If you find yourself in a rut with your archery practice and are getting restless with practicing in your backyard or at the range, consider adding a competitive element to your routine. Many archery ranges offer competitive leagues. Look for local and regional tournaments throughout your area. Then, when you’re ready, step it up and begin competing at the national level.
Leagues
Leagues are a great introduction into competitive archery. You can test your skills with other archers at your range who you might already have established a relationship with. Leagues also provide an opportunity to meet other archers at your range who you’ve never crossed paths with before during your usual hours. You’ll be able to compare your scores to see where you land and estimate your skill level: beginner, intermediate or advanced.
Observe the other archers in the league to see where you differ on form, anchor point and stance. If you’re one of the lower-ranking archers in the league, you can use other archers’ scores as a goal to work toward. If you’re not interested in surpassing someone else’s rank, use the information to motivate yourself against your own score. Each time you compete in the league, try to beat your own score rather than someone else’s. Recreational archers who aren’t necessarily competitive can still use the information to improve their own form without the pressure to beat anyone else’s score. For those who thrive with friendly competition, this is the perfect environment.
Tournaments
Imagine competing alongside some of your archery idols. Standing next to the top archers in your division at the line will make you want to do your best and shoot for personal records. It can be hard to motivate yourself when it’s just you and the target, but when you have some notable competitors at your side, you’ll be able to tap into another level you might not even know you had.
3D Target Archery
If you’re already a competitive archer but are itching to try something new, consider trying a different target style. Competing with 3D targets will give you a unique mental and physical challenge as you learn a new scoring system and new division rules. You can also translate your newfound 3D archery knowledge to bowhunting because the rings on 3D targets are designed to be located exactly where an animal’s vital area would be.
Find Your Store
When you’re ready to make the leap to competitive archery, check out our Store Locator to find shops near you and see if they have leagues. Check the shop’s website or social media pages to see if they’ve posted about upcoming local, independent tournaments. For larger tournaments, check out USA Archery’s tournament page for information on USA Archery-sponsored local, state, regional and national archery tournaments.
