Mayflower Junior Archers
Issue No. 5
July 2008
Junior News
We’re now halfway through the outdoor season and quite a few of you have been very busy with competitions and claiming awards. This has given me quite a lot for the achievements page(s). Well done to those who entered some of the tournaments and the good results they won from Havering Youth Games, West Essex invitation shoot and especially the Junior National Outdoor Championships. More details on the inside pages.
Inside this issue:
From the Editor
- Achievements
- 2
- 3
- JNOC Lilleshall
More Achievements July Nationals
4
- 5
- Tournament Diary
Junior Committee Update
FITA Award scheme 6
There are a few tournaments left so keep up the good work and give lots more to write about. The next issue should include results from Essex FITA, Southern Counties Championships at Colchester, and at Runwell and the Essex FITA Field Championships. Now there’s a challenge, enter the field champs and you might spot me with a bow in my hand. Yes, mine this time.
Lynne Burton, my road to Beijing
7
Club Diary July Nationals National Awards
Back page
Congratulations also to: Luke Willett of Rayleigh Town AC for wining the York round at JNOC to become National recurve Champion at Lilleshall. Well done Luke.
Tom Barber of Thorpe Hamlet AC for winning the Gents FITA round at JNOC. Several Mayflower members know 16 year old Tom and are probably aware that he has been selected as the 4th member of the GB Olympic team for Beijing. That’s fantastic! We wish Tom and all our British athletes well for the Olympic games.
Olympic News
The Olympic Archery team will be: Ladies: Gents:
Alison Williamson, Naomi Folkard, Charlotte Burgess and Emma Downie Simon Terry, Larry Godfrey, Alan Wills and Tom Barber
We should not forget Lynne Burton’s difficult journey to qualify for the Paralympic Archery team. Lynne, from Chelmsford, has an amazing story to tell, which has been published on Essex web pages and reproduced on page 7. Olympic coverage can be found on digital and satellite television. I hope! It was last time.
Achievements
Havering Youth Games—26th April What a success! Shooting ‘National’ rounds, five members attended and each came home with an a ward. Fantastic!
- Alastair Hunphreys National
- Compound
Recurve
Gold
Sam Yeates Alex Croft
Jun National Short Jun National Recurve
Silver Silver Bronze Bronze
Nicole Scorah Tom Sutherland
Junior National Short Jun National Recurve
Recurve
Mayflower team at Havering Youth Games
Well done the team. Full report on the club website. West Essex Junior Invitation shoot - 10th May Shooting ‘National’ rounds again Mayflower fielded a team of five to bring home the silver medals Well done Nicole Scorah, Katie Ward, Sam Yeates, Alex Croft and Lewis Jones.
Essex County Target Championships—14th June Hmm! No medals this time, but they did get some good scores in this highly competitive event. However, Alex claimed a Black Rose, missing a Blue Rose by 2 points and Sam claimed a White Rose while Aaron won the Lord Paramount Prize. See more on the ‘Achievements News’ page in ‘Archery UK’.
In the meanwhile Joe Elvidge, with mum Rachel, both won Gold medals at Greenwood Osterley Archers on 1st June. This is a junior shoot where parents can join in as long as they bring a child. Mum was shooting an Albion and Joe, with his Longbow this time, a Short Junior Windsor also winning a Badminton racket in the raffle. They didn’t quite manage the family team prize, but you can’t win them all. Well done both of you. Full report on the club website.
Mayflower Archers Albion & Windsor open shoot—28th June What a glorious day for a friendly shoot. I think we all owe a debt of gratitude to Steve for coming up with the idea. And loads of Mayflower members for helping out to make a very memorable day. Did you enjoy it? Were you there?
As this was a friendly relaxed shoot, there were no medals to be won. But had there been then members would have won the following: Alex Croft under 16 Albion recurve Gold Lewis Jones u 16 Short Windsor recurve Silver Matt Andrews u16 Short Windsor recurve Bronze Mitchell Wilk u14 Jun Windsor recurve Gold Katie Ward u16 Junior Windsor recurve Gold
Alastair Humphreys u18 Windsor compound Gold
Nicole Scorah u16 Jun Windsor recurve Silver Joe Elvidge u12 Special Windsor barebow Gold I won’t mention what our senior members achieved, because we juniors don’t worry about them. Results, reports and photographs can be found on the club website, www.mayflowerarchers.co.uk and Essex County website, www.ecaa.org.uk and they’re well worth visiting.
Any more news you didn’t tell me about? I’m always willing to publish news and views. Contact Roger Glover on 01277 650358 or mail me at [email protected]
Page 2
Junior National Outdoor Championships—Lilleshall 5th & 6th July
Despite the wind and rain, it seems like all those attending had a very enjoyable weekend. Apparently meal times were a laugh as well. There are some fantastically good juniors attend this event who make it very competitive so unfortunately, no medals were won this time, but nobody disgraced themselves either and returned some good places. However, everybody made claims for various achievement awards.
English Archery Federation—English crosses: Alex Croft 13th, Blue cross for Metric 1. Lewis Jones, Green cross for Metric 2. Sam Yeates, Black cross for Metric 3. Nicole Scorah, white cross for Metric 3. Katie Ward already has her Black cross.
GNAS—Rose Awards: Sam Yeates, Black Rose for Bristol 3. Nicole Scorah, with a massive pb of 979 for a Black Rose.
Well done one and all and glad the trip was enjoyably worthwhile. Rob Markham’s report Having lost son Michael from the world of archery to the world of girls, I jumped at the suggestion from Steve Fenton of renting a few of our juniors archers, sticking them on a mini bus and ferrying them up to Lilleshall for the Junior National Championships. Steve was similarly pining for the Junior Championships after George became a senior last November and we figured the only way we could get there would be to press gang a few of our kids from the club.
Having realised I had messed up my work diary which put me in Sandown Park for all of the Friday, it was left to David Scorah to hire a bus and drive our kids and their parents to Lilleshall (Steve also came up with an excellent excuse not to travel in the mini bus).
We took five junior archers from Mayflower, four of whom had never shot at this level of tournament before. They were joined by archers from RTAC, Oakfield, Chelmsford Tudor Rose, HNA, Burntwood, Noak Hill and CADAC. This was an impressive turnout for Essex Juniors and a long way from the poor showing in 2002 when we had just two!
Page 3
More Achievements ….
Congratulations to Sam Yeates who raised over £600 for St Francis Hospice at Noak Hill Archers charity fun shoot on 25th May. That’s the spirit Sam, well done!
Alex Croft breaks u16 Club record for a York with a score of 868. This record has been held by Alex Purser since 2002. Hmm! Another Alex holds the record.
Mayflower Juniors at Lilleshall
Katie Ward ranks 5th in the County Outdoor, top 10 juniors. However, Nicole Scorah’s absence from the top 10 is to be questioned.
Some pictures from JNOC at Lilleshall
GNAS ‘July National’ postal tournament
If you haven’t been able to join in the ‘National’ rounds or wish to improve your score, you are still able to shoot the round any time you like in the remainder July so long as a supervising senior is present and willing to sign your score sheet. Then please give it to Roger or Steve. Roger will then send it with the others for the national postal tournament. With any luck, results should be in October Junior News.
Six dozen arrows, 4 at the longer distance and 2 at the shorter distance. Age as of 30th June.
- Boys
- Girls
Under 18 Under 16 Under 14 Under 12 Under 9
60 & 50 yds Round 1 50 & 40 yds Round 3 40 & 30 yds Round 5 30 & 20 yds Round 6 15 & 10 yds Round 8
Under 18 Under 16 Under 13 Under 9
50 & 40 yds Round 2 40 & 30 yds Round 4 30 & 20 yds Round 7 15 & 10 yds Round 9
Longbow archers may shoot one distance down. Good shooting, Roger
Don’t forget, all Mayflower members are entitled to a 20th Anniversary commemorative badge. There is no cost for this, but if you wish to own your share of this rare piece of history, they are available from Steve at Junior club afternoons.
Page 4
Tournament Diary (a selection of shoots, which may be of interest) Local events
3rd Aug 3rd Aug 9th Aug 31st Aug 6th Sept
- East Anglian Champs alongside Beds County Championships
- Ampthill, Beds
Upminster Harold Hill Hainault
West Essex Bowmen Noak Hill Archers Oakfield Archers SCAS Junior Champs
St. George, Albion & Windsor Open Open
Western Rounds Western Rounds
- Open tournament
- Runwell, Essex
York, Hereford and Bristol rounds. Get your entry in now!
20th Sep 28th Sep 5th Oct
Malgrave Bowmen Havering NALGO Archers Open ECAA FITA Field Championships
- Open
- Moonlight shoot
Albion & Windsor FITA Field rounds West Hanningfield
Basildon Romford
Marked distances, paper faces, through the woods. Fantastic!
19th Oct 25th Oct
- Racketts Archers
- Open
Halloween Fun shoot
Portsmouth round Basildon
- Grays Power Archers
- Grays
Soup and Hot dogs provided to keep you warm.
- Havering NALGO Archers Bonfire shoot
- 2nd Nov
2nd Nov
Romford
- Billericay
- Mayflower Archers
- Record status
- FITA 18
This is a serious record status shoot, so if you really want to enter, get your entry in very soon. ?? Nov 6/7 Dec
West Essex Bowmen Junior National Championships It fills up early so don’t leave your entry to the last minute. Racketts A C Worcester
- Portsmouth
- Romford Essex
- Lilleshall Shropshire
- Portsmouth
- ?? Dec
- Basildon Essex
Entry forms for tournaments are available from Steve Fenton, the club notice board or can be downloaded from our Mayflower website, www.mayflowerarchers.co.uk tournament diary pages.
For those who wish to enter any ‘Open’, County (ECAA), Southern Counties (SCAS) or National tournaments, it is essential that you are able to competently shoot your age distance as shorter distances are not permitted. If you’ve never entered an outside tournament before, it is advisable to seek advice before completing the entry form. In this case, please seek assistance from any member of the Junior Team who will be willing to answer any questions and may be able to supply you with a fact sheet.
Junior Sub Committee Update
As you may remember, the Junior section invited the Junior Captain and another to attend meetings to tell us old ‘uns (but only in years, ‘cos we never grew up) what you really want from the club. Well, we understand that you’d like to have more ‘Fun shoots’ and more assistance on bow set up. We’re going to have to put our thinking caps on, but would welcome any suggestions for ‘Fun’ before we come up with something else. Don’t forget, we already run two 3d shoots a year and a Christmas fun shoot. For the coaching, without putting additional pressure on our coaches, we hope to incorporate this with the FITA Feather award scheme. Thus, you can get the assistance and the award. Feel free to talk with Nicole or Lewis or one of the team.
Page 5
FITA Beginner’s Awards.
Feather & Arrow
Mayflower Archery Club will be introducing this scheme to help with our new and existing juniors and all beginners, including adults, to help with their development in archery.
The FITA Beginner’s Award Scheme has been designed to allow beginners in Archery to measure their progress against set standards. Their progress should be encouraged by the clubs and rewarded by the winning of FITA Feather and Arrow pins.
The awards are based on three (3) attainments.
Performance. Skill. Knowledge & Know How.
The awards are split into two categories: 1) FEATHER AWARDS, for the youngest beginners, under 12 years of age and some disabled beginners. (It is up to the club coach to decide on an archer’s eligibility).
2) ARROW AWARDS, these are for pre-teenagers, teenagers and adults. (The pre- teenagers will usually have already gained their feather awards).
The FITA Beginner’s Award Scheme is designed to reward the beginner at the various stages of their development, from shooting at very short distances 6-10 metres, which is dependent on age, to the shortest indoor distance 18 m and even further to near 30m. The size of the target faces will also vary, for feather awards 80 cm spot face or 40 cm face counting hits only, for arrow awards 80 cm full face using conventional FITA scoring.
- Feather Award
- Arrow Award
To all juniors and adults wishing to apply for this training program please contact
David Scorah by e-mail [email protected]
Or Tel: 01268 735678.
Page 6
Lynne Burton - My road to Beijing selection
In February the Paralympic Squad learned the number of places we had gained for Beijing for each disability category. Unfortunately for me that meant a selection shoot scheduled for 31 May. Things were going well and I was starting to get PBs at the shoots I was going to.
On 15 May I turned yellow so the following day I went for blood tests at the Royal Free Hospital where I had been given my liver transplant.
17 May saw the GNAS National Disabled Archery Competition. I felt very tired and jaundiced but wanted to take part. 12 arrows into the 30 metre section I received a phone call telling me I was very ill and it was essential I go into hospital as soon as possible. However I finished the competition regardless, getting a PB and coming second to Kathy Critchlow-Smith!
As soon as I finished shooting I left immediately for the Royal Free Hospital and the following day (a Sunday) they opened part of the Radiology Department especially for me to have a liver biopsy. This unfortunately showed chronic rejection of my transplanted liver. To try and counter this I have been put on large doses of immuno-suppression drugs.
Two weeks after being admitted to hospital I was due at Lilleshall. I was definitely unfit to drive but my coach agreed to be my “Knight in shining armour” and drove me to the selection shoot. Comments such as ‘You look awful’ and ‘what on earth are you doing here?’ were flying around’. I replied, ‘I’m not sure – but if I don’t try to take part in the shoot I have no chance of going to the Paralympics and my next chance would not be for 4 years’.
As I had not shot for 2 weeks and not sat up for more than an hour at a time I was very worried. I am not sure how I managed to do the Olympic round then a round robin head-to-head in the afternoon where I scored the best 2 dozen ends I had done all day. At 1630 hours the squad was announced – I had won a place for Beijing! No time to celebrate as I had to return to being an inpatient – but my phone became very busy!!
Lynne Burton See also GNAS Website - http://www.gnas.org/nlstory.cfm?ID=29015&NLID=40831 British Wheelchair Sport - http://www.wheelpower.org.uk/news/nlstory.cfm? ID=29030&NLID=59544 More comments, congratulations and words of praise on the Essex WebPages. www.ecaa.org.uk
I make no apologies for adding this to Junior News. I think it’s an amazing story of one person’s struggle against their disability and determination to achieve.
If in reproducing this article from the Essex WebPages, I have offended copyright or similar procedures, I beg forgiveness, just this once. I think that myself and a lot of Essex archers could learn a lot from Lynne’s example.
Please add you congratulations to Lynne on the Essex Forum page.
Friday 18th July. Sadly, I have just learned that due to another transplant, Lynne may not be able to attend the Paralympic Games this time round. Our sympathies must go to Lynne, who is one very determined lady.
Page 7
Club Diary
On the following dates, you are invited to join us in the following tournament rounds. There is no compulsion to join these and you can shoot alongside, but they are intended to give our newer members the opportunity to gain valuable tournament experience.
20th Sept 27th Sept
Club Short Metrics, Club Warwick rounds,
Barleylands 1.00 pm Assembly Barleylands 2.00 pm Assembly
To join in on either of these rounds, please notify Steve Fenton or Roger Glover one week before the event in order that we can prepare a ‘Target List’ and get your score sheet printed.
For those who cannot shoot their age distance, ie adults shoot 60 yards or more, we do permit shorter distances. Please advise us what distance you can shoot and please arrive at least 30 minutes prior to assembly when the rules will be explained.
Steve Fenton Roger Glover [email protected] [email protected]
01277 634133 01277 650358
‘JAWS’ awards
Annually, the junior committee at GNAS run a junior awards scheme (jaws). Trophies are given for the winners and runners up claiming the most points in the scheme collected throughout the year. Points are claimed for entering ‘Open’, County, Regional and National events and for claiming ‘Rose’ and FITA awards or attaining a ‘Six Gold End’. The form is a pain to complete, but gives you incentive to achieve. Full details in ‘Archery UK’, www.gnas.org or see Steve or Roger.
Junior Rankings
Something else that you may wish to consider is sending your best three 12 dozen scores to GNAS and get placed in the National ranking scheme. Collect your scores and score sheets (or result sheets) and send them off at the end of the year.
The Junior Team
Junior Liaison Officer
Steve Fenton
See www.gnas.org or ‘Archery UK’.
When you have completed any of your club proficiency badges, please show your score sheet to David Scorah who will award you with the appropriate colour.
The ‘team’ Roger Glover
Should you wish to claim a County record, please contact Martin who will give you a claim form.
Martin Vidgeon-Hart David Scorah
The next edition of Junior News is planned for October. Should you wish to contribute, please send your work to Roger in September, preferably by email or other electronic format. It saves me writing it again.
Junior Captain Nicole Scorah
Junior Member Lewis Jones
Back copies of Junior News can be downloaded from www.mayflowerarchers.co.uk from the ‘news archive’ pages.
Published by the Mayflower Archer Junior Team solely for the benefit of Junior members.
Any views expressed represent those of the contributor and not necessarily those of the club committee, the junior subcommittee or members of the club.
Whilst every care is taken in the preparation of this publication, errors can and will occur and the editor, Mayflower Archers committee or Junior sub –committee cannot be held responsible for articles wrongly published or misread
Child Protection Officers
Wendie Stevens David Scorah
© Mayflower Archers and contributors 2008