Irish Field Archery Federation

The home of Field Archery in Ireland

Competing at the World and European Indoor Championships

The essential information for those competing at an IFAA Indoor tournament.

PowerPoint version

General Information

ARCHER PREREQUISITS

  • IFAA affiliation
    • Is your membership paid-up?
  • Do you have an IFAA Classification-Scorecard?
    • Every archer must have at least TWO scores for IFAA indoor rounds (or similar) to demonstrate experience of those rounds
    • IFAF’s Classification cards are issued by the Treasurer (treasurer@ifaf.ie)
  • Event registration

TRAVEL ESSENTIALS

  • Passport / National ID Card
    • Is your travel document in date?
  • EHIC Card & Travel Insurance
    • Apply for an EHIC card online
    • Purchase travel insurance
  • Flights &/or Ferry
  • Accommodation
  • Car hire vs. Airport transfer
    • Do you have a FULL driving licence?
    • Are there shuttle services at the site?

Registration & Bow-check

PAPERWORK TO PRESENT

  • Documents
    • IFAF Membership card
    • IFAA Classification-Scorecard
      • All competitors are required to provide a Classification-Scorecard with scores from at least two rounds being shot at the tournament to demonstrate experience of shooting the rounds
  • Photo ID
    • It is becoming common practice to be asked for proof of age at Registration
  • Forms
    • Fill-out two (2) copies of the bow-check form
      • Forms can be available online but generally they are printed sheets available on-site.

EQUIPMENT TO PRESENT

  • Bow
    • Compounds will be speed-checked
    • Marks considered sighting aids will be covered by the bow checkers
  • Arrows
    • Arrows must be numbered 1, 2 & 3 using rings, near to the fletches
  • Tabs
    • No marks to aid shooting allowed
  • Binoculars
    • It is standard practice to bring binoculars to bow-check at all IFAA tournaments
    • Binoculars can have range-finding functions because rounds are marked-distance
    • Binocular checks for unmarked rounds are mandatory to verify they cannot be used as range-finders

Event Schedule

TIMETABLE BREAK-DOWN

  • Day 1
    • Registration and Bow-check open
    • Practice Range open
      • Archers are set specific times to practice the Indoor and Flint rounds, on the target assigned to them for the tournament
    • IFAA delegates meeting
      • Information specific to the tournament is issued for recirculation by delegates to members of their national association
    • Opening Ceremony
      • Parade of Nations
      • Speeches and welcome by officials
  • Day 2 – 4: Competition
    • 3 days of shooting
      • Day 1: IFAA Indoor Round
      • Day 2: IFAA Indoor Flint Round
      • Day 3: IFAA Indoor Round
  • Day 4: Shoot-off, Awards & Banquet
    • If scores are tied, archers must participate in a shoot-off shot over three ends. If the number of X’s are tied, a single arrow “sudden death” is shot. The arrow closest to the target centre wins
    • The banquet must be pre-booked. The ticket price set by the host nation

IFAA Rounds: Standard Indoor Round

Format

The IFAA Indoor Round shall be as per IFAA Rules:

A Round shall consist of two Standard Units.

A Standard Unit shall consist of 6 ends of 5 arrows per end, shot over a distance of

•20 yards (18.3 metres) for Junior and all Adult divisions

•10 Yards (9.15 metres) for Cubs

Shooting Lanes

A Shooting Line shall be provided and the range separated into lanes such that shooting positions will provide sufficient area to enable two archers to shoot simultaneously at one target butt.

Scoring

The scoring on the face shall be on the target face as defined

•40cm diameter face is 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 from the spot out.

•5-spot (16 cm diameter) face is 5 points in the white area and 4 points in the blue area

The Tournament Director allows archers to use either the 40cm or the  Indoor 5-spot

target which will contain five 16 cm targets on a white or screened blue surface

indoor face

Shooting Position Roles

To assist with the smooth running of the tournament, each participant is expected to help in the running of the round and will be assigned roles such as, Target Captain, Scorer, Arrow Puller and as a Collector of Stray Arrows.

These roles will be assigned per detail position as follows:

A: Target Captain

B: Scorer (#1)

C: Scorer (#2)

D: Arrow-puller / stray arrow collector

NB: In the case of a disputed score, the majority opinion of the other archers in the group decides the score.

Shooting Rules

  • An archer shall stand so that he/she has one foot on either side of the shooting line.
  • The time limit per end shall be four minutes.
  • All other shooting rules shall apply as listed under IFAA Tournament rules.
  • In the event of equipment failure
    • The archer shall inform the Shoot Director after the end is completed.
    • The archer will thereafter have 15 minutes of repair time without holding up the tournament.
    • After resolving the problem (either the repair of the failed equipment or the use of other equipment, which has passed the bow inspection) the archer shall be allowed to shoot the missed arrows after the final end of that Round, with a maximum of 3 ends (15 arrows).
    • An archer will only be allowed one equipment failure per Round.
  • In the case of a witnessed bounce-out or an arrow passing completely through the scoring area of the target an archer may shoot another arrow.
  • Hits on the wrong target will be scored as misses.
  • When an arrow is dropped while the archer is in the act of shooting, he may shoot another arrow in place of the dropped arrow if the dropped arrow is within 10 feet of the shooting line.
  • If an archer shoots more than five arrows in an end, only the five arrows of the lower value may be scored.
  • If an archer shoots less than five arrows in one end he may shoot his remaining arrows if the omission is discovered before the end is officially completed; otherwise they shall be scored as misses.
  • Upon completion of the first Standard Unit
    • The pair of archers shall exchange positions.
    • The archers who shot first will shoot second.
    • The archers who shot on the left target face shall shoot on the right target face and vice versa.
    • It will be the archer’s responsibility to move his/her target face to the changed position.
    • Target faces may not be moved after the second Standard Unit has started.
  • In the event that the two target faces are placed ‘over and under’ the pair of archers shooting first shall always shoot the bottom target face.
  • A practice end will be available only at the start of the competition, there will be no practice end for Unit 2

IFAA Rounds: Flint Indoor Round

Format

The IFAA Flint Indoor Round shall be as per IFAA Rules:

A Round shall consist of two Standard Units.

A Standard Unit shall consist of 7 ends of 4 arrows per end, shot over seven different distances.

The standard unit shall consist of the following shots:

Flint table

Scoring

Scoring shall be the same as for the Field Round (5, 4, 3 from the spot out).

Targets

  • The targets are standard 20cm and 35cm field target faces placed in two rows on each butt.
  • The centre of the upper row shall be a maximum of 62” (157.5 cm) from the floor.
  • The centre of the lower row shall be a minimum of 30″ (76 cm) from the floor and directly below the upper target.
  • For cubs the 20 cm face shall be replaced with a 35 cm face and the 35 cm face with a 50 cm face.
  • An archer may choose either the single 35 cm target face (single 50 cm face for Cubs) and four 20 cm target faces (single 35 cm face for Cubs), or four 21 cm target faces (the two inner rings of a 35 cm target) and four 20 cm target faces.
  • The choice of target face lies with the archer at the start of the first Unit and may not be changed during a Round.
  • For target faces comprising of four targets, a single arrow shall be shot at a target in any sequence. In the event that more than one arrow is shot in a target, only the arrow with the lower value will be scored.
  • Arrows outside the target do not score. 
Flint round targets

Shooting Lanes

  • This round is to be shot on a 30 yard range with shooting lines marked parallel to target line at distances of 20 feet, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 yards.
  • Starting at the 30 yard line and proceeding toward the target line, the shooting lines are to be numbered 3, 1, 5, 4, 6 and 2.
  • Shooting lanes shall be laid out as per IFAA Rules.
  • After completion of the first Standard Unit, archers will change lanes.
  • There shall be a separate lane for each butt
    • The archer shall go from one shooting line to their next shooting line in the lane for the butt on which their two targets are placed.
    • The targets on the butt in the second lane shall be reversed from those in the first lane.
    • Those in the third lane shall be exactly the same as those in the first.
    • Those in the fourth lane shall be exactly the same as those in the second.
flint-lanes

Shooting Rules

  • An archer shall stand so that he has one foot on either side of the shooting line.
  • The time limit per end shall be three minutes.
  • All other shooting rules shall apply as listed under IFAA Tournament rules.
  • In the event of equipment failure the archer shall inform the Shoot Director after the end is completed.
    • The archer will thereafter have 15 minutes of repair time without holding up the tournament.
    • The archer shall be allowed to shoot the missed arrows after the final end of that Round, with a maximum of 3 ends (12 arrows).
    • An archer will only be allowed one equipment failure per Round.
  • If an archer starts out on a high target, as in lane one, they shoot their second end of the low target in the same lane.
    • The archer continues to shoot at the targets in their lane until they have shot at seven targets (1 unit).
    • For the second seven targets (unit 2), the archer move to another lane in which the targets are in reverse from the one they started out on.
  • A practice end will be available only at the start of the competition only, with practice on the middle distance of the four 20 cm face (10 yards) and the 35 cm face (25 yards).
  • Timings for the Walk-In Ends shall be agreed at the National Representatives Briefing.

Scoring Target Faces

The basics of scoring:

The IFAA rule states that the line that separates two scoring areas lies in the lower scoring area.
This means dimensions of the scoring areas are measured from the inside of the dividing line, irrespective of how thick the dividing line is. Some printers/manufacturers show thick dividing lines, while others show very thin dividing lines. Although there is no rule on line thickness, modern target faces tend to have very thin lines that are not visible from the shooting line with the naked eye.
For an arrow to score the higher score, this arrow must break through the line, meaning that part of the arrow, even if it is almost not visible, must lie inside the higher scoring area.
This applies to all official IFAA archery rounds.

basics of scoring

①: High score
②: Low score
③: Arrow does not cut the line. Low score.
④: Arrow cuts the line. High score
⑤: Arrow tears through the paper into the high scoring area, but the shaft lies outside the high scoring area. The arrow will have the low score.

Line-cutter-field

Standard and Flint scorecards

indoor-scorecard
flint-scorecard

On the Range

WHAT TO BRING

  • Scorecards
    • Bring the correct scorecard for the round being shot
  • Equipment
    • Bow, arrows, binoculars, bow-stand, spares!
  • Optical spotting aid(s)
    • Gap card, gap tool, etc. permitted
  • Refreshments
    • Water/soft drink, you may get thirsty during the round.

BREAK

  • After one unit has been shot, there will be a short break (10-15 mins)
  • You may leave the shooting range.
    • You must return on-time to resume shooting of the second unit to complete the round.
    • Smoking, including  E-Cigarettes, is NOT allowed inside the venue, only in the designated smoking area.

Other

JUNIORS and CUBS

Juniors

Juniors shall shoot alongside adult archers

Cubs

Cubs shall shoot on separate bosses with a non-shooting responsible adult. The non-shooting responsible adult may be one of the scorers for the group but cannot assist with disputes.

SUBMITTING A PROTEST

  • Protest Committee
    • The Protest Committee generally comprises of 3 IFAA delegates and 2 officials from the host nation.
    • The Committee will adjudicate on protest(s) received.
    • The Committee’s decision is final.
  • Submitting a Protest
    • Any archer wishing to make an official complaint must pay €50.
    • If a protest is upheld the €50 fee is returned

TEAMS

STYLE TEAMS

  • Style Teams must consist of a maximum of 3 archers, plus 1 reserve (optional)
  • To make-up a team, archers may ‘shoot up’ a division (BU à FU) but cannot shoot ‘down’ (FU à BU)
  • Fee: Style Team fees will set by the event hosts.

CHAMPION OF NATIONS (CON)

  • Team structure
    • Shooting styles are divided into 4 groups, each with their own shooting styles grouped together
    • One competitor, male or female, is chosen from each style, to make a team of maximum 9 archers.
    • A full team consists of 9 archers, one from each style. A team of less than 9 may be entered if the nation cannot fill all style slots.
    • Selection is left strictly to the nation sponsoring the team.
  • Fee
    • Team entrance fee will set by the event hosts.
Con team