On the afternoon of Saturday 18th April, the County juniors got together for their next training session.  This time it took place in the form of a tournament. 

Meriden Archery Club once again were kind enough to allow the use of their facilities for a few hours and welcomed the juniors from other clubs to come and shoot on the same ground that has hosted the JAS finals in previous years and this year will be hosting two national events, a National Tour stage and the JAS finals.

The afternoon was set out as any competition would be complete with electronic timing system and dual scoring, with the assistance of some Meriden club members and AGBs Robb Potts they also used the PDAs and scores were checked via Ianseo.  We had two judges also make the trip Luke Wilson and Sharron Gray.

Target lists had been produced and sent out a couple of days prior and so after a reassuring talk from junior team manager Sam and Luke about what the day was about and what would be expected of them it was time for kit inspection to take place.  Pleased to say everyone passed there with a couple of words of encouragement should they need to consider anything for any future tournaments they choose to take part in.

Sighters began with a little hick up on where the shooting line was and the juniors were quick to point out that they were all shooting lower than expected.  This was quickly rectified and the result of a miscommunication during set up.  The second end of sighters proved they did in fact know what they were talking about and arrows began to hit where expected. 

The session was run across 7 targets with double detail so they also got to experience changing who was shooting first and the scoring began.  Friends and family were asked to act as field party tracking down any missed arrows and supporting some of the younger archers, or those on a boss alone with dual scoring. 

After the first half there were refreshments on hand to fortify everyone for the next distance. Bosses were moved and shooting began again. The juniors all shot a Short Metric round and were allowed to pick the distance they wanted to shoot based on their ability. This way they also got to experience marking target faces too.

The weather decided to take a turn with 3 ends to go and the rain came down but no one complained and they kept on shooting with a passion. Thankfully it was only a brief shower and we were soon treated to a series of rainbows over the range. It was almost as if the weather decided to give a quick demonstration of what it’s like to do a tournament in the rain.  At least it was not the hail that had accompanied Meriden’s tournament the previous weekend. 

The shoot concluded and the juniors were advised to pack away and meet in the indoor range for presentations.  This was a surprise as they had not been told there were going to be any awards that day.

After a thank you to everyone who assisted on the day from Sam and the introduction of Alan as the CWAA tournament officer Sam announced that some of the Juniors present had actually represented the county previously and there were some awards from previous shoots that would be given out also. 

Caitlin Smart received her County tab and date bar, for representing the County in 2025 and Matthew Steven was part of the County Junior Barebow team at the inter county indoor tournament in March and the Warwickshire Barebow team had come 2nd.  These were awarded by Alan. 

Following this the day’s trophies were awarded and everyone was awarded a trophy with details of the round they had shot and their category included along with their places. 

In closing Sam also thanked the judges and gave them both, along with Rob, a token of appreciation from the County and asked the juniors if they would now consider entering more tournaments now they knew what to expect. There was a resounding positive atmosphere following the event and it was noted we may be inundated with choices for the next tournaments.

There are a few tournaments coming up that were suggested as good ones for the juniors to attend should they wish

• Evesham Rising Stars for juniors only in May, set up in a similar way to how this day was run and able to choose the distance that suits them.
• The CWAA outdoor championships in June which they could choose to do the full round or just the short metrics as they had done that day 
• Meriden’s Eileen Plenderleith Memorial Windsor as this is a quieter shoot towards the end of the season and open to novice archers with all distances available. 

It is safe to say the day was considered a success with lots of great feedback given on the day and promises of more to come for the county juniors.   The juniors all got involved with the day and showed great promise and sportsmanship and were a credit to themselves, their parents, coaches and their clubs.

Should you wish to be involved in the next session, either to volunteer some ideas, to attend or to help, please contact Sam on juniors@cwaa.org.uk