Overview
The PRA Junior Olympic Archery Development (JOAD) program is designed for youth archers (age 8-20) who are no longer beginners and want to compete. JOAD archers receive a more structured practice as well as coaching support at several tournaments each year.
We have Olympic Recurve, Compound, and Barebow archers. We have newer archers who have only been shooting for a few months, nationally ranked archers who have been selected to USA Archery’s Regional Elite Development (RED) or National Elite Development (NED) teams, and everyone in between. Our six JOAD coaches include four who are Level 4-NTS certified.
Our aim is competitive archery. We don’t just want archers to learn the steps of the shot sequence, we want archers to gain the experience of performing these steps under the pressure of a tournament outside the comfort of our home range.
Basic Requirements
PRA JOAD archers must be members of PRA. Note that JOAD annual dues (currently $250) are in addition to PRA membership dues (youth/collegiate membership is $100 annually with the ability to get a $50 credit for 10 or more hours of volunteer work).
One of the basic requirements is that archers must have their own equipment; PRA club bows are not used for JOAD practice. Prospective archers must also try out for the team.
PRA JOAD archers are expected to compete at a minimum of 3 tournaments away from the range per calendar year, with at least 2 of those tournaments being state/national events.
We are an all-volunteer organization, and we expect parents of JOAD archers to join one of our volunteer teams to support the program.
Event Scholarships
To help defray the cost of tournaments and training events, such as a USA Archery Regional Elite Development (RED) team camp, we are providing full and partial event “scholarships” for hard-working archers, to cover some or all of the registration and travel expenses. If you would like to contribute, please visit our fundraising page.
How to Join
If you are interested in joining and would like to arrange a try-out, or would like more information, about our JOAD program please contact us.