Archery parties seems to have become quite popular over the last few months. They might not involve top end coaching and performance development, but they are good fun and a great way to introduce young people to the sport. So I was delighted to be asked to put on another archery party using the indoor range at Ellesmere College.

After an introduction and safety brief, I always like to give groups the chance just to practice for a short while before spending most of our time playing a variety of games. I don’t like to simply reproduce the same old things every time so, as well as using some old favourites, I through in a few new games I’d thought up to ring the changes a little.

On this occasion, we tried archery versions of ‘Noughts and Crosses’ and ‘Pontoon’. As with anything you try for the first time, you never know quite how it will go, so I made sure I had lots of other things at hand as a back up. However, they both seemed to go down pretty well with Pontoon coming out as marginal favourite. I guess I’ll need to buy some proper giant playing cards for next time.

Thanks for having me along to join in with the fun for the archery party!