Frequently Asked Questions
Can I come & take a look around before I sign up?
Of course! Probably the best day of the week & time to do that is on Saturdays after 1pm. Around that time there should be someone available to answer any questions you have & to show you around. However, you can't "just have a quick shoot" unless you are already an Archery Club member. Sorry!
I've got my own Bow & Arrows. Can I just come and shoot at your field?
No! You MUST be a member of Archery Australia and/or our Club to shoot at our grounds. Learn more about joining here.
I am already a member, can I shoot at the club even if the club is closed?
Unless you have been given a key, or special permission, sorry but the answer is No!
I've done archery at a Club Med or lessons at school etc. Can I just join up?
Sadly, No. In order to join our club, you must have done a Beginner's Course or Come & Try class with a recognised club in the last 12 months. This is standard across all AA clubs. This is for your & everyone else's safety. While our sport is incredibly safe, you are wielding a deadly weapon after all. If you were a club member, you'd want us to make sure the person standing next to you with a loaded weapon is trained & safe too.
There are a number of reasons for this:
It's typically very hot in those months. Whilst some archers have enough stamina to stand in the heat for several hours, not everyone can. Over the years, we've found most new participants just don't enjoy that sort of experience, we want our participants to have a good experience. Our instructors are all volunteers, and they too don't like being out in the heat that much either; so we look after our volunteers by avoiding that whole problem.
We deserve a break! Our instructors have been doing courses almost every weekend of the year, they need time to fling some arrows, have a vacation, and/or spend time with their families too.
People go on holidays around the time of year, so it's harder to fill our roster with available volunteer instructors.
Do I need my own archery gear?
The club has extensive hire gear available for new archers. We strongly recommend hiring gear at the beginning before you commit serious money to the sport. This is especially important for children who often change their minds about activities frequently.
As you get more experienced & stronger, you will progress through beginner gear fairly rapidly. You can often save yourself some significant money by progressing through the club hire bows till you're stronger & fitter, thus closer to your ideal bow weight (strength).
I work on a Saturday, what options are there for me?
Our main club day is Saturday. No doubt. Most of our training & club competitions are also performed on Saturdays too. However, the club is open for Archery Practice on at least a couple of Sundays a month, and most public holidays. We are also trialling having the club open on some mornings during the working week. There are other Archery Clubs around South-East Queensland that regularly on Sunday mornings (GCAC), and during the week & selected nights. (MPB & SVTA)
If you are looking to join, but can't attend a Saturday Come & Try class, please contact us. We may be able to arrange a private class for you, depending on our volunteer instructors' availability.
Unfortunately, no. In order to shoot at our club requires membership to an Archery club, preferably ours. So, to shoot, you will need to join Archery Australia etc, and our club, otherwise you need to be under instruction. i.e. In one of our classes or 1:1 with an AA qualified instructor.
Our suggested minimum of 10 years old is based on a combination of maturity level and physical strength requirements.
We do however, have a hard minimum age limit of 8 years old.
Mental:
While Archery is a very safe sport, our bows & arrows are not toys. In order to keep people safe we require children to be able to faithfully follow the instructions of someone other than their parents. As the parent, only you know that about your child. During a Come & Try class, you will be required to be at the club (participating is fine) as well.
Physical:
They will be pulling back (equivalent of lifting) approximately 6kg or more, up to 50 or more times during a session. If you are not sure your child can do that, you are welcome to come down to the club when we are open and they can try pulling back one of our bows.
I really want to join your club ASAP, but there are no available spaces in the Come & Try class for ages, what can I do?
We require all of our archers to be suitably trained in archery. As a bow and arrow together are treated as a loaded weapon, we need to make sure everyone at our club knows how to handle them safely. Our club runs almost-weekly Come & Try classes which covers the safety & basics of archery. This gives people a taste of Archery to see if they like it, and the necessary training to perform archery safely. There are other Archery Australia affiliated clubs & organisations around us, who also hold similar Come & Try/Archery Introduction classes too. You can check with them as well, as they might have openings in their courses sooner than ours. Provided they are willing to give you a suitable certificate at the end of their course, we will accept that in lieu of our own training. Some places nearby you might want to try are (in distance from our club order):
Rogue Archery (26km)
Mount Petrie Bowman (33km)
Gold Coast Archery Club (98km)
Sunshine Coast Archery Club (108km)
Toowoomba Company of Archers (120km)
Byron Shire Archery Club (167km)
Lismore City Archers (231km)
Harvey Bay Archers (299km)
We can also potentially arrange a private Come & Try class for you too.
Normally, you can use our Gift Certificates directly at the Square Payment Terminal at the club. However, for our courses where you need to book on-line, that system doesn't use Square as a payment service, so we have to do things slightly differently. Instead, you book your course with all the people you're going to pay for, and stop just before entering your payment details. You then need to email us with the date, the names of the people you've just entered details for, and the Square Gift Certificate codes you wish to use. We will process the codes and mark the individuals as paid in the system.