Thanks to Hawkeye, Disney’s Brave and Katniss Everdeen, Archery is finally being given the recognition it deserves for being a pretty cool sport.
It can be a whole lot of fun from being a beginner learning the ropes, right up to the intense skill and power it takes to partake in competitive archery.
That said, there’s a lot more to archery that meets the eye, so we have compiled some facts about the sport that you may not know!
- Archery is the national sport of the Kingdom of Bhutan, a sovereign state in South Asia. Their focus on archery is as a social sport (a little like football is here) and villages compete with each other, making the event full of food, drink and dancing. To add to the lightheartedness of the competitions, competitors are allowed to try to distract the other team whilst they are aiming – something which is almost as enjoyable to watch as the sport itself.
- Hawkeye uses a recurve bow in The Avengers, despite the fact that a compound bow would provide much greater power and accuracy. Perhaps it’s because his Hoyt bow looks good on camera, or he’s just showing off, either way he seems to be doing just fine. Maybe he read our How to Choose a Compound Bow guide?!
- If you are an archer, you could also be referred to as a “toxophilite” a word which literally means ‘lover of the bow’, and originates from Ancient Greece. The word for archery however, comes from the latin word ‘arcus’ and means ‘bows and arrows’.
- To put the level of skill and accuracy needed into perspective, getting within the ‘gold ring’ involves hitting a beermat-sized target from a distance of seven buses – no mean feat! Best grab your archery supplies and get practising!
- The recurve bow looks so sleek and modern you could be forgiven for assuming it was a new design, however, it is actually based on designs from over 3500 years ago. There has never been much of a need to update the design as it works well – if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it!
- Geena Davis, of Thelma and Louise fame, was a skilled archer and ranked 24th of the whole US women’s archery championship in 1999. She narrowly missed out on her dream of being representing the national team team in a major international event, but she did win an Oscar.
- Archery isn’t just a sport. In Japan they perform Kyudo, which is a style of archery, as more of an art form than a sporting activity.
- If you manage to perform a rather impressive feat of splitting the arrow of your competitor, this is known as ‘Robin Hood’ and is incredibly difficult.
If this list has whet your appetite for learning archery or improving your archery skills, don’t forget to stay tuned to our blog. It’s the perfect time to set yourself a ‘target’ of mastering a new sport!