Whew what a year! Here I was thinking that we hadn’t managed to get anything done, but the more I start looking at it… actually we’ve done very well.
We started with some hot weather and shot the Target Championships at Shore Archery club in January. It was a full line and we (nearly) didn’t hold it at all with a snap lockdown lifting just in time. Following this we had great turnouts at the monthly 600 shoots. Thanks to all the volunteers who showed up at each event, getting things done! We love you guys.
Our monthly Youth Postal got off to a good start, although it was sadly unable to be shot in August/September/October/November. The ADAA Youth Shoots were very much enjoyed, although it was often the case that the archers found them harder than they looked – including the one above – the Castle shoot. There were some unusual strategies attempted to try and get a good score – interesting, but not often successful. The parents watched all this with some bemusement.
May was very busy, with the North Island Youth Championships hosted by Auckland Archery Club, the Inter-Club Postal Trophy being shot (and won again by Mountain Green, well done champs!), and an absolutely HUGE Archery NZ Foundation Coaching course hosted by Shore Archery Club. We had 28 people attend and all passed with flying colours, and are all now coaches who can take beginner’s courses in the district.
Speaking of beginner’s courses, during 2021 our district put forward a massive 14 courses, with many other private courses being run alongside the main public ones. Well done teams! We love to see so many new archers learn the basics and find out just how fun archery can be.
We hosted a Development level course in July, with 6 people attending and all passing that as well. Good luck with your coaching, everyone!
We very sadly had to cancel the scheduled fun Youth Team Tournament in August as we were locked down. I am hopeful that we can hold this again in 2022, and use all those resources we had carefully gathered for this shoot as well. Along with many other tournaments that were planned and now rescheduled, please support your local clubs where you can – and we’re certain you’ll have fun too.
We’d like to thank our volunteers, our clubs, our archers and of course their parents too for their support in 2021. It hasn’t been an easy year, but it has been a fun one (at least to start with) and we want 2022 to be just the same. Keep an eye on our events page, and if you are a club and are holding an event, let us know! We’ll publicise it for free.
The ADAA is very keen to do three things in particular:
– get as many archers as possible shooting regularly and enjoying themselves
– supporting all the coaches in the district, including getting coaches from different clubs together to share ideas – we talked/did this at an ADAA meeting this year which was really successful
– strengthening linkages between clubs as we all go through some of the same operational issues around how to operate under Alert Levels and the Protection Framework
If you wish to help, volunteer or just chip in once every now and then, we would love to hear from you.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and good shooting everyone!
Kelly Atkinson (President)
Caro Geelen (Secretary)
Siu Ling Kuan (Vice-President)