A new agreement between Archery GB and The Fletchers' Trust has been announced for the Los Angeles Paralympic Games cycle, to ensure that access to archery is fair and equal for all communities.
The national governing body for archery in the UK has worked with The Fletchers' Trust, which provides financial support to all levels of the disabled archery community, for a number of years to increase awareness of disability archery. This new initiative, which will see over £100,000 allocated for a range of projects until 2028, will help to build on this, aiming to create a more diverse and inclusive participation base.
Diversity Throughout will be a central theme of the project, with a specific focus on disabled people. Working together, Archery GB and The Fletchers' Trust will also be highlighting archery as a 'gateway sport', working in collaboration with organisations outside of the traditional archery family, to promote the physical and mental health benefits of the sport, while improving the pathway from club to international level so that it is more joined up.
The creation of an Engagement Coordinator is a crucial starting point to help embed archery projects and programmes so that the partnership delivers its objectives. Working with key organisations, the set-up, as well as the longer-term sustainability, of disability archery sessions will be an ongoing focus.
Partnerships with disability organisations, like the Activity Alliance and Access Sport will enable Archery GB to deliver training opportunities so that the volunteer workforce will learn the skills to recognise good practice and how to be welcoming to disabled people and those who are neurodiverse. Further to this, coaches will be given opportunities to find out more about easy ways of adapting equipment to ensure everyone can be accommodated on the shooting line.
Work will also be done across the country to encourage the formation of a series of local inclusive competitions leading to the two-day National Disability Championships for grassroots and elite archers. To support the work already started during the Paris Games cycle, further investment will be made into improving the processes and communication around classification, as well as recruiting new classifiers, to increase opportunities for people to be classified – an essential step to competing at international para competitions including the Paralympic Games.
"Everyone at Archery GB is thrilled to be working with The Fletchers Trust for the LA Games cycle and we're hugely grateful for their ongoing support," said Mark Briegal, Chair of Archery GB. "It's an excellent opportunity to build on the good work that had already started in the Paris Games cycle, by putting in place a huge variety of projects and plans that will all work together to ensure archery is a sport that has diversity and inclusion at its core.
"We're confident that what we are proposing will support and improve all areas of the sport, from grassroots to elite level, volunteers, coaches, training and operations. Along with The Fletchers' Trust, we are committed to creating better access to archery, which means equipping all our stakeholders with the right tools and knowledge so that anyone who wants to pick up a bow will have a great experience and be encouraged to continue taking part. The work we will be doing in the next four years will be key to this and we'll be focused on making sure the partnership delivers what we've set out to do."
Andrew McMillan, Chairman of the Trustees at The Fletchers' Trust, added: "We are delighted to have agreed this exciting package of ideas that we can use to support Archery GB in the four years leading up to the Los Angeles Paralympic Games. To be able to work with Archery GB in this way is just brilliant and we're feeling extremely positive about the impact we can have in encouraging more disabled people to try archery and making sure that from grassroots to elite level, the right resources are in place to ensure success."
Andrew McMillan and Mark Briegal announcing the renewed partnership
