In 2009 there were many competitions where archers were either confused or just did not know the rules or regulations currently in place. This resulted in many delays being encountered during competitions which caused frustration to the competitors and organisers alike. Because of this the FITA Judges and Coaches Committees have agreed it would be useful to introduce some "drops" on issues concerning coaches, procedures and rules, and make judges procedures understandable to them, and not least, so the coaches know what to expect from the judges.

- Ken BEARMAN, FITA Coaches Committee Chairman

1. Cooperation between Coaches and Judges
2. Officials on the Field
3. Clothing
4. Appeals
5. Illegal Shooting Techniques
6. Archer’s Equipment
7. Team Event
8. Coaching on the line
9. Drawing the Bow
10. The 3-metre line
11. Compound Team – Two Target Faces per Team
12. What to do if the timing display is wrong?
13. Some Rules and Rule Changes in 3D Archery

1. Cooperation between Coaches and Judges
First of all we would like to give an appreciation to the fact that cooperation between coaches and judges has improved considerably during the latest decade, reducing confusion and stress on both parties, including the archers.

We would like to emphasise that the duties of the judges are to ensure that FITA Rules are followed in a smooth way ensuring fair competition for all participants. As such the judges are trained to secure the scores of each individual archer. In short, the judges are there to assist, if necessary, in running the event, to the benefit of the archers, and as such their main task is to prevent problems arising.

Therefore, we encourage the coaches (and archers if no coach is present) to ask judges for guidance on matters on the field if they do not feel confident on how to handle specific issues. The judges will give them proper attention in a pleasant and friendly manner.

At larger international events all teams will be provided with an information booklet up front at the team captains' meeting. It is important for them to study this booklet to avoid any mistakes, and it also gives them an opportunity to raise questions on issues before they become a problem. Rules and procedures are changing and it also gives everyone an opportunity to update oneself—to the benefit of the archers.

FITA is getting more and more professional and a continuous good cooperation between coaches and judges will enhance such professionalism.
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2. Officials on the Field
The issue of the number of officials each team may have on the field of play is another area where better cooperation with coaches and team captains would be appreciated. There have been incidents where some team officials do not follow judges’ advice or neglect the advice when received. We do believe that this has happened due to lack of knowledge of the rules, or lack of knowledge of the various roles we all play at an event.

If there are two categories shooting (most often), a team may have four (4) officials on the field of play, although never more officials than the number of archers in action. (Be aware that archers not shooting at the time are not officials).

When a team has no official and one of the archers is acting as team captain, they should request an upgrade card or second accreditation as an official in order to be on the field when not shooting, but assisting their fellow archers. They will only be given access when having this second accreditation.

If there are more categories shooting, which may happen in junior events, or in the elimination stage of a competition (and sometimes in quarterfinals), a team may have one extra official per category, but again, no more officials than archers shooting at the time.

If the judges and the Local Organising Committee could eliminate this need to continuously approach the team officials in this respect, the atmosphere on the field would be much better—also teams that stick to the rules, often report or talk negatively about teams which does not.

Please see that archers and/or officials who are not entitled to be on the field of play take their seats in the spectator areas or in areas designed for them. We all would like a tournament that runs smoothly and without mishap, and giving enjoyment to everyone.
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3. Clothing
Occasionally the archers clothing is not according to FITA Rules, and of course it is annoying for the archers (and even for the judges) having to point out that changes are necessary. When this happens coaches and team captains may have an important role to avoid frustration.

First of all, it is important that everyone understands the broader concept. In our struggle to remain an important Olympic sport our athletes need to look proper and as sporty as possible. This concept goes well along with the improving visibility on TV and media image our sport is striving for.

The following will be severely stressed:

Ø Team members shall have the same team uniform, with their names and country (or country code) on their back. Remind your archers to bring along their shooting shirts from the hotel, or they may not be allowed to shoot!
Ø The coach may wear another style than the archers, but with the same colours and should be easily recognised as the official of the team.
Ø As for skirts or shorts, they must not be shorter than the archers fingertips when extending their arms down along the side of their body. Please read Book 1, art. 3.22.1 of the FITA Rules for more details.
Ø It is also important to understand that the rules are also valid during official practice!

Lately, there have been some changes making the uniform issue a bit easier. A recent interpretation regarding shoes would allow archers to individually use steady and practical shoes/boots/footwear. The only limit is that the archer’s toes or heels must not be visible; so slippers or sandals are not permissable.

Furthermore, archers may wear hats according to their own liking (although similar colours look good for a team). Based on experience, though, it should be added that the rules require professional looking sport clothing, and that also goes for hats, so no "funny hats" comply with our rule concept.
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4. Appeals
The possibility of appealing against a decision made by the judges or tournament officials is a basic right an archer has in order to avoid being a victim of an incorrect decision or unfair treatment. There are only two exceptions from this right: a decision made by a judge re the value of an arrow still in the target (i.e. if the arrow value is a ten or a nine, etc), and the use of a yellow card in the team event. More about this is explained below.

But first of all it is better, if possible, to avoid getting into an "appeal procedure" which will automatically slow down the competition to some extent. One way to avoid getting involved in an appeal is to ask the judges about anything that might be unclear re shooting and scoring procedures, before "a situation occurs". The Team Captains' Meeting is a good forum to air any questions or complaints, but if necessary the judges will be happy to help at any time during the competition.

The procedure for making an appeal is that the archer, or his Team Captain/Coach, immediately launches intent to make an appeal, and then have they some minutes to write up the details thoroughly on specific forms. The appeal will be delivered to the Chairman of judges (or his deputy if so announced) together with the appropriate fee, which at present is USD 50.

The fee is established to prevent unnecessary appeals and the fee is returned if the appeal is won. However, the Jury may return the fee even if the appeal is lost, which may happen if the case was well founded.

Upon receiving the appeal the Chairman of judges may find the case obvious and will solve it without involving the Jury, and then they will advise the archer/team manager to consider withdrawing the appeal. If the Chairman of judges cannot resolve the problem this way they will immediately deliver the appeal to the Jury, and inform the relevant persons (Director of Shooting, field crew, etc.) that there is an appeal and that there will be a delay in the shooting procedure (if necessary).

A bit more on the exceptions re appeals mentioned above: as our rules say that a decision made by the judge re the value of an arrow still in the target is not appealable, anything else re the value of an arrow such as a shoot-through, bouncers, too many arrows, etc, is appealable.

A judge deciding an arrow value has to follow some given procedures as indicated in the Judges Guide Book, but these procedures are not rules. If the judge does not give the value of an arrow to the archers liking the archer is not given any further rights of appeal, but unqualified behaviour by a judge should be reported to the Chairman of judges, any such information will be used to improve the overall quality of judging.

Talking about judging arrow values, as indicated in the rules neither the arrows, nor the target face or buttress should be touched until all arrows have been scored. Occasionally, due to the difficulty in positioning themselves to decide upon an arrow value, a judge may happen to touch something, even if they try to avoid it. This will however, not influence the judge’s decision who will give the value according to their opinion after following the proper procedures.

Showing a "Yellow card" in the team event is the other exception, and the reason for having this exception is that the situation cannot be re-installed. This is just like a football (soccer) referee who has to make an immediate decision. They may overlook something or make a wrong decision. This is a part of the game, so there is no need to protest on being shown a yellow card or the lack of a yellow card being shown to the other team, better to concentrate on your own team and their quick response to a yellow card and/or their performance.
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5. Illegal Shooting Techniques
Over the last two years many archers have been told to change their pulling technique due to safety. Mostly it concerns compound archers, for two main reasons. Some of them have bows that are too hard for them to pull over the peak weight, so much so, that they use too much energy to be able to concentrate on the direction of the arrow. This heavy peak weight may cause them some injury. Secondly, if the release "goes off" the shot cannot be stopped and the arrow may travel a great distance and land in an area that is dangerous to other people or animals etcetera.

The coaches have a responsibility to see that the bows are pulled so that, if the release activates, the arrow will not fly any higher than the top of the target. This is a technique that has to be trained from the very beginning not at a championship tournament. This may require the peak weight to be set so that is comfortable and manageable by the archer.

The judges will of course look at the direction of the arrow when the full energy is in the bow, and they are not concerned about the direction of the arrow before that point. I.e. many archers lift their bow arm before pulling the bow in order to put their bow arm shoulder correctly into place.

Sometimes archers/coaches may refer to other events where they have not been told to adjust their pulling angle, but that might be because the judges are considering the total possibility of danger, and that may vary due to the background of the targets.

Another issue is the bows that have a built in brace on the bow hand side of the riser, some of them very close to the bow hand due to the archer’s shooting technique. One should be aware that the bow hand cannot regularly touch this brace, and thus give a kind of "stabilisation against torque". The judges will study this carefully during shooting, and will judge according to their opinion.

The same goes for compound bows that are fitted with split cables, i.e. shoot through cables. These cables must not regularly touch the bow arm although fewer archers are using this type of set-up nowadays.

From a coaching point of view it is essential to create a shooting technique that is safe and never needs to be adjusted, especially when it is least convenient, such as at world championship tournaments.
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6. Archer’s Equipment
When introducing new equipment to an archer, the coach has a certain responsibility regarding the legality of such equipment, as it could be quite disastrous for an archer if they have to correct their equipment at an event.

It could also be a huge disadvantage for the archer if they need to change their technique to abide by the rules of shooting.

First of all, you must be aware that equipment "for sale on the open market" is not necessarily legal in FITA archery events. What is legal is explained in the FITA rules. It is worthwhile to note some of the more common rules that seem to cause most confusion are mentioned below:

a) Equipment specified as being legal is explained in the rules; any other equipment is consequently not legal.
b) The archer is responsible for ensuring their equipment is legal.

The rules also state that if an archer is in doubt of the legality of their equipment, they should ask a judge for clarification. The judge will certainly help, but the legality question is still the responsibility of the archer (a judge making a mistake does not change the rules, etc). To be quite sure of the legality of the equipment being used, a request for interpretation, or clarification, should be sent to the FITA office in Lausanne, Switzerland by the national federation.

Legality of the bows in the compound category is actually the easiest to confirm, as most "items" are legal. The limitation is basically the following: the bow can have a maximum peak weight of 60 lbs (be aware of varying tolerances on specific weigh scales, the archers cannot claim a weight more than 60.0 lbs). The "overdraw" cannot exceed 6cm, there shall be no electrics or electronics on the equipment and there cannot be more than one aiming point.

It is advisable to set the peak weight of the bow a little less than the maximum permitted to avoid a need for this to be adjusted at a tournament.

For recurve (and barebow, instinctive and longbow) the rules are more specific and have to be studied carefully).

For field or 3D tournaments the equipment must not be modified in any way that would give any aid in estimating distances. This rule also applies to the compound bow category.

If the archer uses illegal equipment, there are basically three courses of action that the officials can take:

a) The archer will be asked to adjust their equipment to make it legal, but no further action is taken because it is not considered to have given any advantage (so far).
b) The archer’s scores may be disqualified up to the point of the equipment adjustment, but they may continue to shoot and record a score from the point of the equipment correction.
c) The archer’s scores may be disqualified completely (this action may be used if the archer is considered to be knowingly cheating).
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7. Team Event
The team event is an area where some coaches do not seem to know exactly what is going on, and sometimes cause their team to lose a match or a medal, as has happened in the past. We are of course talking about when a yellow card is given and the team loses time, or worse case, getting a red card and the team losing the value of the highest scoring arrow.

The current rules show the coaches are placed behind the teams, while the judge is somewhere between the competing teams (and thereby in front of the coaches). It should therefore be easy for the coach to realise that a yellow card is given, as well as notice that the judge will call the name of the offending team.

The yellow card is given on two occasions:

A – The archer who is going forward to shoot passes the one-metre line too soon. This could be either before the shooting signal is given, i.e. the timer has started, or before the previous archer has come back behind the one-metre line.

B - The archer removes the arrow from the quiver before being on the shooting line. The judge will look to see if the point of the arrow becomes visible and the body position when this happens.

When either of the above happens the primary task for the coach is to call the archer back behind the one-metre line before he/she moves forward again (the arrow must be back in the quiver at this time). Or, the coach can select one of the other team members, who still have an arrow to shoot, to go forward to shoot instead. The coach does not need to know why the card is given (A or B above) as long as they instruct the offending archer to act according to the rules.

It is often noticed that teams get time problems when several yellow cards are given in a row because the archer is not putting the arrow back in the quiver before they move forward again to the shooting line. The coach must notice this and advise the archer accordingly. On rare occasions the archer shoots in spite of receiving a yellow card, but in that case the judge will show a red card and team will lose the highest scoring arrow of that end.

The judges sometimes get asked the question "if an archer who is given a yellow card or deciding not to shoot their arrow need to put the arrow back in the quiver before they leave the shooting line." The archer does not; only archers moving forward to the shooting line must have the arrows in the quiver.

Furthermore, a team may receive any numbers of yellow cards during a match without further action, but the team will of course lose a lot of time having archers moving back and forth.

A late shot in the team event causes the same penalty as in the individual event; the team will lose the highest scoring arrow of the end and a red card will be shown to indicate to everybody that such an action will be taken.
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8. Coaching on the line
The current FITA rules allow the archers on the shooting line to be coached verbally by the coach from behind the waiting line. This was not allowed some few years back in our history. This has been a part of our development, as we are no longer a "silent sport."

There is an ongoing discussion whether this is a wise way of coaching or not, but that is not the topic of this article, the point is that it is currently allowed.

This verbal coaching whilst shooting is taking place, however, needs to be clarified. This coaching, or coaching information, is not meant to be a discussion or a conversation between the archer and the coach, as that could be quite disturbing to other archers on the shooting line. The "communication/sound" must come from behind the waiting line where the coach has to be standing. Sometimes the coaching may also be too loud and the judge may ask the coach to lower their voice to a more normal noise level where it would be acceptable within the general noise level of the event.

A question has been asked "whether the coaches have the right to be in front of the waiting line during the practice arrows." This has been accepted, over the years, without protests that coaches have been closer to the archers during this period, but the judges may be contacted and may interfere if the behaviour is obviously to the disturbance of other archers.

Actually this way of coaching started with the team event, where the coach was seen as a part of the team (although they never got any medal). During the team event the coach may coach, and even touch, their archers if they are able to do this from their position within the coach’s box. The coach may even use a telescope; though this is not advisable as they should be fully aware of their own team’s actions should they be shown a yellow or red card.
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9. Drawing the Bow
Quite often judges have to tell archers not to draw their bow in the archers’ resting area, and sometimes these archers make adverse comments or gestures.

This is a behaviour that archers should be told not to do from the very beginning of their archery career, and thereby, they would avoid being annoyed close before the beginning of a tournament.

The rules clearly states that a bow, with or without an arrow, should only be drawn on the shooting line. This means that if an archer wants to "warm up" by drawing his bow, or wants to "check his bow" by drawing, he should go to the shooting line. The reason is obvious; if a string or bow breaks in the rest area, it may cause harm to other people around, and furthermore people do not like being "aimed at" with a bow, whether it is loaded or not (it may be quite frightening). It could be even worse if an archer in distraction puts an arrow on the bow in this area. Therefore, it is "good behaviour" to follow the rules in this respect, and the coach has an important role to play to ensure this.

Let us add that even "shooting" with a rubber band in this area is not advisable, it is in fact possible to hit other people upon "release". Even using a rubber band may be preferably when standing on the shooting line, or at least in a safe position away from other people who may be moving around in the rest area.
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10. The 3-metre line
On rare occasions an archer drops an arrow (due to a nock breakage or some other reason), or shoots an arrow into the 3metre area in front of the shooting line when in the process of letting down, etc.

Judges sometimes observe archers in this situation looking bewildered, not knowing what to do and turn to their coach, or a judge, for advice—and the time is ticking by.

Let us take a closer look into this question. As archers and coaches know, an arrow within this area is considered as not having been shot (with exceptions of rebound arrows).

Let us clarify this situation: if the rear part of the arrow is within the 3-metre area the arrow is deemed not to be shot. In other words the arrow does not need to lie on the ground, see the picture below.



If the above situation occurs during the Qualification Round (or a single round event):

The archer has two options:

a) If the archer feels confident that no other equipment failure has occurred, and is sure a part of the arrow shaft is within the 3-metre area, the smoothest action is just to shoot another arrow, however they must not step forward in front of the shooting line to pick up any arrow.

b) But if the archer knows they will have a time problem, or do not have another arrow at hand to shoot, or is unsure if the arrow is within the area or not, they may take a step back and call a judge, explaining the situation. The judge will then handle the incident as an equipment failure, and at the expiry of that end, the other archers will be held back and the situation will be handled. The archer will have their 40 seconds per arrow to shoot any un-shot arrows of that end before all archers are permitted to go forward to the targets for general scoring.

During match play:

As archers and coaches know, during a match the time will not be stopped for equipment failures or similar situations.

If an arrow falls inside the 3-metre area (for whatever reason), the archer could just have to shoot another arrow within the time allowed, which means that the archer should always have an extra arrow in their quiver.

The archer must decide if the arrow is inside or outside the 3-metre area, if there is doubt they should shoot another arrow. If the arrow is inside the 3-metre area, then they would have shot the required number of arrows. If the arrow is outside the 3-metre area it is classed as a miss and the archer will then score the lower six of the seven arrows shot (normally not a big difference between the scores of the arrows in the target).

Coaches should ensure that all their archers know what to do and how to react quickly, if an arrow falls or is shot into the 3-metre area.

To avoid disputes, coaches should advise their archers that they must not remove any arrow from the 3-metre area before a judge has confirmed its location, particularly if it is a doubtful one.
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11. Compound Team – Two Target Faces per Team
The fact that the new Compound Team round requires two target faces per team has led to some questions on how to shoot; and what if, etc.

First of all, the team members may decide how to shoot, left and/or right, but in an end of 6 arrows, there must be three arrows in each of the two faces. The principle is the same for the Mixed Team competition (though two arrows in each face).

If a team member misses the scoring zone or aims incorrectly and there is suddenly four arrows in one face and two arrows in the other face, as for example: Left 10-9-9-8 and Right 10-9; the rules say that only the three lowest arrows of that face (the left one) will have their value recorded, and the highest score becomes a miss. In this example the scores would be as follows: M-9-9-8-10-9 = 45 points.

If one plans to be "smart" and shoot three arrows in the right face and thereby seven arrows in total, one is only fooling himself. There will never be higher scores by making another mistake. Let's use the same example and add one more arrow: Left 10-9-9-8 and Right 10-9-9. Then the scores would be M-9-9-8-10-9-9, but of course only six arrows would be scored in an end. The lowest six values would count: 9-9-9-9-8-M = 44 points.

There cannot be any issue in a compound team shoot-off, as only using one target face for the three arrows is used—one arrow shot by each archer (as usual).


12. What to do if the timing display is wrong?
At the World Championships in Turin in July 2011 there was a problem where the wrong timing was set for a team shoot-off. The Director of Shooting set 40 seconds which is the time for an individual one-arrow shoot-off instead of 60 seconds for a team shoot-off.

World Archery will of course enhance its procedures and do the maximum to prevent such occurrences to happen again but human error is possible. In this particular case, the matter went to the Jury of Appeal and the Jury decided to organise another shoot-off based on the facts of this particular case. Some people think this was a fair decision and some people disagree. This is however irrelevant since such decision is final and cannot be appealed and, more importantly, cannot be used as jurisprudence for other cases.

While World Archery hopes that you and your athletes are never in such a situation, it is important that you and your athletes know what to do if there is problem with the timing system.

First of all, it is good practice for a coach, the day before the event, to repeat to the athletes the basic rules and to make clear the applicable time limits, including if there is a shoot-off.

As coach it also makes sense to see, as soon as the first athlete has crossed the line, what the time is on the clock which, of course, should be close to the time limit that was intended for that situation. So, if in a team round shoot-off, you should see that there is less than 50 seconds on the clock when the first athlete is on the line, you know something is wrong and you should react.

What should an athlete/coach/team do when there is something wrong with the timing?

a) If the time setting is wrong:

The athlete/team should stop shooting and immediately inform the judge. The judges will give the athlete/team the relevant time to shoot the arrows that have not been shot.

b) If the timing display disappears or breaks down:

The athlete/team may stop shooting (and the arrows not shot will be handled as above) or the athlete / team may just finish shooting in their normal rhythm. If there is a stop shooting signal (at the correct time), arrows not shot will be given adequate time to be shot because there was no indication given on timing.
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13. Some Rules and Rule Changes in 3D Archery
From 1 April 2012 there has been some rule changes relating to the World Archery 3D regulations of which coaches and archers need to be aware. This information is necessary to avoid critical adjustments at 3D events or championships.

Recent rule changes:

a) In general the archer will now have to be behind or to the side (within a certain distance) from the shooting peg – which is similar to Field Archery.
b) In the Instinctive Division you are no longer allowed to have any form of stabiliser.
c) In the Instinctive Division there has been changes regarding material of which the bow is made – check the rules and interpretations thoroughly.
d) In the Instinctive and Longbow Divisions you may now use either the "Mediterranean type of grip on the string" (one finger above the arrow, the other below the arrow) or you may use the technique with three fingers below the arrow. But you can only use one of these methods! You cannot switch between them during a competition. If you use all the fingers below the arrow, be aware that your index finger can be no more than 2mm away from the arrow (nock) and your tab must be without any split, it must have a continuous surface.

Confirmation of some current rules:

a) In the Barebow Division, if weights are added to the bow, they must be mounted directly onto the bow, not via any type of rod (which is then classed as a stabiliser), even if the rod is very short.
b) In the Longbow Division you may use the bow’s natural shelf as an arrow rest, and you may cover it with a kind of soft material to avoid wear of the bow itself. However, you are not allowed to put such material on the shelf in order to make any kind of rest, pressure point or for aiming purposes. If you glue the soft material to the vertical part of the riser (the bow window) it should cover all of it, or not reach further up the window than the width of the arrow – this is to avoid the suspicion of having an aiming line where the material ends.
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