A lot of people enjoy sports as a social activity. You may like to meet new people, collaborate, and work together to achieve your goals. Therefore, you might wonder whether you will also experience this if you decide to start with archery. On the contrary, some people are looking for a sport to relax and desocialize. In that case, you might want to pick up a more individualistic hobby. Therefore, I will discuss in more detail whether archery is a team sport. Below is a summary in case you are in a hurry.
Most archers enjoy archery primarily as an individual sport, but you can also play it in teams. If you play in teams, your points will count towards the team’s total points. Although archery is not necessarily a team sport, there are plenty of opportunities to socialize with other archers during practice and at tournaments.
As of writing this article, I have been into archery for more than 6 years. I have practiced archery both individually and in teams. Therefore, I will share my experience which helps you to get an idea of what archery looks like both in an individual and a team setting.
Archery as an individual sport
The large majority of archers practice archery primarily as an individual sport. This means that you participate in competitions by yourself and not in teams.
Depending on the archery club you join, you might practice in a group or individually. In my experience, most adults choose to practice individually while children often shoot in groups. This is like how it works in other individual sports like golf.
That doesn’t mean that archery isn’t a social sport. At my local club, we have training evenings at which we all practice together and drink something afterward.
Depending on the club you join, you might even be able to train beyond the normal training hours. Which allows you to train whenever you want.
Archery as a team sport
Although most archers enjoy archery as an individual sport, there are also tournaments where you can signup as a team. In these tournaments, your points count towards the team’s total. Some tournaments even have these two mixed. Which means that you can compete individually and as a team at the same time.
Some archers also train in fixed teams which means that it’s almost the same as any other team sport. The only difference is that you all shoot your team to train.
The benefits of archery as a team sport
Although archery might not be a team sport in the traditional sense. This unique hobby does have some benefits over other ‘’full’’ team sports:
- You can train whenever you want: since you don’t need an entire team to train, you have a lot more flexibility. You only need your bow, arrow, target and, a place to shoot. If you have a large backyard, you can even shoot at home!
- Everyone can compete at his own level: if you play a team sport like soccer it can be rather annoying if your team is less skilled than you. You simply cannot perform at your best because you must drag the entire team with you. Because you shoot individually, this isn’t the case with archery. Even if your team performs poorly, you can break your own record.
- Everyone can join and shoot: since archery doesn’t require a ton of stamina or strength. Anyone can start and practice. At my local archery club, we even have some senior archers over 70 years old.
Therefore, archery tends to be a very social sport. At my local club, we have many families that shoot together. This is different from most ball sports where each family member has their own team to train with. Therefore, archery is a great activity to enjoy with the whole family.
The benefits of archery as a team sport
Although archery might not be a team sport in the traditional sense. This unique hobby does have some benefits over other ‘’full’’ team sports:
- You can train whenever you want: since you don’t need an entire team to train, you have a lot more flexibility. You only need your bow, arrow, target, and a place to shoot. If you have a large backyard, you can even shoot at home!
- Everyone can compete at his own level: if you play a team sport like soccer it can be rather annoying if your team is less skilled than you. You simply cannot perform at your best because you must drag the entire team with you. Because you shoot individually, this isn’t the case with archery. Even if your team performs poorly, you can break your own record.
- Everyone can join and shoot: since archery doesn’t require a ton of stamina or strength. Anyone can start and practice. At my local archery club, we even have some senior archers over 70 years old.
Therefore, archery tends to be a very social sport. At my local club, we have many families that shoot together. This is different from most ball sports where each family member has their own team to train with. Therefore, archery is a great activity to enjoy with the whole family.
The disadvantages of archery as a team sport
Archery is not a team sport in the traditional sense. You don’t collaborate or communicate while shooting. Shooting itself is much more an individual experience. In the end, the scores are only tallied up to the group’s total which determines the final score.
Therefore, archery is not a sport to learn how to collaborate or be a team player. I often hear parents want their kids to pick another sport for this reason. But every sport has its pros and cons. Archery uniquely teaches your kids to be focused, disciplined and responsible.
If you consider archery as a sport for your children, I recommend reading the article below. In this article, I discuss in more detail the pros and cons of archery for children.
Is archery a good sport for children/teens
So, is archery the right sport for you?
Whether archery is the right sport for you depends on what you expect from the sport. Do you want a sport to be thrilling or relaxing? Do you want to train your stamina or your strength? Therefore, I have written a full article on what archery is like.
Is archery the right sport for me?
If you want to get started, I recommend following the guide below. I explain how to get started from scratch. From buying your bow, and choosing a shooting location to learning the technique, it’s all discussed in this article
Final words
To be honest I don’t think that you should worry too much about whether archery is a team sport or not. Choose a sport that you like the most. Every sport has pros and cons, but the most important thing is that you like it. Sporting is a leisure activity, and the best benefit of any sport is that it clears your mind and gets you physically active.
If you don’t choose a sport you like, you probably will quit it sooner or later. This is what you often see in gyms right after New Years Eve. These people only go to the gym to lose weight, without choosing an activity they like. This external motivation will just not last in the long run.
I do recommend practicing some other sport to train stamina. One running or hiking session in the week would do just fine. Since archery mainly trains upper body strength, I think it’s a good idea to do at least one cardio activity per week.
If you have any questions or comments, please let me know in the comment section below. I will reply to any questions as soon as possible, and I will send you an email once I replied
Tim van Rooijen
For as long as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by archery. First due to its historic significance but later because I like being outdoors. With this blog, I share my knowledge about Archery and how you can improve your shot. More about author…
