For clubs considering hosting a tournament for ITAA shooters, or hosting and ITAA state championship tournament, here are some of the steps to consider in your planning process.
If you are starting a club or if you already have a club that you want to join USA Archery, the necessary steps are outlined over here on the USA Archery web site.
- Select a head coach (with a Level 2 or higher certification)
- Select a club administrator
- Have at least 3 club members
- Register your club with USA Archery (Currently a $125 fee)
- Sign the Club Terms and Conditions form
There are other suggestions and requirements (such as background checks and training for those in frequent contact with minors). But these are the basics.
Once you are a USA Archery club, you can have USA Archery sanction your events. The details for this are over on the USA Archery site. Basic USA Archery sanctioning is $20, and “Star FITA” sanctioning, which puts your event on the World Archery calendar, is $70 total (this includes the $20 lower fee).
Sanctioning your event makes scores there eligible for record recognition. It requires that your event is run according to World Archery and USA Archery rules, with sufficient equipment and judges, etc. Sanctioned events have USA Archery membership requirements (but allow for temporary memberships and NFAA reciprocity memberships). They are also covered by USA Archery’s liability insurance.
“Star FITA” sanctioning your event makes scores there qualified for world records and for World Archery Performance Award pins.
Those are the basics. From there, your creativity as a tournament organizer can run wild with additional enjoyable features, awards, etc.
Hosting an ITAA state championship event requires winning the (rather laid-back) bidding process for one of the events. These are board-only votes, so it helps to recruit a board member to champion your event bid. We try to vote on those bids during the membership meeting 6 months ahead of the event. We may be moving this process to be a full year in advance.