Hugely successful year for Causeway Archers

With the 2011 Indoor season now just starting the Club Coaches reflect back on a memorable year for their Junior Section. Matching last year’s achievements in the Indoor Tournament the club returned with five National Champions as well as Silver and Bronze Medallists. New National Indoor Records were also set and beaten. Indeed the club was the largest Olympic discipline Team among all other entries in almost every competition they entered. At the National, All-Ireland, Outdoor Championships in August the Causeway Team, some of whom having never shot competitively outdoors were taking on the wind, rain and changing temperatures for the very first time. Archers have to shoot at different distances reflecting their age-groups and this can be up to 70 metres which is the Olympic Outdoor distance. This was a fantastic day for the Club as again the Team performed brilliantly winning four gold medals and a silver medal. Stewart-lee Macfadyen was also informed that he had set a new National Record for the Under 14 age-group. So the club has now added four Northern Ireland Outdoor Champions to their growing profile. However, not content with finishing the archery season there, they decided to enter the National Clout Championships held in Limavady recently. Clout Archery is the discipline of shooting directly up into the air to try and land your arrow near a marker post on the ground, up to 200 metres away. Points are awarded for arrows landing within five metres of the Marker Post (The Clout). This Archery Event is usually for Field Archers but the club decided to go along and take part for the fun element of the sport as well as not usually having the chance to shoot such a long distance with their bows. To their amazement, all those taking part seemed to have a good feel for guessing the distance without the aid of sights. Indeed one of the Juniors, Shonni Macfadyen managed to actually hit the Clout Post. This day was again to be another huge achievement as the team were rewarded with another five gold medals and the titles of National Clout Champions. So to summarise, Causeway Archers in one season have amassed 14 National Championship titles. This is more than any other Archery club in the Country shooting this Olympic discipline. This is a fact that all of the Club members are proud of and a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Northern Ireland National Squad Selection Panel. NATIONAL SQUAD CALL-UP Recently the Individual Archers and the Causeway Club were informed that seven Junior Archers within the Team had been selected to join the National Archery Squad Talent/Development Team. Also, Senior Club coach Chris has also been asked to join the Coaching Team on the National Squad. The Coaches and Committee of the Club would like to congratulate all those junior members on their accomplishments this year and look forward to further achievements to come. Those Juniors selected for National Squad are Shonni Macfadyen, Kristin Lundy, Ross McClelland, Gemma Kane, Stewart-lee Macfadyen, Jordan Morrison and Reuben McCollum. DEVELOPMENT If you are interested in trying a new sport or coming back to the sport then check out the website for all details at www.causewayarchers.com. Sundays are Open Days for anyone to come along and watch or sign up for Beginners Courses. The Club opens from 2 – 5 pm. The Club is built upon a family environment with mums, dads and children all shooting together. Male or female, Archery is one of the few sports where everyone can stand alongside each other and compete or just have fun! With their venue now based in Ballymoney and a permanent Indoor and Outdoor facility dedicated to archery, the club has the foundations from which to really develop the Sport and encourage anyone with an interest to come along and try it out. The Club was founded in March 2004 by Senior Club Coach Chris Macfadyen and it was obvious from the start that this minority sport sparked a great deal of interest from all corners of the Causeway Area and beyond. Causeway Archers have members from Limavady, Coleraine, Ballymoney, Portrush, Portstewart, Garvagh, Kilrea, Ballycastle and Castlerock. This list is getting bigger all the time and the possibility of a new Branch of the Club opening in Ballycastle is being looked at! Watch this space! Development programmes currently being run from within the Club are: Community Links with any local organisations such as Boys Brigade, Girls Brigade, Scout Groups, Youth Groups and Womens Groups. School Sports programmes to encourage students to take up Archery as a healthy choice sport or as an After-Schools activity. Students can also now choose Archery as a GCSE choice within the PE syllabus. There is an Annual Schools Cup held every December for all Schools in N,Ireland to participate. National Squad Pathways for Talented Athletes. The T.I.D programme identifies young talent from either within the school system or the Club itself and encourages the individual to sign up to a training programme to accelerate their opportunities to gain a position within the National Team. The Causeway Archery Club also has a Disabled Section which we are actively developing and encouraging newcomers into the sport. We have equipment that allows Blind Archers to use Tactile Sights and we have wheelchair Archers keen to compete at the various tournaments held each week around the country.