Seems to have gone under the Radar

Whitehart

Well-known member
AGB Hosted a Q&A some interesting points and honest opinions.
Membership numbers
Challenges ahead
Working with all associations
Shooting at home
Competitions
And for Geoff Tiered membership possibilities.

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dvd8n

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What was the governance issue that he kept mentioning that lost funding?
 

dvd8n

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I saw it as a mixed bag. It's good that they are acknowledging that other organisations exist and that cooperation might be good; it's good that they know that insurance conditions are inhibiting growth; it's good that they know coaching is lacking.

But I'm disappointed that the only solution that they see for member retention is more competitions. At least they acknowledge that social archers are a thing, but I can't help thinking that social archers are the ones most likely to not turn up on club night, and the fact that there's an extra competition taking place in Southeasternshire isn't going to fix that.
 
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chrisgas

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Am I being cynical by thinking that with membership down into the 20 + thousands, AGB perhaps have recognised that the writing is on the wall and they have to change. At 33 minutes AGB are looking to collaborate with others in the name of retention and offering a speedy delivery of service to its clients, by offering other alternatives to target archery locally.
It is a matter of survival, not I suspect by choice, though it is a choice that I am delighted and that "I suspect" it is being forced to take.
Perhaps covid has become a real deal breaker and will in the cold light of day deliver a better archery experience for all participants in the future. I only wonder where AGB´s stance will be on renumeration? By collaborating with others and AGB`s position to offer its umbrella, will it expect another income source from those collaborating?
44 min and AGB are looking to address anniversary date, social and possible competitive membership structures and costs. The current structure was developed in the 50`s, covid seemingly is forcing AGB´s hand.
At 49 minutes,they cover shooting from home, Neil Armtiage seemed to imply that AGB insurance does not cover people shooting from home. But they were talking to the insurance companies about a temporary cover during lockdown or other similar situations.
A pity similar discussions were not held in relation to the validity of insurance cover, whilst other association members were present on clubs grounds. A seemingly much safer risk and place to shoot than someones back yard?
It is good to see that AGB have had fruitful meetings on survival over the summer and I believe a much stronger flexible system will come from this, I wish them every success in their objectives that were discussed.
 

Whitehart

Well-known member
With or without AGB intervention long term recreational archery will be back to the numbers enjoyed after 2012 (once covid is sorted) because the reactive demand to do archery is there, no need to be pro active with big weekends, just information as to where people can get started immediately and enjoy archery. Hopefully the lessons will be learnt about retention, coaching and collaborating with everyone including archery dealers (yet again missing from any plans) that have as much if not more invested in the success of the sport as AGB and all other societies and some already have ready made solutions to many of AGB's problems.
 

mbaker74

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I am not sure what people are expecting AGB to do, to keep recreational archers involved... By definition these are people who love just shooting arrows and its partly a social thing for them, so it is down to each club to offer them whatever they are looking for... Maybe its a saturday afternoon session in summer where they just want to shoot a few dozen arrows at 40 yds then stop for a chat and a brew. No AGB influence there at all.... And I don't subscribe to the whole "AGB is too expensive" argument either, archery is pretty much one of the cheapest sports about... Have you seen how much it costs to book a squash court for 40 mins now, or play golf...

I also cant imagine any insurance company covering you to shoot at home unless there is stipulation about backstops required etc. They are just opening themselves up for massive pay outs when some idiot shoots an arrow into next doors garden and hits their dog as they had no backstop etc and the arrow went straight through the fence....

Also not sure what AGB directly can do about coaching.... most people are looking for club level coaching, so again its down to the clubs to find out if people are interested in becoming coaches and put them through the courses....
 

dvd8n

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Well, the obvious thing to do is to make things cheaper for casual archers. This thing about archery being cheap is a canard. Yes, a game of squash is expensive, but that's all court fees. Once an archer has paid all his AGB and associated fees, he still has all his 'court fees' to pay.

If a club organised their own insurance they could save about 40 quid a member. Yes, it's only a quid a week, but how many quid a weeks does a person pay? It quickly mounts up. Or, looked at another way, for twenty-odd members, it'd be an extra thousand pounds in the club coffers. That's not peanuts.
 

dvd8n

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As for coaching, it should be AGB's aim to have a coach in every club, and it should be financing that. They get enough funds from each club to achieve it.

And decent coaches, not just someone capable of making sure that a beginner is safe.
 

KidCurry

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I've looked at becoming a coach before. It was the £250 for level 1 then the £450 for level 2 that put me off. To be honest this is cheap compared to corporate courses but this is a hobby course, unless you intend going the whole 'AGB' hog. Even the IA is about £200. It just seems such a waste not to pass on knowledge.
 

geoffretired

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It seems they are mentioning ideas that have been discussed on here many times in the past.
I agree with the thinking that recreational archers are self motivating because they are getting from their archery exactly what they want. No need for Big Weekends. I never intend to attract people into archery; I hope our club can simply make people aware that there is archery going on near them and that we are offering a way into it, IF that is what THEY want.
 

Geophys2

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I've looked at becoming a coach before. It was the £250 for level 1 then the £450 for level 2 that put me off. To be honest this is cheap compared to corporate courses but this is a hobby course, unless you intend going the whole 'AGB' hog. Even the IA is about £200. It just seems such a waste not to pass on knowledge.
Well you passed a lot of knowledge on to me, possibly without realising it, just watching you shoot, both compound and later barebow taught me a lot, and your advice and guidance while sharing a boss with you was always invaluable. You don't need to go on a fairly useless course (yes I did it) to be a coach. To a lot of archers and clubs the cost can be prohibitive, knowledge passed on from the more experienced archers like yourself is priceless.
 

KidCurry

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Well you passed a lot of knowledge on to me, possibly without realising it...
That's very kind of you to say. I really miss that shooting on a Friday evening. When/if it starts again there will be a lot of the old guard missing.
 

KidCurry

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In the Q&A they stated that the key to retention in archery is progression. I think they are wrong. I think the key to retention is 'fun'. Over the last 30 years archery has been so much fun. Watching the Q&A I could feel the fun being sucked out of the sport like a orange being sucked dry :(
Most of the fun in archery is at club level. Invest in the clubs and the rest will take care of itself. Oh... I almost forgot, AGB needs to support its bricks and mortar retailer. Without these it's all pretty much over anyway.
 
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Eugen

Member
In the Q&A they stated that the key to retention in archery is progression. I think they are wrong. I think the key to retention is 'fun'. Over the last 30 years archery has been so much fun. Watching the Q&A I could feel the fun being sucked out of the sport like a orange being sucked dry :(
Most of the fun in archery is at club level. Invest in the clubs and the rest will take care of itself. Oh... I almost forgot, AGB needs to support its bricks and mortar retailer. Without these it's all pretty much over anyway.
Absolutely agree with you. Maybe lack of understanding on the managerial level?
 

Whitehart

Well-known member
Also not sure what AGB directly can do about coaching.... most people are looking for club level coaching, so again its down to the clubs to find out if people are interested in becoming coaches and put them through the courses....
I think that all archers recreational or competitive would like to see some improvement year on year, OK they would be on different levels but I have yet to see a recreational archer that does not delight in hitting the middle and understanding how they did it, which helps to maintain the fun, interest and retention. If not bragging rights for the afternoon or evening.

AGB could make the coaching courses relevant to what archers need - currently AGB(Sport England) level 2 is not fit for purpose - there are far too many archers with poorly set up kit let alone tuned, which if corrected would help people to progress. Some recreational archers just need a bit of pointing in the right direction to see instant improvements. Level 2 is still teaching archery not coaching and does not even give a nod to compound....compare it to World Archery Level 1 & 2 and you will see how dumbed down it is.
 

dvd8n

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It always amazes me when archers are shooting arrows exactly as the shop sold them, with tiller bolts set as they left the factory, and with a plunger set up as it was when it arrived through the post.

They have no idea how to tweak these things. But it's not their fault.

I spend ages adjusting these things and my bow shoots straight down the middle. But I spent ages figuring out how to do this stuff myself from books and articles and YouTube videos, figuring out the good advice from the bad myself. AGB taught me nothing about this stuff. And that's not right.
 

geoffretired

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I think it is important to remember what archers are; people; all different. Yes, we can put them into groups( serious/ recreational for example)
But even in those groups there are sub groups of those who want to do their own tuning/adjusting and those who are happy to leave everything as it was.
I have never come across an archer who has wanted to get worse; yet I have known many who like hitting the gold but make no attempt to find out how to do that more often. I think the club committees can make allowances for all the different types of archer that shoot at their clubs. They should be able to arrange coaching for those who want it; and coaches they need to do that work should be easier to access. Coach training is AGB's job, I feel.
 
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