Target archery

Modern competitive archery is governed by the World Archery Federation, abbreviated WA (formerly FITA - Fédération Internationale de Tir à l'Arc). Olympic rules are derived from the WA rules. WA is the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) recognized governing body for all of archery.

Currently 142 nations are represented by WA archery governing bodies. The largest of these are the FFTA (French archery federation) with approximately 60,000 members, FITARCO (Italian federation), DSB (German federation), AJAF (All-Japan archery federation), and the GNAS (Grand National Archery Society) of Great Britain, with approximately 30 000 members which has now re-branded itself as Archery GB. In the United States the WA affiliated governing body is USA Archery (National Archery Association of the United States), which dates to the 1870s, making it the third oldest archery governing body after GNAS and FITARCO, which dates to the 1860s.

Target archery is the most popular form of archery, in which members shoot at stationary circular targets at varying distances. All types of bow - longbow, barebow, recurve and compound - can be used. In Great Britain, Imperial rounds, measured in yards, are still used for a lot of tournaments and these have slightly different rules to WA (metric) rounds, which are used internationally. Archers are divided into seniors and juniors, with juniors being those under the age of 18.

Archery competitions may be held indoors or outdoors. Indoor rounds are normally shot at one distance, whereas outdoor competitions normally consist of several distances. For lists of tournament rounds, see section entitled Tournament Rounds. Since archery involves the use of potentially lethal equipment, much attention is paid to order and safety. Whistle commands are used to signal the different phases of shooting, or an 'end'. Two whistle blasts means archers can approach the shooting line. One whistle blast means archers can begin shooting. The archers are not allowed to collect their arrows whilst other archers are shooting. The signal to collect your arrows is three whistles from the field captain. These rules apply to all forms of target archery. Other rules, or points of etiquette, include:

For a 1440 round, known until 2014 as 'FITA Round', outdoor distances range from 30m to 90m for senior Gentlemen archers, and 30m to 70m for Ladies. The juniors have shorter targets to shoot at. In Olympic archery, 70m is the standard range. Indoor distances are either 18 or 25m.

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