In the last issue I wrote about going to tournaments, logically I suppose I should have done this piece first but I hadn’t done the organising for the Somerset Indoor then!
Entry forms are all different and all ask for different information. On the form for the Somerset Indoor I asked for nock and fletching colours and you would be surprised how many people didn’t fill that in. I also asked for handicap and session preference - and guess what!
My reason for asking for nock and fletch colour was to avoid having archers shooting very similar arrows at the same target - not for my benefit, but to make it easier to identify them for scoring purposes. By knowing handicaps I could keep very good archers away from each other and so minimise arrow damage.
If only one preference was expressed I would assume that neither of the other sessions was any good and would leave the archer out of the tournament if that session was full, which may not be what was wanted. This leads on to target lists and results sheets - if you don’t send stamped, self-addressed envelopes you won’t get either and if you haven’t got your first preference you will not know and could turn up to a session for which you have not been entered and for which there is no space left.
Organisers have a hard enough job as it is so anything you can do to make life easier will be appreciated and will encourage them to do the job again (and you will be able to go to the same shoot again next year!) Apart from giving them all the information they ask for - even if you think it’s rubbish - one other thing that organisers do like is decent sized (9” x 6” so a sheet of A4 only has to be folded in half) envelope and preferably one that is self-sealing! You try licking a hundred or so envelopes twice over! (target list and results).
As I have some space left I would like to say a few words about scoring. At assembly the judge will often say that scoring will be to the “Redruth” system and asks if everyone understands this; either everyone really does understand the Redruth system or people are too embarassed to admit that they don’t know what this entails - which I can understand!
The idea behind Redruth scoring is to stop archers recording their own scores and hence avoid any chance of cheating. (In the following I have used the pronoun “he” to make things easier and not because I’m sexist; I like to see ladies on the shooting line - and they can always do the washing-up when they get home!) I have found it easiest if number 4 on the target starts things off by recording number 1’s score, having done so the scoreboard is passed to number 1 who checks that his score was written down correctly and then records number 2’s score, the scoreboard is then passed to number 2 to check and then record number 3’s score, it is then passed to number 3 who checks his score and records number 4’s score and finally the scoreboard is returned to number 4 for checking. [Apparently some archers are recording 10s as “X” (Roman numeral for 10) - a cross is a miss so be warned!]
All scoring must be done in black or blue pen and if a mistake is made in writing down the arrow values it must be altered, and signed, by a judge who will use a red pen. I would also advise that you keep your own score during the day and compare it regularly with the scoreboard - . If in doubt ask a judge, they’re there to help and are happy to do so.any differences can then be sorted out as they occur and you don’t have to spend ages sorting out scores at the end of the day. If in doubt ask a judge, they’re there to help and are happy to do so.