JOAD season

Around this time every year Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD) programs start up across the country. These JOAD (pronounced Joe Ad) programs allow youth, ages 9-18, from all different types of backgrounds and abilities to competitively participate in the sport of archery. A typical JOAD team consists of about 10-40 members and about 1-5 coaches. These coaches have been trained in their coaching techniques and are certified by the National Archery Association and by the National Field Archery Association. This ensures that the coaches provided are of the highest quality.
Many JOAD clubs practice at least once a week with each practice lasting for about an hour and a half. During these practices the archers will first stretch preventing their straining or even pulling. After the stretching is complete the coaches will usually decide to practice shooting a few rounds before scoring begins. In JOAD the Vegas style target is used. When shooting a Vegas target you only shoot three arrows per round, the time period that starts with shooting and ends with pulling the arrows. During a standard regulation scoring session the archer will shoot 10 rounds with 3 arrows each round making the total number of arrows shot 30. Each of these arrows can be worth up to ten points, making the highest score possible a 300. During this scoring session the coaches will often instruct the archers on how to improve their form or on their concentration. After the scoring session is completed the coaches will usually allow archers to take a break and participate in some fun archery games. These games include tic-tac-toe and 21 both of which make the archer to control the exact location of their arrow on the target. Though these are games they still allow the coaches to observe any problems that the archer may be facing.
After practicing for a few weeks the coaches will then decide who will go to compete at the local or state tournaments. At some of these tournaments the team will shoot their arrows individually then all of their scores will be added together and the team will get a score and then ranked. Usually though the tournaments are only for individuals to compete. One very important thing to remember is that when shooting at a JOAD tournament you should make sure you follow all of the rules. The JOAD association tends to be very strict on their rules especially dress code. I believe that the current dress code for JOAD tournaments is either navy blue pants or white pants (no jeans) and a team shirt that does not have any advertising on it. Another very important rule that you must follow is the shooting time limit. When you are shooting at a JOAD tournament the time you have to shoot three arrows is exactly two minutes. If you shoot before or after the whistle blows your arrows will be disqualified. As long as you follow the rules shooting in a JOAD tournament can be very fun.