On Thursday evening, in the shooting room of the Artemis ’79 archery club in Utrecht, Ashmie Soedamah (44) takes an arrow from her leather hip bag and places it with a steady hand on the string, the string that is stretched between her bow. She holds her bow steady with her left arm while she pulls the string towards her face with her right hand.
Soedamah remains standing for a moment in this proud, concentrated position. Her gaze is fixed on the other side of the room where four colorful circles hang next to each other: the blazons. She breathes in and out quietly a few times, it seems as if she no longer hears the conversations around her from other shooters and is completely absorbed in her own world and feelings. Then she lets go and the arrow cuts through the air.
Soedamah started shooting in April this year and is playing her third match. She already registered with the association before the corona pandemic and was on the waiting list for about six years. “At one point I forgot that I was still on that waiting list,” she says, laughing.
Five hundred people on waiting list
Artemis ’79 currently has 75 members, but many more people want to practice the sport. “The sport became popular ten years ago,” says Geert van Roosmalen (74). He became a member more than twenty years ago when there was no waiting list. According to him, films like The Hunger Games for a revival of the sport.
Unfortunately, the club is currently unable to expand further, resulting in a waiting list of approximately five hundred people. “We can only accept new members when others quit,” says competition secretary Theun van der Wiel (39). “Usually between ten and fifteen members quit each year. If you are now in position 499, it may take decades before it is your turn.”
We share our location with three other sports clubs
Artemis ’79 is not the only association with a waiting list. One in ten amateur sports clubs in the Netherlands now has a membership freeze or waiting list, according to recent research by the Mulier Institute on behalf of sports umbrella organization NOC*NSF. It is a big problem, especially in the Randstad. Here, one in five clubs has a waiting list.
Ashmie Soedamah uses her modern longbow without a sight during training.
Saskia van den Boom
Don’t think
“Ah no!” Soedamah shouts when her arrow lands next to the blazon. She shoots with a traditional bow. Unlike the recurve bow used in the Olympic Games, this bow has no sights.
A sight helps shooters aim their arrow more accurately at the target. “If your sight is properly adjusted and you stand in the same position every time, you will always hit the target,” explains Van der Wiel. “Archery is actually a very simple sport: don’t think and stand the same way every time. But that is precisely what makes it so difficult.”
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With a traditional bow, hitting is a lot more difficult, sometimes even “a matter of luck,” says Lieske van Kranenburg (35), trainer of the beginners course. “You aim based on feeling, not because a sight indicates so. Shooters with a traditional bow are happy when they hit the target. Shooters with a modern bow are only happy when they hit the bull’s-eye.”
The association cannot grow due to the use of space. “We share our location with three other sports clubs,” says Van der Wiel. “As a result, we can only come here two half-days a week.”
This problem is recognizable for many sports clubs. 64 percent of associations with waiting lists cite a shortage of accommodation as the main cause, according to research by the Mulier Institute. Children and young people are particularly affected by this.
Shooting area without obstacles
At Artemis ’79 they would also like to let more young people pass, but in practice this is not possible. “We should reserve one of the three jobs for the youth,” says Van der Wiel. “Then the senior members have to do two jobs and they can shoot less.”
According to Van Roosmalen, that is not an option. “During a normal training it is already too busy. With 24 people on the track it is really cramped, especially with all those recurve and compound bows that protrude considerably at the front.”
According to him, the solution is clear: its own location. “Clubs with their own base can train five to six days a week,” explains Van Roosmalen. “Then you can also set aside evenings for youth training.”
An archery club such as Artemis ’79 needs a free shooting space of at least twenty-five meters without obstacles such as pillars.
Saskia van den Boom
But finding suitable space proves difficult. “There is little space in and around Utrecht,” says Van der Wiel. “We need at least twenty-five meters of shooting space in length, without obstacles such as pillars. A shed would be ideal, but they are not often available and are often expensive.”
The club’s board does not want to increase membership fees in order to be able to rent a new location. “We choose to increase the contribution as little as possible,” says Van der Wiel, “to keep the sport accessible. Material is already expensive enough.”
Training outside is also not simply possible. Strict safety rules and distance requirements apply there. “There must be a maximum shooting length and an earthen wall behind the targets, so that arrows cannot shoot over the track,” Van der Wiel explains.
The shooters walk to the other side one more time to count the points. The match is over. Soedamah ends up with slightly fewer points than hoped, but she shrugs her shoulders. “The result is secondary. The best thing about an evening like this is that it is so meditative. I often come in with a full head and go home calmly.”
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