Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to do archery as a sport?
- Equipment Costs:
Equipment starts at about $300 for basic Barebow (Recurve or Longbow) equipment up to around $4,000 or more for high end recurve and compound equipment.
There is a good market for second-hand bows, and you might expect to recover up to half of their new value or even more if sold.
- Cost of membership
Archery is one of the lowest fee sports. Archery clubs affiliated with Archery Australia charge membership fees made up of the following:
- Archery Australia membership fee:
$85 annually ($1.63 per week) for full adult membership. Youth $55 annually ($1.06 per week) and family discounts apply.
- Archery Victoria membership fee:
$30 annually ($0.58 per week). Youth $20 annually ($0.38 per week)
- Club Membership fee:
This varies depending on services and facilities provided. Full 24/7 access to grounds or such facilities as indoor ranges or field courses might mean higher club fees due to higher costs.
Some clubs offer a higher fee for unlimited access to the ground or a discounted fee for a membership which only allows you to shoot once a week.
- Shooting fees
Many clubs do not charge a fee for members to shoot at their own club, including this in their annual membership fee. Others charge a small membership fee (from as little as $30 annually) plus a fee to shoot, which makes it cheaper if you only wish to shoot occasionally.
Visitors fees of $10-$15 per session usually apply when shooting at other clubs.
Why do I need to be a member of Archery Australia and Archery Victoria? Can’t I just be a member of my club?
Archery Australia has State Sporting Authorities known as Regional Governing Bodies (RGB’s) managing the sport in each State. Archery Victoria is the RGB for all Victorian clubs.
Every member of an Archery Australia affiliated club needs to be a member of Archery Australia and also your RGB (Archery Victoria). This is a condition of the club’s Archery Australia affiliation.
I just want to come down to the club and shoot a few arrows. I’m not interested in competitions or going to the Olympics. What do I get out of being a member of Archery Australia and Archery Victoria?
- Somewhere to shoot
Unless your club owns its own ground (and very few do) it probably would not exist if it were not part of a national Association with a State body to represent and support it. Most outdoor clubs lease public sporting grounds or reserves. Such leases are almost impossible to obtain for unaffiliated private clubs, especially those engaging in a weapons sport.
If your club was not affiliated with Archery Australia and Archery Victoria you would probably not have a place to shoot.
- Somewhere else to shoot
Archery Australia membership covers you to shoot at any AA and World Archery club in Australia, and also overseas if you want to shoot on holiday. It also covers you to shoot as a visitor at Australian Bowhunting Association clubs under the Archery Alliance.
So if you do want a change of scenery there is no extra cost or need to join other clubs, just turn up with your membership card and pay the shooting fee. And if you like it there and want to stay you do not have to pay again to transfer your membership.
- A better place to shoot
There is a range of government grants and services available either via State Sporting Associations (Archery Victoria) or directly to clubs. These go to fund programs supporting coaches, judges and perhaps club facilities.
These grants are not available directly to clubs, so must come via your State Association. Archery Victoria directly supports clubs in these loan applications.
Archery Victoria monitor and apply for these grants. They can also support or represent individual clubs in applications to local councils when they need to change or expand their facilities or if a dispute arises.
Without the support of Archery Victoria, your club would not have access to external funding or assistance. It would have to raise all its own funds for facilities which would increase your club fees, or may simply not be able to make changes to its facilities.
- Awards and encouragement
Most archers, particularly new ones, want to measure their performance against something, to have achievable targets to aim for and be rewarded when they meet them.
Archery Australia has developed a system of classifications and awards which allow archers to shoot a variety of rounds at different distances and still compare their scores. Badges for “All Gold” and “Perfect” scores are available for all distances and Classification badges are issued when passing certain score levels. This encourages the archer to improve their shooting which ultimately leads to greater enjoyment of the sport, no matter what level they wish to shoot.
State and National records are also kept. As a member of World Archery, members are also able to claim world records at World Archery registered tournaments. This gives archers something to strive for. World records are regularly set at Victorian tournaments.
These awards and records are only available to Archery Australia members.
- Insurance
Archery Australia provides 5 different insurance policies to support archers and clubs. The most obvious is Public Liability which covers you as an archer if you injure someone or are injured while shooting or have any other mishap on the club grounds, but there are others which protect coaches and club administrators from liability through Professional Indemnity, Management Liability, Errors and Omissions and Product Liability cover.
Everyone on an archery field needs to be insured. If you are not insured and something bad happens you could lose your house or your health without compensation.
If your club is not an Archery Australia affiliated club it might not have all of this insurance cover. If you are a non-Archery Australia member of that club you cannot claim on the Archery Australia insurance.
If your coach isn’t an Archery Australia coach and you aren’t an Archery Australia member there is no AA insurance coverage to either of you if you are hurt by poor advice given unless the coach has their own Professional Indemnity insurance.
Make sure you know what your club membership covers you for. If you are an Archery Australia member you are fully covered. If not you may not be.
But I sometimes shoot at a private archery center and they don’t charge me an annual membership fee, just a fee to shoot each time.
Private archery facilities must cover all of their own facility and equipment costs. You are able to shoot on a casual basis at these centers, but if you shoot every week this could cost more than a full club membership.
Casual shooting at a private archery facility does not allow you to shoot at other clubs.
Such facilities must carry their own insurances.
Some archery centers offer membership of that center and some have an Archery Australia club also based at this facility which can make your membership status confusing.
The simplest way of knowing you are in fact a member of Archery Australia (and therefore Archery Victoria) is that you will have received a credit card style membership card with your name, club and membership number on it. You will receive this card in the post generally within a week of the club processing your membership, so if you have paid your club for what you believe is membership of Archery Australia and have not received your card, ask the club to follow it up. If you still don’t receive your card please contact Archery Victoria.
I have heard that Archery Australia spends a lot of money on sending a few top level archers overseas and hiring expensive international coaches. I am never going to get to that level, so why should my membership fees pay for all that?
They don’t. The Archery Australia elite program is funded separately by the Sports Commission. Very little money contributed by members goes to support international campaigns.
Every Archery Australia member archer shooting in an international bow class (recurve, compound, barebow recurve) has the potential to represent the country in a national team. While most don’t aspire to this, the existence of these teams and the fact that the members of those teams shoot among us on local club shooting lines is an inspiration to new and up-coming archers. We all need heroes and these are ours.
Many new archers begin with the aspiration of following in Simon Fairweather’s footsteps of winning Gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics or being part of a team like the Australians who won Bronze in Rio 2016. Without this elite program and the affiliation with international archery that Archery Australia has, this dream would not ever be possible.
For more information on Archery Australia member benefits click here to access the Archery Australia web site.
