New to archery
You do not need experience, equipment or a sporty background. Here is what your first session involves and how to join in.
Your first session
You will be shown how to stand, how to hold the bow and how to draw and release, then you will shoot at a target from close range under supervision. Everything is explained on the day. By the end of the session most people have put arrows in the target.
Equipment
Most clubs supply beginner kit for their sessions, so you do not need to buy anything to try it.
Wear something close-fitting on your top half and tie back long hair, because a bowstring will catch on anything loose.
What it costs
Each club sets its own membership fee and session costs, so the club is the place to ask. Contact details for every club are in the directory.
Safety and supervision
Archery is run to strict range rules: everybody shoots and collects arrows together, on command, and beginners are supervised throughout. Your club will walk you through the range rules before you pick up a bow.
ISAA has an Athlete Protection Officer. If you have a welfare or safeguarding concern about anything to do with student archery, you can contact them directly at isaaapo@archery.ie.
FAQs
Do I need to be strong, or sporty?
No. Beginners shoot light bows, and technique matters far more than strength. Archery is one of the few sports where complete beginners and experienced competitors share the same line.
I wear glasses or contact lenses. Is that a problem?
Not at all. Plenty of archers wear glasses. If you have a dominant-eye question, the person running your first session will sort it out in a minute.
How do I find my club?
Every affiliated club is in the club directory. Look out for your club at the students' union freshers' fair at the start of the year, too.
What happens at my first competition?
ISAA publishes a handbook written specifically for beginners entering their first intervarsity: what the format is, what to bring and how scoring works. Read the Beginner Archer's Intervarsity Competition Handbook on the resources page.
Can I join if my college is not listed?
Email isaasecretary@archery.ie and we will point you in the right direction.
Ready to try it?
Find your college's club and send them a message. That is genuinely all it takes.