President's Address

26 April 07

Greetings fellow archers,

• SEA Archery Federation Junior Championship 2007
• Zhenghua National Archery Range
• NUS Indoor Shoot 2007
• Judges' Committee
• Technical Level 1 Course
• Minutes of Meeting
• Insurance for member club archers

SEA Archery Federation Junior Championship 2007

Planning for this event is now in full swing and the archers from National Junior college are working round the clock to make it all work right in this inaugural event. Nine countries will be taking part and this is very significant for the sport of archery here in Singapore.

For those who are interested, I have attached a schedule of the event over the 5 days. Do come out and watch as our archers do battle with our neighbours. I know it is exam time and it is also affecting our chances. For those archers affected by the exams and need a letter to their school please email me at president@archerysingapore.com.

Your Team Manager for this meet is Dr. Wong and he will assist you with whatever queries that you may have. Please email him at vicepresident@archerysingapore.com. I understand that the tee shirts for those competing will be given out on or just before 30 April 2007.

Zhenghua National Archery Range

The Range was officially opened on Sunday, April 22, 2007 in conjunction with Zhenghua CC 1st Anniversary celebration. Mr. Palmer and Mr. Liang did the honours of unveiling the plaque and shooting officially at the boards.

The Range is owned by ZHCC and is managed by AAS on their behalf. Archers wanting to shoot at the lower portion of the range (Public Range) must join the ZHCC Archery Club at an annual fee of $18 per student and $35 for non student members. Please enquire directly at the CC itself. To register, you must produce evidence to show that you have completed your basic archery course by way of a club issued certificate of completion, or a letter from your club or any NROC Archery coach attesting to your competency. The range is opened from Tuesdays to Sundays, 9 am to 6 pm for shooting only. NROC Archery Coaches wishing to conduct any classes must first register and seek permission from ZHCC Archery Club. Archers must produce their membership card from ZHCC to Range Warden Amin before proceeding to shoot.

The Range is still in its infancy and much work still needs to be done. Please bear with the inconveniences at the moment as we work towards making the Range the best one yet for all archers.

Our search for an anchor tenants at the Range produced only one interested applicant in Flaming Arrows Archery Club. No clubs or individuals were interested in running the Jurong Range. This Jurong range will be returned to Sports Council come end of May 2007 after the mandatory notice of termination of rental is given.

For archers staying in the Eastern part of Singapore you will be glad to know that AAS has commenced sourcing for a range in the east. Keep the fingers crossed on this.

NUS Indoor Shoot 2007

NUS will be holding their sanctioned indoor shoot on June 16 & 17 at their multi purpose hall. Please prepare for it and give it your fullest support. At the time of writing there are minor changes to be made and once finalized, we will post the details on the net for information and registration purposes. So, keep a lookout for it.

Judges' Committee

The chairman of the JC is Mr. Boon Chun who is a Continental Judge. The vice chairpersons are Pecilius and Carol Tay with the rest of the judges as members. Advisors to this committee are Mr. Leong Fai Keong and Mr. Tang Yip Kay.

The JC helps look after the judges’ welfare and training. In addition, they are there to advise on the rules interpretation and to set the ‘house rules’ for archery in Singapore. All competition matters pertaining to the rules and regulations governed by the rule books of FITA will be decided upon by the JC and their decision will be final and binding on all members taking part in the competition being organized.

Technical Level 1 Course

Whilst the instructors for the course have been sourced, there however have not been any sign up for it. If we do not receive the minimum registration of 8 archers for this course we will postpone it indefinitely till there is a demand for it. Similarly for the other courses planned for the year. If you are planning on becoming a NROC coach or upgrading your coaching status do drop Sonny a note at secretary@archerysingapore.com so that he can keep a register of interested applicants and initiate actions as necessary.

Minutes of Meeting

One archer has enquired of me as to why no minutes of meeting were ever circulated since we took office. Very interesting question.

All decisions taken to date have been discussed at the many meetings we have held for the past year. Rather than send minutes out, my committee has adopted the approach of letting members know by way of information letters through the net. In this manner, more archers will have the opportunity of knowing what is going on in the world of archery especially in Singapore. They also will not be dependant on those holding or rather withholding the information at hand at club levels. The other reason for adopting this method of information dissemination is cost savings.

Minutes of Meetings records are kept by the Secretary and any member club wishing to read them may approach him for it. However, you must be an appointed representative from a paid up club to do so.

Members are also invited to all our meetings except Excom Meetings. Our meetings are usually held on the last Sunday morning of each month unless otherwise informed. Our next meeting is slated for Sunday 29 April at 3 pm at the ZHCC immediately after the SEA Games Selection Shoot (1).

Insurance for member club archers

After much groundwork and sourcing, we have managed to tie up with an international insurance company to cover the archers in Singapore when they are doing the sport of archery. The premium is not cheap as is to be expected.

Basically, any member club wishing to take up the local coverage for their archers must submit a name list of their archers and their NRIC, to the secretary of AAS. Once registered, the archers will be covered under the policy. Renewal is on an annual basis and will be based on a fresh list of archers to be submitted. Fees payable is $15 per archer of which $5 will be paid by AAS. Clubs will pay the balance of $10 per archer. It is up to the club to recover the $10 in full or partially from their own members.

The register for this insurance cover will close on 22 May 2007 with coverage being effective from 01 June 2007. Any addition after the dateline will incur the full fee of $15 per addition with no subsidy from AAS.

Clubs are strongly advised to take up this insurance scheme to cover their members else they will be fully liable for any claims or damages seeked by their members in the event of an accident or injury.

With this insurance coverage, Archery is believed to be the first NSA to cover its athletes against any claims or accidents directly related to the sport of archery.

George Loh
President
AAS
26 April 2007