Greetings Fellow Archers
As I write this column the last traces of snow are under attack from the first sixty degree day of spring.  Soon another winter will be but a memory and the spring archery season will be in full swing. Here's hoping all our NETAA members get out and enjoy their sport, it should be an exciting season.

MASS STATE INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIP
Mother nature didn't co-operate with this shoot, dropping 8" of fresh snow on the area Friday night and keeping the white stuff dropping from the sky almost all day Saturday.  Attendance was down due to the weather, but those that braved the eliments were treated to a great shoot by our host, TePee Archers.

We did see some new faces, as several olympic style shooters partisipated to enjoy the new FITA classes we have implimented for this season.  NETAA has always promoted target (paper spot shooting) archery, so making a place for the olympic style shooters to compete was the next logical step.  As an experiment this season we will regognize the FITA classes on the 3D portion of the tour as well as the 450/540 rounds.

The tournament was sort of quite, but there were a few notable events.  Charles Kronauer (M-FS) shot his personal best score (35X 447) to prove he's been practising this winter and getting ready to chalange the very best archers in the region.  Charles took first place honors.  In addition to shooting well, Charles brought his two children to compete.  His daughter Kristina competed for the first time as a cub, taking first place honors.  Her last year's domanance of the PeeWee class gave her a good foundation of experience for the upcoming season.  The PeeWee class will still be favored with Kronauer representation however as younger brother Nicholas tries to fill his sister's shoes.  He's off to a good start with a first place win.   It's families like this that are the future of our sport, and we hope to see a lot more archers getting their youngsters involved this season.

Here is a list of winners:
SNR     Jack Tripp    428
M-FS   Charles Kronauer    447
M-FSL    Todd Peters    400
M-BFSL    Roy Goodwin    360
M-FITA    Jason Newman    310
F-FS     Pat Fisher    382
F-BFS     Cathy Blake    360
F-FITA    Susan Schwartz    237
Y-MFS    Brendon Peters    291
Y-FITA    Colin Cordima    211
CUB    Kristina Kronauer    305
PeeWee   Nickolas Kronauer    303

540 ROUND
The target portion of this year's World Championship will again be shot as a NETAA 540 Round.  For those that haven't tried this game, it is very similar to the NFAA/NAA outdoor 600 Round.  Actually it is even closer to the NFAA 810 Round.  The target used is the five color FITA 48" face.  Archers shoot five ends of four arrows at each of three distances, for a total of 60 shots.

Adults shoot 60, 50, and 40 yards. Youths shoot 50, 40, and 30 yards.  Cubs shoot 40, 30 , and 20 yards.  Scoring is 9,7,5,3,1, with a perfect score (60 shots) of 540.

Several people ask every season, "Why not just shoot a 600 Round?"  There are lots of reasons.  First, the are four diferant 600 Rounds which leads to lots of confusion.  Second, the 540 Round solves several of the common problems/complaints of archer's with the NFAA/NAA outdoor 600 round.  Third, the 540 Round provides a great spectator attraction and promotional oportunity for the sport.

All of these games are shot with four archers to a target (two on each of two lines).  The 600 Rounds are shot with four five arrow ends at each distance. That means 20 arrows all trying to squeeze into the 10 ring at each target! This makes for a lot of arrow damage, and lost points due to glance outs.  With five four arrow ends, the 540 Round cuts the number of arrows in each target by 25%.  This cuts down on arrow damage (and lets the archers pace themselves a little better).  Because the whole gold counts nine, glance outs
(from the ten ring) don't cost points.  The game is simply more fun!

There is another angle.  Because the entire gold counts for nine points, most of the top shooters will "clean" the course shooting a perfect 540.  This is great!  That provides spectator interest as all the top archers must come together on Sunday for the tie breaking shoot off round.  The fast moving shoot off is desided by shooting three four arrow ends (one at each of the three distances as determined by class/age), scoring 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

For the "Championship Shoot Off", X's are counted and will be used to break additional ties.  If a tie still remains after the three ends, the archers will continue at the longest distance with an arrow by arrow "Sudden Death" shoot off with arrows scored "inside out" (arrows touching lines get the lower score).

Because the shoot off brings all the best archers together on one line, and because the competition is fast paced and short duration, this is a favorite part of the Championship, and one that is especially well suited to draw media attention.

TARGET CHAMPIONSHIP
To compete at the annual championship in the target event (540 ROUND discribed above) each archer must qualify.  There are many ways to qualify.  Any archer placing in the top 20 in his/her class at any NETAA sanctioned target tournament will get an invitation to register and compete in the 540 Round.

Target games regognized as suitable for NETAA qualification are: NETAA 450 (indoor) Round, NFAA 300 Round (indoor), NFAA or NAA 600 Round, NETAA 540 Round, and NFAA 560 (field round).  While NETAA prefers that either the 450 or 540 round are used, any recognized target round may be eligible for sanctioning.

We are still open to accepting sanctioning requests for target qualifiers and encourage clubs, state organizations, and shoot organizers to step forward. The number of qualifiers will be limited and spread out geographically.  The goal is to have enough qualifiers so people can get out and qualify, without have so many that the events are poorly attended.  We would like to see at least one state level NETAA target championship in each of the eleven states.
If any of our members know someone that might be interested in taking on one of these events, please contact the office for more information and sanction request forms.

LAST CHANCE 540 QUALIFIER
To provide a "last chance" for all archers to try to qualify for the target championship, there will be a Last Chance 540 Qualifier July 15-16 in conjunction with the third leg of the Eastern New York Triple Crown in Middleburg.  This is not only the last oportunity to qualify, the event will be shot on the same course as the Outdoor World Championship one month later and therefore will be a great warm up for the final event of the season.

GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP
This year we will announce the second annual Grand Championship Award at the Outdoor World Championship.  The winner will receive a bonus check (minimum $1,000.00), a special trophy, and a Grand Championship jacket.  As this is a fairly new event, here are the rules:

1. To compete in the Grand Championship each archer must compete in the money division of both the 540 and the 3D events at the Outdoor Championship.
2. To compete in each event, archers must qualify in their respective class (open or money division).
3. The Grand Champion will be determined by the greatest agregate score (540 & 3D) from the semi final events (Sunday's 3D finals and 540 Tie Breaker rounds don't count).
4. For Grand Championship points only, 540 round scores will be calculated by adding one point for each 10 ring scored (X ring) to the base score.
5. Ties will be broken by counting total 12's shot in the 3D event.
6. In the event of a tie after adding 12's, there will be a sudden death arrow by arrow shoot-off on the 540 range right after the 540 tie breaker round on Sunday.
7. All money division 540 competitors must shoot the 4:00 PM Saturday line together.

Each team member must be a championship 3D competitor (money or open division).  Each team must register prior to going on the 3D course on Friday.  Registration at the shoot.  Multiple registrations will be accepted (archers may register on more than one team/division).  Each team must pay a $75.00 registration fee (this is paid back 100%).   Semi final team scores will be determined by adding the scores of each team member from the semi final 3D championship (Friday and Saturday's totals).  The top five teams in each division will advance to a 10 target Final Round on Sunday.  The Team Finals will be in the open for enjoyment of all spectators and media.

The registration fees will be paid back one place for every three teams entered (maximum five places) on a percentage basis, with the additional $250.00 in bonus money going to the first place team in each division.