A Rotten Shame

[Texrock]

I believe it's a rotten shame that after all that Alan George and Pigeon Rd. has given in $1000s of dollars in donations and sweat given in support of Texas ASA Federation, that only 62 shooters attend Cross Timbers qualifier. I wouldn't blame him if he totally shut it all off. Come on people show some respect.

[Brett C]

Yup , Allens good people if they missed it they missed a great shoot, their loss.

[CarbonExtreme]

I think the West out in that area is hurting and now it's just starting to be a ripple effect.

Abilene only had 74 shooters total a few weeks back for their Qualifier and the sun was shining. We had a truck full of us from the DFW area that made the 3 hour drive (some of us stayed in hotels the night before). Thats a long way to go to find out there weren't even enough shooters in most classes to count for SOY or Move up qualification.

Hate to see such good clubs have poor turnouts. We really enjoyed the West Texas Championship series you guys put on.

Support your clubs!

[bow5]

Yep it sucks.

[Zookeeper]

As the number of shoots out pace the number of shooters available to make the shoots attendances numbers will go down. This will continue to be the case with the opening of more new facilities offering different shooting games. I think most clubs have felt the effect of this but certainly the clubs further away from the metroplex are getting hit the hardest.
It has nothing to do with respect but more to do with shooting opportunities and and the expense of travel. The only solution is to grow the number of shooters at the local level. It is the one thing that we as clubs have control over. Any thought that we can control or limit the shoots of others is not realistic. These are growing pains that we are all feeling.

[Mrs. JS]

Thanks so much to Eastland for the incredible shoot!! You guys obviously worked hard and Mark, Rocky, and I all enjoyed it!!! Thanks again for all your hard work!!!

[Let's go Brandon!]

The thing about a ripple effect, is eventually that ripple hits the other shore and comes back.

It has been said many times, "what's good for archery...isn't necessarily good for archery clubs."

Some seem to be fine with that, but keep this in mind, if things continue the way they are going, and clubs face shutting down, many of those club's members, archers, having found themselves with nowhere to shoot, practice etc...will simply find something else to do on their weekends.... golf, fishing etc... Then, what's bad for clubs will become what's bad for archery.

Have already seen that effect here, and just at the time when a few of the Western and South West clubs might have been making back.

Sadly, I think we will continue to see this decline in participation and shooter numbers. Yes, right now, the price of fuel is at least part of the problem, but frankly I think there are too many other venues putting on too many other events(many times on top of actual qualifiers).

Sure, cornering the market(so to speak), works out great for a few, but I can't help but think in the end, it will be detrimental to our sport and it's participants.

Bottom line is WE as fellow archers NEED and RELY on support from each other to exist at all...... this use to be the case.
None of the actual "clubs" are in this to make a profit, we simply want to keep our gates open, targets replenished/repaired and continue to see the SPORT grow.

Like the ripple, remember...you reap what you sow.

[ifishdad]

Also the Rinehart 100 was this last weekend alot of shooters there

[Zookeeper]

You can go to the federation website and check the archives for other club numbers. Although the sky is not falling it is getting a little cloudy.


Eastland numbers 2009-109
2010-70
2011-62

Abiline numbers 2009-96
2010-77
2011-74

These are adult shooters

[Davik]

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about...you HAD to know this was coming...yes, Allen is a great supporter...and so are alot of other people...but you can't saturate the state with qualifier after qualifier and expect 200 people at all of them...take this coming weekend...TWO ASA Quaslifiers...one in Fort Worth/Dallas, and one in Clifton...add in the FIELD round at Canyon Lake, and ANY other local club shoot, and we have the traditional "5 club shoot" choice that I have to make. Gas IS a factor, and I can't go too many places to shoot...I have already qualified for State (which is too far away to travel to) so I don't NEED to go qualify...I'm staying close to home if I can...Eastland was out of my 2 hour travel range to go shoot. As long as there are an unlimited number of qualifiers, I will continue to pick and choose where I shoot...maybe if there were fewer qualifiers spread over a large area more people would come to them because there are so few of them...obviously what we're doing isn't working.

[Brett C]

Here we go again,were going anyway. If you can't go , don't . No big deal but I think the next ones will be bigger. Last weekend was busy with a bunch of different events. ASA isn't the only game in town . I've talked quite a few guys & most are going this weekend.

[Coach W]

Gas prices could possibly play a role here... I know I havent jumped to shoot at any tournament for that reason.

[Zookeeper]

Here we go again,were going anyway. If you can't go , don't . No big deal but I think the next ones will be bigger. Last weekend was busy with a bunch of different events. ASA isn't the only game in town . I've talked quite a few guys & most are going this weekend.

Where are you going? Cableas youth shoot, Texin ASA, Clifton ASA,
Collin County Club shoot, or CCR Club Shoot.
I think it is good to have choices but you can not deny that attendance numbers at all events, Club shoots and ASA shoots are effected. Clubs need to plan accordingly.

[eholguin13]

Doe's anyone think that the implementation of regions for ASA had any affect on how far others are willing to drive? I made the trip to Abilene spent about 90 dollars in gas plus 30 entry and drove for a total of 6 hours to shoot against five other people. I believe that trip alone changed the way I think about traveling to shoot in a non home region.

[CarbonExtreme]

Good point Brett.

CCR actually had the Rinehart 100 moved from April to May as to avoid any conflict with Cowtown's 50th being so close in proximity. There are only a limited number of weekends that are possible dates when you consider all these archery venues.

Shooters shoot what they want and clubs, shops and organizations do what they can.