Youth Archery
Youth is the junior section of Archery New Zealand and was formed to help cater for young archers in New Zealand. Before Youth Archery was formed in New Zealand all juniors, no matter what their age, competed against one another. For example, a 17-year old stood beside an 8-year old shooting for the same trophies and medals. Youth Archery (formerly known as JAMA – Junior Archer Members Association) was formed to make junior archery a much fairer system and now has five different age divisions from U11 to U21.
Youth Archery has their own Māori motto: Ko ngā Rangatahi ngā Rangatira mō āpōpō. This translated means: the youth of today are the champions of tomorrow.
Age Groups
Each youth archer competes in their division which is based on bow type and age group.
The following classes of archers (age groups) are recognised by Archery New Zealand:
U11 – up to and including the year of their 10th birthday
U14 – up to and including the year of their 13th birthday
U16 – up to and including the year of their 15th birthday
U18 – up to and including the year of their 17th birthday
U21 – up to and including the year of their 20th birthday
The following table shows the age class an archer will compete in based on their birth year and the competition year:
|
Year Born
|
Year of Competition
|
||||
|
2023
|
2024
|
2025
|
2026
|
2027
|
|
| 2002 | OPEN | OPEN | OPEN | OPEN | OPEN |
|
2003
|
U21 | OPEN | OPEN | OPEN | OPEN |
|
2004
|
U21 |
U21
|
OPEN | OPEN | OPEN |
|
2005
|
U21 |
U21
|
U21 | OPEN | OPEN |
|
2006
|
U18 |
U21
|
U21 | U21 | OPEN |
|
2007
|
U18 |
U18
|
U21 | U21 | U21 |
|
2008
|
U16 |
U18
|
U18 | U21 | U21 |
|
2009
|
U16 |
U16
|
U18 | U18 | U21 |
|
2010
|
U14 |
U16
|
U16 | U18 | U18 |
|
2011
|
U14 |
U14
|
U16 | U16 | U18 |
|
2012
|
U14 |
U14
|
U14 | U16 |
U16
|
|
2013
|
U11 | U14 | U14 | U14 |
U16
|
|
2014
|
U11 | U11 | U14 | U14 |
U14
|
|
2015
|
U11 | U11 | U11 | U14 |
U14
|
|
2016
|
U11 | U11 | U11 | U11 |
U14
|
|
2017
|
U11 | U11 | U11 | U11 |
U11
|
|
2018
|
U11 | U11 | U11 | U11 |
U11
|
If you aren’t sure how to understand the table, read below:
First, look for the row with your birth year (let’s say 2011) and then find the column with the year the event if being held (let’s use 2022).
This means you can shoot in the U14, U16, U18, U21, or Open (previously called “Senior”) age classes but not in the U11 or 50+/65+ age classes. Youths can choose to shoot in any older class up to, and including, the Open class. While your class usually stays the same for a year or more, classes can be changed for each individual event entered.
Age Groups and Distances
Q: When should I check what age class I am (or, when does my age class change happen)?
A: 1st of January is when the effective changes happen.
Q: What if the event happens over 31st Dec/1st Jan?
A: You need to be eligible to shoot that age class for the whole event (much like how you can’t swap to compound after starting the ranking round with a recurve).
Q: Can I be eligible for more than one age class at a time?
A: Yes, but you can only shoot each event as one of them. You can be U14 and shoot SENIOR, but you can’t do both in the same event (e.g.: ranking and Matchplay). Merging age classes is done during events to allow events with low entries to happen, but that doesn’t change your age class.
Where else can I find information?
You can ask the judges at any tournament, look at the Archery NZ website, or email us at officials@archerynz.co.nz
What’s my Distance?
Entering tournaments can be daunting when you aren’t sure what distance you are shooting. Luckily we have a distance and age and bow type table to help you find out.
Remember in tournaments you can shoot up an Age Class (as long as the distance is further than your current Age Class) but not down.
For detailed information on the different types of shoots and shooting distances please refer to the ANZ shooting rules in Section 3.
Youth Interclub Challenge
The Youth Interclub Challenge is run once every month from February through to November. Your club can run this event and you can compete against other archers in your category and improve over time. This monthly shoot is what we call a “postal shoot” – you shoot at your own club, and your scores are sent into a coordinator who puts the results together for the whole country. Each month a different round is shot. Certificates are presented to the first 3 placings in each division.
Junior Tournaments
As Youth archers progress through archery, most like to try out tournaments. Many individual clubs host tournaments during the year solely for Youth Archery. Clubs also run open tournaments where youth divisions are catered for also.
Youth archers also compete in the National Indoor Championships which is held during the winter months, and the Outdoor Championships which is held during summer.
Solely for Youth archers, the North Island and South Island Youth Championships are outdoor tournaments which are held over a weekend usually in February or March. These outdoor tournaments are shot from various distances for juniors’ relevant ages. The youngest (U11) can shoot from as close as 15 metres while the older (U21) can shoot as far as 90 metres. These tournaments are very useful for those trying out for the Trans-Tasman team.
NZ Representative teams
Youth archers have the opportunity to trial for NZ Representative teams to compete against other youth archers from around the world. Each archer must meet the required criteria to be considered for any teams.
Trans-Tasman
Every second year Archery New Zealand selects a youth team to compete against Australia. This competition is called the Trans-Tasman.
This is a self funded event of which is located either in New Zealand or Australia on a rotating basis.
Awards and Records
Badges and awards
Youth badges and award pins can be claimed and won for particular rounds shot and scores shot at those tournaments. There are also pins and badges available for the youth monthly shoot.
Please visit the Athlete Awards page to see what is available (there is a handy PDF to view) and to make a claim.
Records
Archery NZ keeps a full list of rounds and records shot for those rounds. Chasing a record can be really motivating for an archer!