UK Student Archery Association

To Hull and back [22/Apr/21]

If your club is having difficulty with sorting out a committee for 2021/22 then let UKSAA know!

Alongside the usual updates (please contact UKSAA where you see any out-of-date links or information) there have been a couple of changes to the Club Directory.

Next to the (mercifully short) list of university clubs that have closed over the years, the Editor has added a list of clubs whose status is currently unknown or unclear. New pages for possible clubs at Kings College, Royal Agricultural and York St John have been created and have been listed here. Another new page has been created for Leeds Beckett although it is now thought that this club did not get off the ground. A new club at Worcester was added to the list of active clubs in the Club Directory on 31st March.

Chichester have been moved from Inactive to Status Unknown. An attempt to create a club there in 2015 failed, but more recently the Students Union there were trying to get things off the ground, working with a local adult club. They will try again in September.

Salford have been moved to the inactive list. It is thought they collapsed before the pandemic - they were notionally part of NEUAL during 2019/20 but did not attend any matches.

Hull have found themselves in the situation highlighted in the recent editorial "When the well runs dry". On 25th March the club's Facebook group effectively the club would close. UKSAA is in contact with the club and Hull have been in contact with their Students Union. The current state of play is that the club will go into hibernation and Hull Students Union will then support students reactivating it next year. Hull have been moved to the Club Directory status TBC list.

Chester had sent up a similar red flag, but they now say that they will have enough people for a functional committee.

Elsewhere the UK archery squads for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics have been announced, see ArcheryGB website. Three of the six Olympic squad (Naomi Folkard, Bryony Pitman and Tom Hall) are former BUCS champions.

Finally the much postponed BUTC 2021 is now scheduled to take place in late October/early November, i.e. in the autumn term, once clubs are (hopefully) back up and running. Current thinking is that those who graduated in summer 2021 (and who would have been eligible had the tournament taken place as originally scheduled) will be eligible for the event, as long as they are also ArcheryGB members for 2021/22.