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NETAA Newsletter January 2003
Greetings fellow archers.
I hope this newsletter finds you enjoying the holiday season and getting ready for another year of tournament archery. For most of us, the hunting season has drawn to a close and the time has come to pull the tournament bow off the rack, dust it off, and start practicing for the indoor season. The 2003 season is shaping up to be the biggest and brightest in NETAA history, and we hope you all take part.
2002 CHAMPIONSHIP- Before I get into upcoming events I want to thank everyone that made last year's Championship such a great success. From my perspective, it was the best Championship thus far. Everything went very smoothly, everyone maintained a great attitude, and it seemed everyone had a lot of fun. Of course, the fact that attendance was up did not hurt either!
The fine folks at Gilbertsville Rod and Gun did an outstanding job for us and deserve a special vote of thanks. Not only were the courses and targets in excellent condition, the food and services were even better than I imagined they would be (and I had high expectations!). The Friday night pig roast was a great success, and will become a standard part of the Championship weekend from now on. As if all those pork roasts were not tempting enough, the club threw on a few 20-pound beef roasts and just kept filling people's plates until they stopped going back for more. Sue Castle did a great job as our Friday night DJ adding another festive touch to the weekend. Pete Lucas supplied and put up the 540 Round targets and the targets for the Bowhunter Proficiency Round. Last but not least, Tina Parker and her girls helped me with the registration area all weekend, helping to make everything run smooth and giving me a little time now and then to get around and enjoy the company of all our good members.
The final scores for the Championship have been up on the web site for months, so I do not want to chew up a lot of space in this newsletter listing them again. If any of our members does not have access to the internet, drop us a line and we will mail you a copy of the downloaded results.
2002 GRAND CHAMPIONS- Deb Frey and Chris Abrahamson earned the title of NETAA Grand Champion at the 2002 Games. Congratulations to both these fine archers. This was the first year Chris competed as an adult, and what a showing he made! In addition to the prize money in the 3D, team, and 540 competitions, Chris walked away with a $1,000.00 bonus check thanks to the generosity of Northern Building Systems, and a 2003 trophy moose hunt in Newfoundland thanks to the fine folks at Sipaqmekik Lodge. Chris' dad will be joining him on the hunt this fall. Deb took home a $500.00 bonus check as the Ladies Grand Champion, also thanks to the generosity of Northern Building Systems.
INDOOR WINTER QUALIFIER- This will be the second year for this event, and we're hoping for a good turnout to justify keeping this shoot in the tour. We have moved the date forward one week to avoid a conflict with another major shoot in the area. The idea of this indoor 3D shoot is to jump start the season. It gives everyone an opportunity to get qualification for the World Championship out of the way early, as well as a good excuse to come and compete with fellow NETAA members. For those looking forward to the big Springfield shoot, this gives a great opportunity to warm up under indoor conditions. Whatever reason suits you, we hope that you will support this event the weekend of Feb. first and second. Shooting times are random so you can sign up at the door to be assigned a group.
NEW ENGLAND INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIP- This may be the only target qualifier held in the six New England States, and therefore represents the best opportunity many of you will have to qualify for the 540 games at the 2003 Championship. That is one good reason to compete at this event. Another good reason is to show your support for organized tournament archery in New England. It is no secret that participation at all archery events in New England has suffered dramatically over the past few years. That is why there are very few major competitions in the area. NETAA is holding on to two major shoots in New England so that those serious tournament archers out there have qualifiers close to home. We hope that all the serious archers in New England will rally behind this effort and support this shoot with their attendance. We also hope that some of our members from New York and New Jersey will come up and lend a little support to help our New England members make this a significant event. We will be shooting a 450 round at 20 yards, which is a great way to get tuned up for the outdoor season right around the corner.
SOUTHERN TRIPLE CROWN- We are proud to announce that the three clubs that did such an excellent job last year on this mini tour are hosting the three legs again this year. See the schedule for the exact dates and locations. These shoots were very well attended last season, and we made many new friends. We are looking forward to seeing you all again this season and hope you each bring a friend and introduce them to the NETAA tour.
NEW YORK TRIPLE CROWN- As in the Southern Triple Crown above, we are proud to say that the three clubs that did such a fine job hosting this mini tour last season will be our hosts again this season. The tour was a great success last year and we expect to build on that success this season. Remember, bring a new friend to each NETAA shoot and help us build this tour to the biggest and best in the country.
NEW ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIP- As announced in the last newsletter, the New England Triple Crown has been temporarily suspended in favor of one championship shoot. Sportsmen Inc, in Brattleboro will be the host site for this event. It was a tough choice, when I decided to cut back to only one 3D event in New England. Tougher yet was deciding which of the three great host sites would get the new championship. When all was said and done I selected Brattleboro for a few reasons. First, They have been hosting NETAA events longer than any other club. Second, they had more members supporting the tour in New England than any other club. Finally, they are the closest to New York. We need the support of our members from outside New England to build the numbers! There just is not enough support for tournament archery in New England to sustain a major event! I hope that with the help of our supporters in New York and New Jersey we can keep the numbers high enough to justify continuing the tour in New England. It is very important to the future of tournament archery in the six state New England area that we maintain a couple major tournaments. I am asking every serious archer to seriously consider coming out to these two shoots to show your support for our sport. If you do not feel "competitive", come and shoot in the guest division, but come support archery.
2003 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP- We are happy to announce that the folks at Gilbertsville Rod & Gun have invited us back for this year. Seems they enjoyed having us as much as we enjoyed being there. If you were at the Championship last summer, you know what great news this is. If you were not there, you missed a great event, ask around, and you will not miss the next one!
NEW CLASSES- For the 2003 season NETAA will recognize three new classes as follows: Senior Ladies - Any female archers 50 years or older (by3/15/2003) may compete in this class. Master - Any archer 62 years or older (by 3/15/2003) may compete in this class. Hunter Class - Max. 4 fixed pins, screw in (min. 80 grain) points, Min. 4 inch vanes/feathers, only one (max. 12 inch) stabilizer, and max. 80 # bow (compound, recurve, or longbow).
NOTES: A. All above classes shoot a maximum of 40 yards. B. Men's senior classes also changed to 50 years or older.
OTHER EVENTS- We have had a number of clubs request sanction forms for events that they are planning for this season. As soon as we get the forms back we will post these events on the web site. They will also go on the schedule for the next newsletter. Keep checking the web site for updates, as it is that time of year again.
Good shooting,
Roy Goodwin