@odddev@archery Spouse just chimed in and endorsed what I just said, and added: "Make sure he employs badass women who can shoot well." She said the one thing that inspired her the most to return was seeing a female instructor shoot 35 lb barebow and hit yellows. 😎
@odddev@archery I think an open info session for underrepresented groups would be good. I think I’d enjoy archery. As long as there might be real instructor types there and not ‘more experienced’ male members who would show the little ladies how. Sigh… nope.
Also, I think the pub could be fine, as long as it’s a decent pub. All that being said, I’m in the US, so not much chance of attending, sadly, but now I’m intrigued in 🏹 …
@Silvermoon@archery Thank you! Good idea. 🙌
I just need to think about how to frame it 🤔 Will also hold the instructor thing in mind. I think having a female mentor would be best.
Go check it out! It's so much fun and from what I know there is a huge community in the US.
@odddev My first thought: if you have a website or other marketing materials that include images, make sure there are photos of women (and other underrepresented people) on there. If I saw only pictures of men, I would hesitate.
@odddev@archery I never thought I would be particularly good at, or even really interested. It felt like a "hunting" sport, and very male coded. I recently went for the first time because my kids wanted to go, and I loved it.
Would it have helped you if you knew more about it's feminist history for example? I thought about extensively informing the public about this, as well as its wide variety of female role models etc.
@AlisonW@odddev@archery
If you go to the archery GB website, you can find your local club and go for a taster session. It's a great sport, and I highly recommend it.
@markgrieveson@dodothedev@odddev@archery
OK, so I just went and looked and there's a club which meets less than three miles from me and has a beginner's course starting next Monday.
I'm feeling tempted...
@AlisonW@odddev@markgrieveson@archery
If it helps, I was wheelchair bound and did archery fine for 5 years. I have a friend who is house bound, but manages to shoot in her garden from a wheelchair. She has chronic pain in her arms, legs and back.
I trained with Para-Olympic shooters many of whom were in wheelchairs. I would have joined the 2016 team had they 'allowed' my disability.
Wheelchairs 'stop' you from doing enough. Don't let them take this from you too (meant with respect)
@AlisonW@dodothedev@archery I don't know about your disabilities in detail of course, but generally spoken archery is very accessible for disabled people.
@odddev@archery My partner is a top barebow archer in the US. She says the main thing is that there are other women. When she started, if there wasn’t a woman on the team already, she wouldn’t have felt welcome. In tournaments, there’s a lot more camaraderie between the women competitors. So maybe start by getting a group of women to join together.
@proficisci@archery Thank you for your answer! Very interesting. I already thought about having more meditative offers. I think it would also benefit the people more on the competitive side.
@odddev@archery My sister's partner went to one, mostly old blokes who were very nerdy types and each meeting ended with pie, chips and beer in the local pub. The only women members were wives of male members.
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