Archery Yesterday and Today

1. Archery Yesterday and Today

2. The History and Sport of Archery Humans have used archery since the dawn of history, first for hunting, warfare, and in modern times for sport. Stone arrowheads over 50,000 years old have been found in Africa, and archery has been used by nearly every society on the earth. There are many occasions when archery has changed the course of history. Not many Olympic sports can claim this grand heritage!

3. Archery, one of the oldest sports still practiced, is closely linked to the development of civilization. As a cultural advance, it was comparable to the discovery of fire and the invention of the wheel. Early bows were of two basic kinds: wooden and composite. The earliest bows were undoubtedly made from wood, probably simply cut from saplings and whittled into the desired shape and strung with animal gut. These earliest of bows developed into the short bow and long bow. 

4. The short bows was used for hunting in the woods. The Egyptians were the first to develop composite bows (bows made from several different materials), stretching the intestines of sheep to make the bow string.

5. The Chinese developed crossbows (horizontally mounted bows operated a bit more like a pistol), and Chinese armies and emperors alike learned archery.

6. The Parthiansin Iran and Afghanistan could shoot arrows from horseback while fleeing from the oncoming armies

7. Possibly the most famous archers in history are the Mongols. In 1208AD Genghis Khan led his hoard out from the plains of Mongolia, forging a large and bloody empire. The Mongols were expert horsemen who could stand high in the stirrups and thus shoot arrows in all directions

8. The Saxon English did not use many archers in battle and it was only later in history that the English started using the longbow to such a devastating effect. Probably most famous was during battles against the French during the 100 years war. Due to the success of the longbow, the English used it right up to the middle of the 17th century, even when other armies took to firearms.

9. The development of the Bow Long bow Compound Bow Recurve bow Cross Bow

10. The bow, as a weapon of war, faded from use as pistols and rifles became more accurate and reliable. Rather than dying out, archery instead became a popular sport.

11. Archery first appeared in the Olympics in 1900 in Paris, but was dropped for many years, as there was no fixed set of international rules. Finally it returned in 1972 in Munichand has been included in the Olympics ever since.

12. Modern competitive archery involves shooting arrows at a target for accuracy from a set distance or distances. This is the most popular form of competitive archery worldwide and is called target archery. Field archery involves shooting at targets of varying (and sometimes unmarked) distance, often in rough terrain. 3D archery is a subset of field archery focusing on shooting at life-size models of game and is popular with hunters. It is most common to see unmarked distances in 3D archery, as the goal is to accurately recreate a hunting environment for competition. . Inflight archery the aim is to shoot the greatest distance; accuracy or penetrating power are not relevant

13. Archery is a sport for everyone! Everyone can experience success! Helps people to realize they can accomplish many things with properinstruction, practice and a positive attitude!

14. ARCHERY IS SAFE! *Data indicates archery is one of the safest sports, with an injury rate of less than one incident per 1,000 participants, in 2004. **Recreational activities like golf and fishing have an injury rate of up to 1.5 to 2 times the rate for archery. ***Common sports like soccer, baseball and basketball have injury rates 15 to 25 times that of archery.

15. NASP promotes international-style target archery as part of a school curriculum.

16. What in it for you today?? NATIONAL ARCHERY IN SCHOOLS TOURNAMENT PROGRAMS * Competition * Scholarship opportunities * Loads of fun