About
Started in 1986, the University of Plymouth Archery Club is a student run target archery club welcoming people of all experience levels, from total beginner to experienced. We shoot on Friday's between 18:30-21:30 and Sunday's between 10:00-13:00 (STC). We train at Lipson Cooperative Academy during the indoor season which is a 20-30 minute walk from the University. During the outdoor season we have good links with local clubs who have offered us to train alongside them. We have had several very successful years, doing well across disciplines at BUCS and on the local circuit, with members on the county team.
Socials
We hold weekly socials and put emphasis on having both drinking and non-drinking socials! Examples include a trip to 'Clip n Climb', ten-pin bowling, movie nights, fireworks night, and we have even been known to head to the theatre in the past!
Socials are member driven - we listen to our members and put on the socials they want to have! Any ideas for a social just let us know and we'll try and fit it in!
Socials are held every week, usually on a Wednesday and alternating between drinking and non-drinking socials.
Some of our biggest socials are listed below:
- Christmas Meal: This year was held at The Stable and was our biggest turnout for many years - thanks to everyone for coming and making it such a great time!
- Archery Assault: This has been very popular with members in previous years so we'd like to increase the number of times we do it. More details to come nearer the time. We are hoping to hold another session later in the year subject to demand.
- End of Season Awards: Our annual end-of-year awards ranging from best archer to best archery couple!
Competitions
For those interested in competing either seriously or socially, we compete in BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) national events every year. We participate in friendly competitions with the universities in South West and Wales (as part of the SWWU League). There are also local competitions with other archery clubs in the area to get involved with. We also hold an annual charity competition(s) where members from a variety of clubs come to shoot with us and help raise money for charity.
BUCS and SWWU competitions are almost always accompanied by a social of some sort or trip to the local Spoons and they are amazing weekends away.
BUCS events and others that are limited by space will be selected on an attendance and performance basis; this allows those archers who have been putting in the hours to practice to go to competitions.
UKSAA E-League:
This is an ongoing league during the indoor season and involves submitting your best monthly scores to the Club Captain or Records Officer which are then entered into a national e-league. We have so far been very successful with this league so let's keep it up! This is open to Recurve, Barebow, Compound and Longbow categories in Men’s and Women’s, and Experienced and Novice categories respectively.
Results are available here.
SWWU League:
These are some great events to get you into competitions; not too competitive and not too far to travel. Usually, we hold a competition here in Plymouth around October/November time. There is usually another held in Exeter around the same time and more hosted by other universities in the South West and Wales after the new year.
See the SWWU Archery webpage here.
BUCS Southern Qualifiers:
Usually takes place middle to end of February, hosted by Bristol. We shoot a Portsmouth round and archers who qualify with a high enough score proceed to BUCS Indoor Finals.
BUCS Indoor Finals:
This is usually hosted about 1 month after the qualifiers, usally by Warwick. The event consists of a WA 18m round followed by Head-To-Heads against other top archers.
BUCS Outdoors:
Hosted at the National Sports Centre in Lilleshall during June. It is a multiple day event where our members usually camp or find a local Airbnb. On the Saturday we shoot a WA 720 round followed by Head-To-Heads, and on the Sunday we shoot a WA 900 round. For more information, speak to our Club Captain. :)
BUTC:
We have attended the British University Team Championships for the last two years and it was an amazing event, unlike any other archery competition we had been to. With the hashtag #BringTheNoise, what can you expect? The format is any 3 non-compound archers, in a seeding round, followed by a Beiter Hit-Miss round in Head-To-Head eliminations. See BUTC results here. This event is usually held around the end of March.
Recent Awards
The past few years prior to COVID have been very successful. Some of our members have achieved the University Half Colours award, as well as the club itself earning Most Improved Sports Club 2017/18. Our Club has also achieved Bronze Icons for three consecutive years! We also achieved Club of the Year in 2019/2020 and 2021/2022 thanks to our fab and dedicated members.
Contacts
- Primary email (goes to all Committee members): Uoparcherysociety@gmail.com
- Corey Richardson (He/Him), Chair. corey.richardson@students.plymouth.ac.uk
Links
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uparchery/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/University-of-Plymouth-Archery-Club-172807596188912/