery coaching panel.

Normally lessons cover 8 hours across two consecutive Saturdays, running from 12 – 4PM each day. In Summer the lessons are held outdoors, weather allowing, and during the winter we run them indoors.

The current price for our beginners course is £90 for Adults and £75 for juniors of 17 and under.

We run the course on the first two Saturdays of February, May, August and November. If these dates are not suitable please get in touch and we will try and accommodate alternative dates where possible

SEE ALSO  Have-A-Go Days

Applying to take a Course

Please contact us to get your name on the waiting list.

What to bring to your lessons

All we ask is that you wear something fairly close-fitting on your upper body – such as a sweat shirt. Please don’t wear floppy sleeves or baggy tops unless you’re prepared to take them off – they can get caught in the bow string and ruin your shooting. Wear comfortable flat-heeled shoes or trainers with closed toes.

It is your responsibility to make sure you aren’t wearing anything attached to you like jewellery or piercings that could get caught in the bowstring, possibly with painful or damaging results.

Age Range

We could flippantly say Eight to Eighty, but we can cope with younger children, and why stop at 80? We will try to help everybody get started and keep going.
There’s a useful FAQ for Parents on the Juniors page.

Aptitude and training

There is no need to be particularly strong to be a good archer, but it is advisable to practice quite frequently. Many ‘club’ archers only shoot once a week, but most mid-level archers would agree that twice a week during the ‘season’ is the minimum required to achieve reasonable consistency. A little more practice time can be enough to raise the archer to County or Regional level – half an hour a day exercise and another hour of shooting every week makes a huge difference. One World Champion and 2-times Olympic medallist claims that most of his most useful practice is done at home with the target 2 metres away! So it isn’t necessary to go to the practice field to make a huge improvement. Archery is very much a Sport For All, and it’s nearly always possible to accommodate disabilities of all kinds.

Equipment and related costs

Beginners are provided with suitable equipment which is chosen to be easy to use so the beginners are able to control their Bows and not be at the limit of their strength. We do have several different types of bow to try (although we can’t always provide every type to suit every size of beginner).

We do let beginners carry on using Club Equipment after they have completed their course of instruction provided it doesn’t conflict with the needs of a beginners’ course. This bridges over until the new members are settled enough to buy their own gear. How long it takes depends on the individual, and whether they are prepared to change equipment in the medium term, because the body does adjust to this unfamiliar activity over a number of months.

We prefer everyone to have their own equipment after the first two months or so, and it’s generally a much better plan if they do. The biggest equipment dealer in the country is only about 35 miles from here, and anyone can go out and spend a fortune at will, but we do try to help by finding second-hand equipment to get people started. If you would like any advice on buying equipment, please feel free to ask the coaches or any of the club members.

Your first set of kit, together with perhaps a new set of arrows is likely to cost in the region of £250 on average. Occasionally it’s possible to find a complete outfit in excellent condition for £150 or so.

A similar intermediate-level set, which in fact would be good enough to compete at County Level, can be had for around £400. The next step up would take you to £600 or even £1500 or more, but there’s no need, or sense, to spend this much early on.

Occasionally there will be bows for sale through the club, please check with the committee or our coach to see if there is anything available.

SEE ALSO Club Activities