As a member of Da Vinci, you can participate in various competitions, either within the club, or even at (inter)national competitions. It can however be a bit hard to understand what a competition entails, and what kind of requirements they have, which is why we created these pages.
The sidebar contains pages for specific recurring competitions
Calendars
The WedCie will usually check around for any upcoming competitions, and put these on the Da Vinci events calendar.
There are however a couple other calendars containing competitions, that may be interesting to check out:
Requirements
In the Netherlands, competitions can either be A or B status. A status competitions are recognised by the National Archer Federation (NHB). Make sure you have your NHB membership card, as this will be checked at the competition. B status competitions are not officially recognised by the NHB, and as such you will not need your membership card. There may however be additional requirements, so make sure to check these if you plan to join!
For most international competitions, membership of a national federation is required, though this is not the case for all. Always make sure to check this before signing up!
Competition Formats
Target Indoor/Outdoor
A competition can theoretically be any amount of arrows at any distance, however there are certain formats that are often used. In the table below you can see what kind of competition formats there are for target archery; it may however be a bit complex to read at first. Most competitions will also detail the shooting format, but with this table you can easily deduct this from just the name.
The table shows what target will be shot at a certain distance, as well as how many arrows (sets x arrows) will be shot.
The categories are which Discipline (R: Recurve, C: Compound, B: Barebow) and gender (M: Men, W: Women) shoots this format.
3D
3D is a type of archery where you "hunt" on foam targets (usually) in the shape of animals, setup at various unknown distances. These are often held outdoors in forests or open fields, to really give you that hunting feel. For most, 3D is less of a competition and more of an experience. There is however still a competition element and point system; these points may differ for each competition, but they mostly follow the same format.
A 3D target has a couple parts to it. You have the target, or "animal" itself, which is what you will be aiming at. The animal may be supported by something (a plinth) which is worth no points; often neither are things like horns on the animal. You then also have various rings somewhere on the animal, which is the "kill zone". Hitting within these rings is worth extra points.
In a regular 3D round, you may shoot up to three arrows at the target. However, with each arrow you miss, your potential points go down. For example:
- First arrow in the kill zone is 20 points, first hit outside the kill zone 16.
- Second kill 12 points, second hit 10 points.
- Third kill 8 points, third hit 6 points.
As you can see, the earliest arrow is always worth the most points.
A competition may also have a so-called "hunter round", where you may only shoot one arrow instead of three.
Field
Field archery is somewhere between target and 3D. Shooting is mostly the same as during a target competition, however it is usually done on rough terrain and the exact distance to the target is unknown.