The first weekend in September was always seen as a challenge both for Deer Park and the County with the Junior Inter-Counties Competition clashing with the Gloucestershire Junior Championships and the good news is that we smashed it!
The County Junior team, fielding 9 of the 12 Deer Park members won not just the team competition by a huge margin but also all the other 4 categories, Recurve, Compound, Barebow and Longbow to achieve a clean sweep with a record points tally!
Record breaking 2013 Junior County Team with 9 Deer Park Archers!
At the same time the County Junior Championships saw a record number of Deer Park entries with the club winning 20 of the 31 titles on offer including the team trophy, best compound, best recurve, best novice and Parent & Child! Add to that mix members breaking a National Record, County and Region Records and this was achieved by those not selected for the County team, that is what you call strength in depth!
Most of our team that shot so well at the Junior County Championships
This is a Club Newsletter so inevitably it will focus on our achievements but there were some good performances from Cleve, Cheltenham, Tockington and Fast & Loose archers and whilst there are still not enough junior archers coming through from the other clubs in the county it is a great illustration of the strength of archery in Gloucestershire!
Cheltenham Archers once again hosted the event and this is another opportunity to formally thank them for their support, with special thanks to Edward Cain, who led the setting up of the range and then doubled up as an excellent Gentleman Patron.
Highlights from the Inter-Counties
Worth mentioning that the Gloucestershire criteria for selection this year was Recurves & Barebows achieving scores of 1050 + on Bristol Rounds, Compounds 1240+, and barebow’s 1150+.
The weather turned out to be a little challenging, with shooting having to be suspended at one point.
Just a little wet and windy!
The scores were amazing but it is worth highlighting Robbie’s 1098, Izzy’s Pb of 493 on the Bristol 3 longbow, Tom’s 1158 and Liza’s 1064. Many of the team had a well earned fast food visit following the victory!
All smiles after a great day!
Highlights for the County Junior Championships
Outstanding performances from Sashi Bush who recorded 594 shooting Barebow at her very first competition and she also went on to win the H2H Competition beating the Recurves and also won the Blenkarne Trophy for the highest scoring non compound archer!
Sashi, incredible performance and she reaped the rewards.
Fin Cummins recorded 636 to win the Compound Junior National, despite losing his release aid at one point and the Phil Comer Trophy as the highest scoring compound boy.
There was an amazing competition between Connie Healey and Phoebe Pine in the Junior National, Connie ran out winner with a score of 630 and also picked up the shield for the highest scoring compound girl and best novice. Both individuals recorded Pb’s and Phoebe gained revenge on the H2H competition, eliminating Connie and finishing second in the Grand Final!
Connie receiving her award from Edward Cain
Phoebe great score and did well in the H2H.
The Perpetual Team Trophy was won by Fin Cummins, Sashi Bush & Riley Spencer-Nice!
Harry & Simon Faulkner won the Highest Scoring Parent & Child Award.
Popular win for Simon and Harry
There were too many good performances to mention them all but Katherine Frusher’s performance winning the Junior National and achieving 3rd in the H2H is certainly worthy of mention as are those of Theo Digiralamo, Paige Hullatt & Paige Tucker who all recorded scores well above those predicted!
Katherine, returning to good form after a lot of hard work. An example to us all!
The team spirit plays an important role in enjoying not just our experience but the whole Club’s.
Our traditional Penguin Race warm up routine, this week led by Ciaran!
Our strength in depth is not just the archers, we had massive support from all our volunteers, too many to mention!
Dilys, Michelle and Sophie worked hard on the catering side.
Workshops
Barebow and Longbow Set up &Tuning
A workshop has been arranged for Friday (13th) 7.30 Birdlip £5 presented by Wales Archery.
Skills & Drills
Dan Gill will be running a Skills and Drills Workshop on behalf of Gloucestershire Archery Society Coaching group at 10:00am on Saturday 5th October at the Civil Service Club in Cheltenham (where the County AGM is held). The cost is £8.00
To attend either workshop, email Steph Gill (SJCrang@aol.com) to let her know your interest and bring your cash or cheque (payable to Gloucestershire Archery Society).
Anyone on the next 2 Level 1 Coaching Courses starting later this year and who wish to attend the Skills and Drills session can do so but do not need to pay as that has been costed into their coaching course fee. There will be a Skills & Drills Workshop targeting the 24 Level 1 Coaching Course members later this year, but if you want to get started sooner rather than later that’s good!
Young Guns on L1 Course!
6 of our younger members have enrolled on the Coaching Course later this year Chloe Tucker, Katherine Frusher, James Lawton, Will Kurtz, Phoebe Pine and Chris Blake (Borderline wrt age!)
This will build on the success of the last batch of young coaches many of whom have been fantastic in the way they have supported the club and in particular many of the community sessions we run.
Fund Raising for purchase of our new field.
Going particularly well is the sale of donated items on Ebay. Please keep the items coming it is generating a great income!
