A Rotten Shame

[Oneway]

It is going to be hard to make all the shoots, But I for one am glad that we have so many opportunities to shoot. Remember one thing if ALL ARCHERS aren't spending time recuiting new members or building up the next generation of shooters or both at the same time, then we are working with in a limited number of shooters that are not increasing because we are worried about those who already shoot not showing up or going to another shoot at another club.

A couple of possible solutions

1.) Do something different at a Qualifier (ie, Award Buckles)

2.) When new people show up treat them like long lost family and then some

3.) Set up a mentoring/coaching target practice get together at your local Archery club
and cook hamburgers for the ones that show up and make it a free event to reach
those who are not currently involved in archery or a club member.

One thing we have to remember is that we are only one generation removed from not having archery as a sport period. We have to be willing to search out those who are not here yet to help them do the same thing later on. It is really that simple.

I will volunteer to set up such a day at our club, or come help work one at your club, or help you set up one and work it too. Lets continue to be unified as Archers, Family, Friends, Club Members to open the door for those we have not seen yet.

[Let's go Brandon!]

As is usually the case...this will go nowhere here.

I will reserve the rest of my comments for the Federation meeting this fall. I take some solace in knowing I'm not alone. While I don't have an issue with everyone having the opportunity to voice their opinions... some of you would do well to actually find out the whats, wheres and who's of the building blocks of 3D archery in the State of Texas.

It's born of decades of hard work, dedication, support, and risk from many.

[Oneway]

As is usually the case...this will go nowhere here.

I would like to hear more suggestions, as this pertains to the scheduling conflicts or overscheduling, correct?



Also I saw above that in one of the posts that clubs were dependant on the return supply of money for buckles to be awarded. As a club the club should be able to buy the first one, and then send members out into the community to the places where they do business and explain what is going on and offer something small in return like website logo advertisements or other ways to support their business for helping out. It works there are alot of businesses that want to be involved they are neither asked or don't know how.

I have found that the more positive the response in dealing with adverse situations the more positive the outcome, We can do this!

[Arrowsmith]

From Glenn's post above........

There is a phenomenon happening with the clubs. Attendance records of 200 plus shooters would show up to a qualifier because there were so few of them across the State. The club payback was very healthy when that would happen. Word got out about that part of it, so more and more clubs wanted to join ASA for the insurance, and to host a qualifier for the money it could make the club. Now the qualifier group is very saturated, and all clubs are seeing less people per shoot. Add that with all the other "events" and shooting options then the shooters have to make a decision. And loyalties are being tested.

The statement above is surgically precise. ^



Two things that I have learned in life.....

1. The bigger the target you become....the more shots are taken at you.
2. Success draws criticism.

When we had 5 qualifers state wide plus the state championship we never had over 100 shooters at qualifier and everyone was good with that.

Tracy and I came onboard and started actively recruiting new clubs, promoting the shoots, going to every shoot both days and running the shoots (beleive me....Texas is the only state where this happens). The shooters loved the consistency that this provided and they responded. More and more clubs saw this success and wanted on board and the rest is history. For 2011 we have 27 ASA clubs here in Texas which leads the nation. Fortunately not everyone of these clubs wants to have a qualifier. The ASA Federation rules states that any certified ASA clubs are guaranteed a qualifier. I am required to work within the frame work of these rules. BTW...about 99.9% of the people posting on this thread and 99.9% of ASA shooters in general have no understanding of the rules that governs us as state federation. The rules are very specific and very concise.

ASA FEDERATION QUALIFIERS:
A. All ASA certified clubs are guaranteed a minimum of one (1) Qualifier date. Clubs requesting dates for Qualifiers or the State Championship must submit their request to their respective State Director.

D. No qualifiers will be scheduled on the same date as any other club within a 100-mile radius of each other, regardless of state.

You can read all the rules here if you choose to do so:

http://asaarchery.com/news/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=58

Last year (2010) our schedule continued to grow with 14 shoots state wide (9 north and 5 south). I had shooters complaining that we had too many shoots total, too much driving distance involved, and too many shoots required for SOY. After reviewing the shooters list from each shoot it was apparent that the shooters had started regionalizing on their own. Very few shooters from east of the metroplex went out west and very few shooters from out west went past Ft. Worth to the east. Dee Falks, Mike Tyrell and myself came up with the regional format and new SOY program to address this situation. If you notice ASA is also using a regional SOY format at the national level.

"Most" shooters are very happy that they are not having to drive all over the state, but still have a good number of shoots near their home area. We have actually qualified more shooters at this point this year than we have ever qualified because we have more clubs in more parts of Texas offering ASA qualifiers.

Next year we have at least 3 more clubs coming on board. If none of the current clubs drop out....which could happen....then we will have 23 state qualifiers.

So hypothetically... lets say we just open it up state wide.... 23 qualifiers and lets say 5 count for SOY. I will guarantee you that the majority of the shooters will shoot in their home area. Essentially they will shoot their "region".

For all of you that say the system is not working. The results are in the numbers.

2007 Texas had the most qualified shooters in the nation, 2nd most ASA clubs in the nation, the highest average per shoot shooter count, and the 2nd largest state championship.

2008 Texas had the most qualified shooters for state in the nation and the most ASA clubs in the nation, the highest average per shoot shooter count and the 2nd largest state championship.

2009 Texas again had the most qualified shooters for state in the nation, the most ASA clubs in the nation, the highest average per shoot shooter count and the 2nd largest state championship.

2010 Texas again had the most qualified shooters for the state in the nation , the most ASA clubs in the nation, the highest average per shoot shooter count in the nation and for the 1st time ever the largest state championship by over 100 shooters. Texas 307. Georgia 198.

I called the ASA National office this morning and Lorraine and I did some number crunching. Texas, despite some reduced attendance, is again literally blowing away the rest of the nation in shooter per shoot attendance for 2011. We also have qualified more shooters so far than any other state and we have the most ASA certified clubs with 27. Our 2011 state championship should be the biggest in ASA Federation history.

Lorraine confirmed that Federation attendance is down nationwide. Pro/Am attendance is also down. We again led the nation (so far for this year) in Pro/Am attendance with over 1200 shooters at Paris.

The spike in gas prices has hurt ASA attendance nationwide. The scheduling of shoots has gotten ridiculously difficult. But the bottom line is this...... We have got a good thing going here in Texas......Much better than any other state in the nation.

Next time you run into Dee Falks or Mike Tyrell just ask them which ASA state is leaps and bounds ahead of all the rest.

[CarbonExtreme]

Wow, that's awesome Mike. Numbers like that are great to see. Thanks for all you do! Go Texas.

[BowMann]

Ok here is the deal. It was agreed on in the past we were not going to host a shoot on top of a qualifer with the exception of the south or within x amount of miles. What happened to that. Most of us will travel to shoot cause we love to shoot, but if there is a shoot close by then most likely you will choose the closer one. I know there is not enough weekends in the year to do this and its tough. But we have regions now and if your in a reagion with a qualifer you should not host a shoot the same weekend. It took alot of hard work and time to get archery here in Texas where it is today. To sum it up think about other clubs before you set a date. Just my opinion.