Brief explanation
The idea behind the Castle Leagues is to keep archers interested in shooting during the winter months. This is the time to test out different poundage limb, new sight setup, experiment with your archery and record the changes by scoring a round. The league is open to all archers & bow styles whether experienced or a novice and is a great way to see how you are progressing in the sport
The league starts from 1st October to the 31st March that’s October, November, December, January, February, and March until the end of the calendar month but get the scores in by the 10th of the following month e.g., October scores in by 10th November. Score sent after the 10 days date will not be entered.
The Rules
The score you submit is based on shooting 36 arrows. This gives you one chance to record a score this along with the date shot need to be recorded on a score sheet or app.
To give you more chances of getting a better score people generally shoot a Portsmouth round. Once you have your full round on paper or app you can calculate the best 36 CONSECUTIVE ARROW score. Do not just pick the 36 highest arrow values out of 60 as this will not give a true picture.
You can work this out yourself or use “Jim’s Best 36 Spreadsheet” from https://www.nortonarchers.co.uk/na1/index.php/members/members-documents then Scoring section and download Jim’s 36 Best arrows this works in to Google Sheets and Excel enter the scores as you have them on your score sheet the spreadsheet will give show you the best 36 arrow score. Please get your scoresheet checked and countersigned at club before submitting your score.
Who is eligible?
This is a league for individuals so you, as an individual can send in your own scores, or your club could nominate one person to collect the scores for their members and send them all in together following details to dnaacastles@gmail.com
Your Name, Club, Bow Style, Gender, please do not send Junior Male, Under 16 Boy or Senior Female it has to be Lady, Gent, Boy, Girl (Boy and Girl are under 18) and their Score.
Only one score per person per bow type is permitted. IF you shoot more than one bow type indoors then you can submit another score for each bow style, make sure your additional scores show the other bow style.
Please use the following format when submitting scores:
Martin Fitzsimons, Norton Archers, barebow, gent 175 best 36
Martin Fitzsimons, Norton Archers, recurve, gent 225 best 36
What Bow styles are valid?
Compound, Longbow, ‘Olympic’ Recurve (sight) and Barebow. And longbow covers traditional longbow, American flatbow and all the derivatives.
What constitutes a valid distance? The league is designed around the ‘Portsmouth’ distance and target size (20 yards at a 60cm face) but for those clubs whose venue may not allow 20 yards to be shot, we allow scores where the distance is 40 feet, but the target face size must then be 40cm. What constitutes a valid score? ANY session where you shoot more than three dozen arrows consecutively in the month.
The following are EXAMPLES of how to get your 36 consecutive arrows.
EXAMPLE 1 – If you shoot only three dozen arrows at the session 36 CONSECUTIVE ARROWS.
EXAMPLE 2 – if you shoot THREE AND A HALF DOZEN. That’s 42 arrows to pick your the best 36 CONSECUTIVE ARROWS.
EXAMPLE 3 – Arrows 1 to 36, OR arrows 7 to 42, OR arrows 13 to 48. Whichever arrow you start counting at, send the best 36 CONSECUTIVE ARROWS.
Valid days cover club target days but also any competitions that you may enter.
What divisions exist?
The following Divisions are available for the League this year:
How does the structure work?
Imagine that you have been included in the division ‘Alnwick’. Bow Type is irrelevant as the division looks only at your skill level. All bow styles and gender are sorted independently for the published tables.
Looking at ‘Alnwick’ the range for scores in this division will be between 186 and 205 for three dozen CONSECUTIVE arrows scored while attempting the league challenge.
If you score more than 205 you move up to Warkworth if you score less than 186 you move down to Berwick.
You can enter ONE score each month for each bow type you shoot. So, longbow and barebow score but only one score per bow type, make sure the score you send in is your best for that month.
By entering the Castle League, your data will be put in a database used solely for the castle leagues.
At the end of the indoor season certificates will be produced, including details of promotion, and/or the notification of a ‘top’ section score from the archer over the months of the league.
The certificates and the whole league participation is free to county archers.
