Archery club to host first independent tournament

March 17 Shamrock Shoot to bring national competitors

Members of the Brandeis Archery Club at practice.

The Archery Club will host its first ever tournament on campus on March 17. The student-run Shamrock Shoot is expected to draw national-level competitors and will help the team purchase equipment and fund travel to local and national competitions. Open to the public, the Shamrock Shoot will take place in Gosman Field House beginning at 9 am. While Brandeis co-hosts a successful annual indoor competition with Ace Archers in Foxboro, this is the club's first independently hosted tournament.

Over the past five years, Brandeis Archery has gone from a small team of four competitive shooters to an active and thriving club with 24 team members and numerous non-competitive club members. In an effort to bring the growing team to local as well as national competitions, such as the United States Intercollegiate Archery Competition, which will be held this year in Utah, club members organize several fundraisers a year.

The Shamrock Shoot represents a new opportunity for competitive archers poised between the indoor and outdoor seasons. In early spring, archers are still shooting indoors at 18 meters (about 20 yards) but are getting ready to make the jump to outdoor distance. Shamrock will be a unique 70-meter indoor shoot, allowing competitors to get an early start with the longer distance normally only shot outdoors. Being able to shoot this distance indoors is truly rare, making this a very appealing tournament to shooters across the country. It is the same distance shot in the Olympics.

"Due to the uniqueness of this event, many members from archery shops in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New England have already committed to competing, even before the the application was released," said Sara Bacon, the Brandeis archery assistant coach.

The initial announcement generated interest from members at the Olympic training center in California, where Brandeis head coach E.G. LeBre has worked with the some of the future stars of US archery.

With the recent portrayals of archers in pop culture, archery has seen a huge upsurge in popularity. LeBre says that the Brandeis team has been working hard to teach other students about this great sport.

“The team is excited to not only bring the archery community to their school, but to offer an opportunity to shoot a truly unique event,” LeBre said.

Categories: Athletics, Student Life

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