The big indoor competitions: why they matter
As the indoor season draws to a close, the open competitions have turned some archers into lifers
“This is my weekend. I only shoot one tournament a year. I come out, I pamper myself, have fun with my archery buddies, and do this. This is what I like doing. This is what I do.” - Roger, Vegas veteran.
The South Point hotel and casino is a little jarring for some tastes. The decor is straight from the 1980s, despite only being built in 2005. The air is so dry it makes your nose bleed, and the smoke in the casino doesn’t help (most casinos in the city are now nonsmoking, but this one, mostly catering to locals, bucks the trend). The food isn't spectacular, with long wait times when it's busy. Even the wallpaper in the hallways leading to the archery range is kind of questionable. And it takes an age to get anywhere in spaces crammed with bows and rattling arrows.
Yet something keeps thousands coming back to Vegas, year after year. It pulls archers in like a magnet, archers who have no hope of winning anything, let alone the (relatively) stratospheric payouts available to the compound open championship. One of the most notable features is the do-ityourself attitude that pervades Vegas. This enormous event runs on a minimal staff of volunteers. You are responsible for your own target face, your own sheets, and your own schedule. Everyone from Olympic champions downwards, has to muck in and do things for themselves. Perhaps the defining feature of Vegas is quite how much you are treated as an adult, with your own responsibilities. It is a deeply American, free-spirited expression of a more general truism around archery; that you and you alone are responsible for your results.
More than that, a deep cameraderie develops with sharing the experience. It's long been noted that archery is one of the more social sports, but it is also a sport largely based around clubs, which tend to strongly reflect the personalities of their members and/or coaches. Some clubs are little more than opportunities to ping a few arrows in a field, whereas some command large resources and gung-ho work parties organising everything from charity shoots to international trips.
Archery is often a postcode lottery – if there isn't what you want in your local area, then you may be out of luck. Most elite archers trace their interest or rise in the sport to a single local coach or key individual. If that person simply isn't there, then you're out of luck. Who knows how many archers have failed to realise a possible elite potential, simply because of poor facilities and support? Which is why the big open events are so important, both for goal setting and sheer inspiration. The continual rise in target archery in the USA is both reflected in Vegas and is reinforced by Vegas. It's the tentpole that props up many other parts of the archery world there.
In the UK, the National Indoor performs a similar function , albeit in not such a glamorous location. Las Vegas is a giant attraction in itself, and there would hardly be such a rise in numbers if it was held in (say) Denver. Big events also need to be accessible and affordable at a variety of price points – as the organisers of another indoor world series event, the Seoul Open, found out to their cost this year. Organising a competition in the week before Christmas, when family plans tend to take priority and international flight prices can triple, meant that there were simply not enough well-heeled international archers keen to make the very expensive trip, and the official part of the competition had to be cancelled (although a shoot was still held).
In 2018 the Lausanne Masters proved there was a large appetite for competition among older archers, certainly competition which could be combined with a holiday, and the event was close to a sell out. The next World Masters Games in Japan looks to attract many hundreds, possibly even a thousand archers looking for an exotic holiday and competition.
I'm not pretending these events are entirely accessible – the flight, accommodation and entry fee add up and they are certainly not affordable for all. Nevertheless, the lure of interesting destinations is unlikely to go away; and the shared experience creates a lasting bond with the sport that keeps people shooting for life. My last experience in Vegas was talking to an 87 year old Canadian archer on his 50th Vegas Shoot. He was insistent that he would keep going until he dropped.