Youth survey reveals average starting age 11 years of age

The 2015 youth athlete survey, completed at the latest youth worlds in Yankton by nearly 300 young international archers uncovered some interesting results, not least that over 60% of the individuals that took the questionnaire practice archery alongside their schoolwork, with no special training allowances.

If you’ve got the dedication, it seems, there’s no obstacle to becoming a fully-fledged international athlete at a young age.

Five fun facts

1. Young recurve archers shoot, on average, around 250 arrows more per week than those practising compound.

2. Around 6% of international juniors and cadets do not have a personal coach.

3. The average bow weight – compound and recurve – for juniors and cadets is consistent, at around 40lbs.

4. There’s little difference between the performance of cadets at 60 metres and juniors at 70 metres – as the average top score of the participants at their respective distances was just under 650 out of 720 for the 72-arrow ranking round.

5. There’s nearly a 50/50 split between those who shoot in full-time national teams, and those who just compete at the World Archery Youth Championships as a standalone qualifier!

See below for the survey in full…