| Hilary Term Tournaments |
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Last term we had one tournament (Nottingham BUTTS) and it was not only great fun, but we won as well. This term there are 7 tournaments, pretty much one each weekend. If you've been to an archery tournament before, you already know you need to come. If you haven't been to an archery tournament yet, then you'll just have to trust me that they are the best part of student archery. [loads more detail after the jump] Every tournament (apart from BUTC) has a separate novice tournament, so if you started archery this year you'll only be competing against other people with similar amounts of experience. We are just as keen to have novices come to tournaments as experienced archers. Even if you think you are rubbish at archery, you are still more than welcome to come along to as many tournaments as you can. I'll list the tournaments in chronological order along with a brief explanation of what they are. More specific details will be sent out for each one nearer the time. This is mainly so that you know what is coming and can set aside the time in your schedules. The first two are home tournaments that we are hosting, so I'll really appreciate having you guys to help set things up. Frostbite Grudge Match vs Cambridge - Saturday of 2nd week (26th of January) Near the start of each Hilary term, we have the annual grudge match against our arch rivals, Cambridge. A frostbite round is so called because it is an outdoor round when the weather is cold. You won't actually get frostbite, in case you are worried. This one is going to be loads of fun because for the first time we are introducing a "no etiquette" policy, which means that short of touching, anything goes and you can do anything you want to try and put the tabs off their shots, and they can do the same to us. It isn't a particularly lengthy round, and it is shot at 30m on a big target face, so you'll all be capable of doing well. We'll be shooting at 30m sometime next week in the Hall so you can get sightmarks. Oxford BUTTS - Saturday of 3rd week (2nd of February) This is our home leg of the BUSA Midlands League, also known as the BUTTS League. Warwick, Derby and Nottingham will be coming. If you can only make one tournament this term, come to this one. Same format as all the other BUTTS legs, only this one is on our home turf and we want to win. Warwick are more challenging opponents than Cambridge, but it is within our grasp. Birmingham BUTTS - Sunday of 4th week (3rd of February) Yes, I know that it is the day after Oxford BUTTS and two legs in a weekend is a bit of a pain, but that is how it is. If you can only make one of the two, then try to make Oxford BUTTS, but we really want to have a strong showing at Birmingham as well. Warwick and Loughborough will be the other two universities present, meaning we'll have to perform well to be in with a shot of beating Warwick. Cambridge BUTTS - Saturday of 4th week (9th of February) Another BUTTS leg, this time in Cambridge, and indoors for the first time ever. Loughborough and Derby this time, so with no Warwick we have a very good chance of beating Cambridge and winning this leg. [Derby BUTTS - Sunday of 6th week (17th of February) We don't go to this one, but I'm mentioning it for the sake of completeness] BUTTS Indoor Championship at Loughborough - Saturday of 6th week (23rd of February) This is a mini version of the tournament below, featuring all 7 universities in the BUSA Midlands League, and victory here is worth more than a single BUTTS leg. By the end of the day, the results of the league will be known and trophies awarded. BUSA Indoor Championship at York - Saturday of 7th week (1st of March) This is the highlight of the indoor student archery season. Last year at Leeds there were almost 400 archers from 35 universities. Oxford came 4th, and this year we can do better. Also, I intend for us to have a stronger novice showing than last year (our team was just Marc, quite a disappointment for me after being part of the novice team that came 2nd the previous year). If you can only make the BUSA or the BUTTS championships, come to this one. Preferably come to both. BUTC (British University Team Championship) at Durham - Saturday of 8th week (8th of March) This one doesn't have a separate thing for novices, everybody is treated the same. This one is loads of fun. The winners at archery tournaments are normally decided by a spreadsheet. At BUTC you shoot in teams of 3 at "hit/miss" targets which have little yellow plastic discs that go BANG and disappear into the target if you hit them. It makes it a great tournament to watch, and even more fun to take part in. We can only take a maximum of 6 archers to this, but given that it is the last day of term and we leave for the Isle of Man trip the next day, that probably won't be a problem. [Isle of Man Festival of Sport - all of 9th week, depart on Sunday 9th March] This one is a bit different but I'll mention it anyway. On the weekend of the 15th/16th of March there are 4 (yes, four) archery tournaments as part of the Isle of Man Festival of Sport. As this is the same time as our traditional training trip to Greece (that fell apart recently) we'll be making a week of it and will be doing some training/socialising for the week before the tournaments, then joining in with the fun. This will be our first time going to the Isle of Man, but other universities have been going for years and always have a fantastic time. Warwick are taking 30 archers this year! Further details will be sent out in the near future, but this trip is going to be awesome fun and also really improve your archery. A quick note about the BUTTS league: the new format this year means that not every university is present at each leg. Everybody goes to the same number of legs, and everybody goes to the BUTTS Championships, and you get points depending on how you place. Whoever has the most points by the end of the Championship wins. Simple. I hope to see lots of you at every one of these tournaments. They are great fun, but OUCofA is now more competitive than ever and we stand to do very well this year, but that only works if you guys come to all the tournaments. Darren. p.s. While this is already a mammoth news post, I'll very quickly mention what you have to look forward to in Trinity term: Varsity Match in Cambridge (most likely Saturday of 3rd week) - The highlight of our entire year and we have a very good chance of beating them for the first time in a decade. Town vs Gown (most likely Saturday of 4th week) - OUCofA vs Oxford Archers BUTTS Outdoor Championship - Not worth league points, but will be a great tournament BUTTS Friendly - Emphasis on socialising, barbeque and enjoying the summer with a bit of shooting on the side BUSA Outdoor Championship (most likely Saturday of 8th week) - Highlight of the year for everybody but Oxford and Cambridge. Not as many archers at BUSA Indoors, but everybody is shooting at the same time. An experience not to be missed (unless you have exams every Saturday of 8th week, grrrrr!) |