Archery Fit
When Archery Fit opened in 2015, the first fully commercial range in the UK, it seemed an anomaly, in London as much as anywhere else. Ever since then, it has become an increasingly important and vibrant part of the British archery scene, down to the tireless efforts of Kate and Roman, the two transplanted Russians who set up the business in the basement complex of a Greenwich residential development. The space is split flexibly into an open range for shooting and a range for coaching, open twelve hours a day on weekdays. It also offers, for its members, something no other London club offers: bow storage. In 2018, it was recognised by Archerygb as the Community Club of the Year, as well as winning two business awards.
2018 saw their third birthday. “We’ve now been open for three and a half years, since April 2015.” We had very few guests coming in the first months, with no-one at all on some days. Today we have an average of 50 individuals and four coached classes, every day, seven days a week, and we’re still growing.” said Kate.
“What has changed in that time? The main change is an increase in the number of people shooting in the club! We started with some basic guidelines and general ideas of our training programs, marketing goals and staff development. Some of them have proved inefficient. Since then we have developed a bundle of comprehensive manuals, programs and policies covering most aspects of our performance, and allowing us to deliver best results consistently. There’s something that hasn’t changed though – it’s our attitude. We were not launching “just a business”, we were creating a place that could beat along with our hearts. It has always been the one.”
Kate, a former Russian national recurve champion, is the head coach, and has trained up a series of coaches to work alongside her teaching all bowstyles. The club prides itself on catering for everybody: the couples on dates looking for something fun of an evening, and the serious archers looking to take the sport as far as it can go.
Is the ‘club model’ of learning archery still relevant? “The answer depends on the goals you want to achieve. We feel that current “club model” has remained unchanged for many years, i.e. university clubs have helped nurture mostly sportspersons, thus supporting the performance side of archery & general amateur clubs have brought together recreational archers, thus making a better local communities. Is this model good for the purpose? Certainly, and we don’t think it can change or should stop. But is it ideal for the development of archery? Not entirely."
"The business model of archery that we’ve built aims to achieve the kinds of goals that the club model has not much interest in. Firstly, our model is the most efficient way to promote the sport. Archery Fit have introduced more people to archery since we started than any other archery club in the same period. Raising awareness of the sport is our superpower.
“Secondly, we have created an opportunity for any person (at least in London) to train as much as they need. We have a dedicated venue, and are open seven days a week, morning till late. Can this help raise a professional sportsperson also adding to the performance side of archery? In the long run, yes. Archery Fit team already holds a dozen records in the County of London. This is the third year we have taken our members to the National Indoor Championship, a team of almost 30 archers, and some of them are in the top30. Are we capable of nurturing world-class archers? Yes, we are. When will it happen? Give us couple more years!"
She regards the job as not finished yet.
"Raising awar eness of the sport is our superpower."
“Our biggest success is yet ahead. But we are celebrating being home for a friendly community of regular club archers, growing bigger and bigger. We were announced Young Entrepreneurs of the Year by Greenwich Business Awards and named among the top 100 small businesses by Small Business Saturday. The only real challenge has been, and remains, getting through to people out there. Most people don’t think of archery as an entertainment or a hobby, it is not regarded as something accessible or fun. For a wide audience it is still a weird niche sport!"
One of the defining characteristics of regular shooting at Archery Fit is the definite sense of community, carefully nurtured by Kate and Roman, and ultimately reflecting the diversity of the capital. “Most of our regulars falling under the definition of ‘millienials’, but less than half of our regulars are British, others come from the EU, America, Asia, etc. What really defines our community is its family-like atmosphere, where everyone is undeniably accepting and welcoming. We’ve managed to bring and bond together people from completely different backgrounds and interests. We simply created the environment which makes archery a bit more appealing. Ultimately it is our goal to officially become the world's number one archery club.”