Sixth edition of the Dutch Archery Congress – ‘Day of Archery’

The goal of the seminar, which is open to all registered members of the federation, is to network and share information about the sport of archery. The education of club directors, trainers and volunteers has been a key factor in archery’s recent growth within the Netherlands.

The day had two rounds of workshops with a wide variety of subjects, two clinics and two plenary seminars. It started with a little rules quiz, led by World Archery International Judge Robert ERICA, after which the group split up into the workshop groups.

For the avid archery fan the day offered the perfect opportunity to pick the brain of the top level athletes during a clinic named ‘Shoot with the Dutch team’. None less then Olympian Rick VAN DER VEN, Youth Olympian Jan VAN TONGEREN and World and Vegas Champion Mike SCHLOESSER helped the attending delegates with technique and equipment issues.

Sjef VAN DEN BERG (header photo courtesy Handboogsport) had well over 60 people attend his workshop on the truths and myths of stabilisation. He perfectly translated his experience into useful tips for the beginner as well as advanced archers.

In one of the plenary sessions, Netherlands head coach Ron VAN DER HOFF went into great details about the use of high speed cameras by the technical staff at the Olympic training centre. Extensive analysis of the shot sequence, the arrow flight and equipment response has been a proven tool contributing to the team’s success.

Although an expensive piece of equipment, several more affordable methods were shown to coaches to make their job in training local talent a lot easier.

World Archery IT Manager Matteo PISANI also presented a short introduction to the open-source Ianseo results software, explaining how it can be used at a local level as a complete tool to help event organisers deliver their tournaments.

The day ended with handing out awards for the best club, volunteer, talent, recreational performance and elite performance of the year.

Visit the Dutch Archery Federation website for more.