The National Safety Council rates archery more
accident free than every popular ball sport, including tennis and
golf. When one puts a ball in the air and kids get running, jumping
and spinning around almost anything can happen. You expect injuries
whether its turned ankles, twisted knees or torn ligaments. Archery
allows students to be taught a safe, lifetime skill they can
practice almost anywhere. More than 4 million shooters have
participated in NASP since its inception in 2002 and there have
been no accidents!
To address safety concerns, while the students are
shooting the teachers stand at the shooting line. Everything
is done with whistle commands, as students are instructed to pick
up the bow, walk to the firing line and pick up one arrow.
Always pointing it downrange in a safe direction, they fire three
or more shots upon command, rack the bow and return to the waiting
line. Then the whistle allows them to go downrange and
withdraw the arrows out of the target in a safe manner. When
they carry the arrows back, they carry them covering the tips so
there's no possibility of someone getting hurt. It is almost
unheard of for a person to injure himself/herself or another person
while shooting bow and arrow.
Students have the opportunity to shoot at bulls-eye
targets placed before an arrow-resistant net in their
gymnasium. This allows the course to be conducted any time of
the year, regardless of the weather. It can also be adapted
to outdoor ranges. When setting up the range, safety of the
shooters, observers and bystanders is of the utmost importance.
Teacher training includes, "How to set-up a safe
indoor shooting range":
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INDOOR ARCHERY RANGE
LAYOUT
Archery is safe because, as a shooting sport, the field of play -
or range - is designed with safety in mind.
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For indoor ranges, arrow safety curtains are hung
no further than 3 feet behind the archery targets across the full
length of the target line. No one is allowed behind the safety
curtain while shooting is in progress. All doors in the general
shooting area are closed and warning signs are posted outside the
doors where archery practice is in progress. Doors behind the
target line are locked or temporary barriers are used as a warning
signal.
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A shooting line is established at least 10 to 20
feet in front of the targets. Archers are spaced about 6 feet apart
on a shooting line when they are shooting.
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A waiting line is used for those archers waiting
their turn to shoot. The waiting line is at least 10 feet behind
the shooting line. Between the waiting line and shooting line
is where the equipment is hung in a safe, non-shooting position.
All archers stand along and behind this line while not
shooting.
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A target line is set 6 feet from the front of the
targets and is the distance from which archers score and wait to
retrieve their arrows.
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Archery
Safety Insight by Arrowsport (PDF)
Persons with Disabilities