The 2015 youth athlete survey, completed at the latest youth worlds in Yankton by nearly 300 young international archers uncovered some interesting results, not least that over 60% of the individuals that took the questionnaire practice archery alongside their schoolwork, with no special training allowances.
If you’ve got the dedication, it seems, there’s no obstacle to becoming a fully-fledged international athlete at a young age.
Five fun facts
1. Young recurve archers shoot, on average, around 250 arrows more per week than those practising compound.
2. Around 6% of international juniors and cadets do not have a personal coach.
3. The average bow weight – compound and recurve – for juniors and cadets is consistent, at around 40lbs.
4. There’s little difference between the performance of cadets at 60 metres and juniors at 70 metres – as the average top score of the participants at their respective distances was just under 650 out of 720 for the 72-arrow ranking round.
5. There’s nearly a 50/50 split between those who shoot in full-time national teams, and those who just compete at the World Archery Youth Championships as a standalone qualifier!
See below for the survey in full…
