| Archery has long been used in warfare and | | | | Olympics is seventy meters. |
| hunting. A great amount of skill and practice is | | | | The officials presiding over the competition give |
| required to become a skilled archer. For this | | | | the archers the command to shoot. The archers |
| reason, archery is now considered a sport and an | | | | then have a predetermined amount of time in |
| archery competition is held in many parts of the | | | | which to fire arrows at the targets. This firing |
| world. Taking part in an archery competition allows | | | | time is called an "end," and each end can consist |
| sportsmen to show off their skill and athletic | | | | of as little as three or as many as six arrows |
| prowess in an ancient ritual. | | | | fired at the targets. When the time for the end |
| It is generally believed that the bow an arrow | | | | has finished, lights and officials will announce that it |
| was invented to be used in game hunting. | | | | is now time for archers to "score and retrieve." |
| However, the effectiveness of the weapon soon | | | | During this phase of the competition, archers |
| elevated it to a tool of warfare. The English used | | | | approach their targets to score the accuracy of |
| highly trained long bowmen to defeat the French | | | | their hits and retrieve all arrows fired. |
| during the Hundred Years war. This victory led to | | | | Competitions are very regimented and |
| the elevation of archery to a position of respect | | | | participants are required to strictly follow all rules |
| in the British army. Young boys were trained with | | | | and announcements in order to ensure safety. |
| small bows from a very young age in order to | | | | Targets feature a series of ten colored rings, |
| develop the needed prowess to use the difficult | | | | each with an individual point value from one point |
| bows in combat. This need for skilled archers led | | | | to ten points. In the scoring phase, archers |
| to the invention of the archery competition. | | | | evaluate their accuracy and score by their ability |
| These competitions, first held in the sixteenth | | | | to direct their arrows successfully into these rings. |
| century, were originally intended to encourage the | | | | To prevent cheating, archers usually share a |
| young boys to become skillful with a bow and | | | | target with a competitor. Each archer will record |
| arrow. | | | | their own score, and the score of the other |
| The tradition of the archery competition lives on. | | | | archer sharing their target. This ensures that |
| It is a popular sport around the globe. The most | | | | confusion, cheating, or mistakes will not alter the |
| common type of archery competition is called | | | | scoring of the archery competition. Holes created |
| "Target Archery." In a Target Archery | | | | in the targets are also marked to ensure proper |
| competition, participants stand at a predetermined | | | | record keeping. In addition, there is a strict rule |
| distance from targets. The competition is judged | | | | prohibiting any arrows being removed during the |
| by each archer's accuracy in hitting the targets. | | | | scoring phase of the archery competition. Any |
| Archery is such a respected event, that it has | | | | removal of arrows prior to the retrieval phase will |
| been an Olympic Sport since the beginning of the | | | | result in immediate disqualification for the archer. |
| twentieth century. In the Olympics, archers | | | | Although target competitions are the most |
| compete both individually and in teams to win the | | | | common, there are also many other popular |
| coveted Olympic medals. | | | | varieties of archery competitions; including field |
| There are a wide variety of archery competitions | | | | archery, flight archery, and clout archery. No |
| - some indoor, some outdoor. Usually, indoor | | | | matter what type of competition you enter, |
| competitors shoot targets from eighteen to | | | | expect to have an enjoyable and challenging |
| twenty five meters. Outdoor competitions may | | | | experience. The archery competition has a long |
| shoot arrows from as far as ninety meters away. | | | | tradition, and this sport is only growing more |
| Most commonly though, targets are shot at from | | | | popular. |
| several different distances and the standard in the | | | | |