Arizona Junior and Collegiate Archery

The return of the Indoor National Championships and JOAD Indoor National Championship to Rio Rancho, New Mexico was a huge success. The Eagle Ridge School was very nice, but the new Santa Ana Star Center venue was fantastic when judged by size alone. The list of highlights is long:

Range: The range was set up in the secure confines of a 12’ high border wall system, used by the arenas hockey rink. Wood panels were installed into the border wall system to act as a back stop behind the targets. Arrow netting was also suspended behind the targets. 28 Whitetail FITA targets provided for both a tournament and practice area. The NMRR Whitetail FITA matts are practically brand new, as a result, there was nothing even close to a pass thru. Each shooting time could accommodate over 100 archers. The arenas lighting was bright. Bow racks were provided. A huge hit were the foam cushion archers and spectator chairs. Bow cases were stored in a pen behind the archers. The arenas PA system made communication crystal clear.

Support areas: The arenas concourse was used for archer check in. The Roadrunners sold embroidered tournament tee shirts. The Santa Ana Star Center provided the food concessions. Restrooms were located on the concourse directly below the spectator seating.

Staffing: Led by the Harvey family, the dozen or so tournament volunteers and arena staff converted the multi purpose center to an impressive national tournament venue in four hours. Like the archers, support staff came in from all over the region including three judging officials from Arizona.

Archers: 60 archers took part in the JOAD Indoor Nationals Championship. 130 competed in the USA Archery National Indoor Championships. In addition to New Mexican archers, many came from Arizona and Colorado. Some came from California, Texas and Illinois. A Jr. team also came from Mexico to compete. NAA traditional recurve, long bow and modern longbow archers competed side by side with the FITA bare bow, compound and recurve archers. Many reported delight at the generous space and the dedicated spectator area.

Spectators: Spectators sat in theatre style stadium seating above the floor. The stadium style seat risers gave the spectators a great view of the archers and the targets. This was particular helpful during the JOAD tournament where the large contingent of parents and coaches had a great view of their archers. Spectators were also entertained by exploring the venues facilities including the sky boxes. The press had access all around the range for photographs.

Quotes:

Joy Fahrenkrog, Archer, “This is the best venue I have ever shot in and the most professional.”

Foster Gorman, Dine' College Coach and Archer; “I’ve shot for “awhile” and really like the space, openness and room. The lighting is good and the cushion seats can’t be beat!”

Mel Nichols; “I have competed in archery tournaments around the world and have shot tournaments in all 50 United States. This is the best indoor venue I have been to with good lighting, good seating (for both the spectators and archers) and even a good PA system.”

Testimonial: A first time visitor to both the Santa Ana Star Center and a USA Archery championship was impressed by both the venue and the action. The arena staff, found the process fascinating to follow and the precision of the archers, “amazing”.

JOADs and Collegiate: 35 JOADs competed in the NAA Indoor Nationals portion of the tournament. Over 30 USA College Archery Program (USA CAP) www.uscollegiatearchery.org archers competed. Dine' College, Embry Riddle Aeronautics University and Arizona State University all had large teams. The teams competed on the Saturday and Sunday AM lines. CAP team uniforms were an impressive sight on the shooting line. Single USA CAP archers came from two Colorado Universities, Central New Mexico CC and the University of Arizona. JOADs and Collegiate archers accounted for approximately half of all the participants.

Venue Management: Santa Ana Star Center management didn’t know what to expect of the archery tournament. After all, arrows would be flying inside of their brand new state of the art sport and entertainment facility! They were impressed by the effectiveness and self sufficiency of the volunteer staff. Also they found the orderly operation of the tournament process to be remarkable. After only a day of watching, the management was eager to encourage the tournament organizers to host the event again next year.

Tournament: The NM Roadrunners offered ten ring, vertical and triangular three spot targets. Having hosted the NAA Indoor championship for years, the Roadrunners had access to the equipment needed to outfit the range. Most importantly they knew what is it takes to host a quality tournament. Special thanks go out to the volunteers. It was nice to see volunteers taking charge and helping to get the job done!

Schedule: The JOAD Championship took place on Friday afternoon. Awards for the Rio Rancho JOAD tournament results were present on Saturday between the AM and PM lines

The first USA Archery Indoor Championship 600 round took place on Friday night. The Saturday AM 600 round was the largest group with 90 archers. The next most popular shooting time was Sunday morning with over 60 archers. Saturday and Sunday PM groups were small in comparison.

Awards: The New Mexico Road Runners have always presented wonderful awards to the JOAD’s and this year was no different. The Rio Rancho venue JOAD tournaments top three places each receive a “dream catcher” with engraved plaque. In appreciation for the JOAD participation in the USA Archery Championship, Jenniffer Harvey presented keep sake woven baskets to JOAD’s after the Sunday AM line.

Timers: The JOAD National Indoor Championship was shot under the control of R U Ready Sport Timers, archery timing system. The timers are a must have for anyone in need of a high performing, high quality, affordable, portable archery timing system - Find out more about the timers below -

The USA Archery National Indoor Championships were shot using two ST-15 “Sportable Scoreboard” displays on loan from the Arizona State Archery Association.

Hotels and Restaurants: The Center is located in newly developing area. Business and hotels are master planned for the future. There are more than a ½ dozen hotels in Rio Rancho along with a variety of fast food outlets and restaurants 20 minutes from the Center. Cottonwood Mall and a variety of nationally known restaurants are 10 minutes south of Rio Rancho.

Airline Access: Albuquerque (ABQ) has great airline service by American and Southwest Airlines. Winds can become very strong in the afternoon. Fly in early to avoid delays.

Automobile Access: Via I-40 and I-25, Rio Rancho is a day’s drive from both central Colorado and central Arizona. It does snow in Albuquerque, but does not tend to accumulate.

No one reported any driving difficulty what so ever.

Comments from Curt Christensen, Colorado State University and Untouchables JOAD, Littleton, CO

“The Santa Ana Event Center is the best indoor venue I have attended in my eight years of being “Archery Dad”. As a spectator, you were able to see the entire line shoot in the comfort of padded stadium seating. The archers had plenty of room to setup equipment and sit during the competition. The restroom facilities and concession were only a few footsteps away. The building wi-fi internet connection made in possible to complete business related tasks as well as send real time results and pictures. The arena PA system made it possible to hear announcements and shooting line commands throughout the Event Center. The entire staff at the Event Center was very friendly and genuinely interested in knowing more about archery.

The experienced tournament staff was very knowledgeable. They ran lively tourney. I would like to personally thank the tourney for a VERY well run tournament and really appreciate the patience with the young JOAD archers. The mix of humor kept a smile on everyones face.

The New Mexico Runners Archery Club is a first class organization under the leadership of Jenniffer Harvey. Both check-in and shooting time confirmations were very smooth. The JOAD archers loved the hand-crafted awards of dream catchers and woven baskets. My children consider those awards as their favorite ones they have received in eight years of competition.

If all the National Indoors were held in places like the Santa Ana Star Center, there could be only one or two venues per region instead of several small venues scattered all over.”

Statistics:

Venue: Santa Ana Star Center, Rio Rancho, NM

Host: New Mexico Road Runners

Tournament Director/Chairman of Judges: Jenniffer Harvey-NM

Director of Shooting: Bob Pian-AZ

Judges: Rockne Repp-AZ , Alan Huff-AZ

Volunteers: Field crew, scoring, registration, general.

Food Concessions: Boston Culinary

Special Thanks, The staff and management of the Santa Ana Star Center, The Rio Rancho City Council.

28 American Whitetail 52” diameter FITA targets

12’ Wood back stop

Arrow curtain (ASAA) on pole system.

Six 6’ long bow racks

JOAD timing: Two R U Ready Sport Archery Timers (Bob Romero)

USA Archery: Two ST-15 Sportable Scoreboard displays (ASAA)

HID Metal Halide lighting.

Archers: Cushion seats

Spectator terraced individual theatre style seating, cushion and sculptured and cupholders!

Misc. Supplies (clipboards, target pins, tape) NMRR

Scorecards, Multi Colored Card Stock

Target faces: 10 ring, V 3 spot, Tri 3 spot.

Archers, Approximately:

60 JOAD National Indoor Championship Archers

130 USA Archery National Indoor Championship Archers

Ideas for next time:

Archers wondered if vendors or some additional type of attraction could be held in conjunction with the tournament to take advantage of the arenas concourse area.. (ie, archery mfrs, arts and crafts show)

Access to the floor area via the HDCP and wheel entrance.

Generous amount of community arrow lube *Armor All” would be nice.

Music was played using a modest sound system, music over the arenas system would we nice.

A raised DOS stand would be nice.

Designate one hotel as “the official hotel” so that archers can share rides to the venue and so that the JOAD kids and collegiate archers can socialize.

Ask if the Jumbotron can be turned on.

“A leader board would be nice”?

More about:

R U Ready Timers: http://www.ruready.com/Archery07.htm

The 4” high LCD displays are controlled by FITA style archery programmable wireless controller. Several displays can be operated by one controller. All are powered by 9 volt batteries. The timers are great for typical tournaments, Olympic round timing, and practice. Level 4E coach, Bob Romero robertrom@sbcglobal.net consulted on the timer’s functionality and is a USA dealer. The wireless controller allows a DOS to work as a line judge and move freely by controlling the timing from just about anywhere on the range. The timer is also a great training tool. The timer and controls easily fit into a back pack to be easily used any where. Green/Yellow/Red signal lights will soon be a thing of the past with the advent of the R U Ready Archery timing system!

For more information or to buy a system, contact Bob Romero robertrom@sbcglobal.net

Sportable Scoreboards: www.sportablescoreboards.com

American Whitetail Archery Targets: www.archerytargets.com

USA Archery Results: http://www.usarchery.org/usarchery/html/Results.html

End

By Bob Pian