The Dream of Having Sattva Athletes Train for & Attend Outdoor Nationals, 2022

Outdoor Season: 2022

Hello Archers!

Coach Kyle here. While indoor nationals may be over for 2022, there are still four local indoor tournaments. Check them out below! Sattva heads OUTDOORS in early April and it is the outdoor season that I want to focus on in this letter.  In fact, SerahRose and I have a dream that we want to share with you.

Sattva began in April, 2011. I was a USAA Level II Instructor and working as a physical education teacher in Amherst. Sattva literally fit in my car. Atreyu was shorter than me for a brief minute. Today, Sattva has a growing number of members who see themselves as athletes and want archery to be an integral part of their lifestyle. If that is you – then this is a call to you to train this spring and summer and then join Coach SerahRose, Kestrel, and myself at outdoor nationals in late August. Sattva has a growing cohort of form-focused, critically-aware athletes, and the best team of coaches I know of. Let’s go show the rest of the country our sattva – our inner strength.

Let me start by sharing the dream, and then I will make suggestions for how we might achieve that dream.

• Dream: Coach SerahRose and I want 15 or more Sattva athletes to compete in the 138th Archery Target Nationals & U.S. Open (outdoor nationals), 2022. This is a modest number when compared to clubs that bring 30+ athletes every year. It is a start! This is not obligatory, of course, we want this to be inspiring to people and, frankly, we would love to go share a sort-of-post-COVID-but-not-quite archery vacation with you.
• Where: Outdoor Nationals this year is in Malvern, PA. Malvern is in the southeast corner of PA, about 25 miles west of Philadelphia and 4.5 hours (275 miles) from Florence, MA.
• When: August 10-13, 2022
• Format: Athletes shoot two scoring rounds of 36 arrows (six, 6-arrow ends) each day for two days for a total of 144 arrows. In other words, an athlete shoots 72 arrows on one day and shoots another 72 arrows on a second day. Best possible score is therefore a 1440. There are usually around 1500 people that attend, plus twice as many spectators and coaches. Think of it like two Hello Yellow tournaments on sequential days, and with a lot more people. There’s a little more to it – but I am keeping it simple here.
• Who: Ages 9 through adult are welcome to compete. Compound, barebow, traditional, and Olympic recurve divisions welcome.
• How: 
  • Step 1: Train in a way that reflects your goals. Several of you follow periodization-based training plans that I created specifically for you. Periodization-based training plans provide structure and periods of increasing challenge balanced by recovery periods to maximize performance and avoid overtraining.
  • Step 2: Set Realistic Goals. What score do you think you would achieve if you shot at outdoor nationals at the end of the summer last year? Find that score in the results from past years to see what “place” you would have hypothetically achieved if you had shot that score. How much better do you think you will realistically be by the end of the summer. Dream!
  • Step 3: Compete in “B” Tournaments. If outdoor nationals is your “A” tournament, select a series of others that help you prepare for that event. I’ve listed a whole series of outdoor tournaments for you to consider competing in.
  • Step 4: Equipment. Make sure you own your equipment, have a backup string, extra finger tab and finger sling, tools, a hip quiver, and a carrying case. A monocle or binoculars can be worn as well! I also recommend you have your equipment tuned with me prior to starting the outdoor season and at least two more times before the end of August.
• Food & Lodging: SerahRose, Kestrel and I aim to find a campground and either rent a tear drop camper to tow or stay in a tent. If others are also excited about this option, we could rent a series of contiguous sites now so that we are all “together”. We imagine some people will be more comfortable with AirBnB or a hotel and, if this is the case, people could also team up with other Sattva athletes or fly solo – whatever works for you – but we should start planning now. We will likely all be near each other on the shooting line and we recommend bringing pop up tents and beach chairs, coolers even, for maximum comfort and shade during the hot days. Best advice: bring a fun umbrella to carry out with you while scoring to stay out of the sun! Second best advice: eat frozen grapes!
• Interested? Contact me today via text or email so I can develop a clear picture of who is going and who I should send future emails on this topic to.

Indoor Events in New England

March 11-13: 2022 ACE Indoor Archer’s Cup (Foxborough, MA)
March 26: 2022 USA Archery Connecticut State Indoor Championship (Manchester, CT)
March 27: Sattva Hello Yellow #5 (Florence, MA)
April 9-10: Buckley Family Classic (Fall River, MA)

Outdoor Events in New England

State Archery Assoc. of Massachusetts curates a full listing of events here.

April 3: Sattva Hello Yellow #1 (Florence, MA)
April 24: Sattva Hello Yellow #2 (Florence, MA)
May 29: Sattva Hello Yellow #3 (Florence, MA)
June 11: 2022 ShopRite Nutmeg State Games (Middletown, CT)
June 19: Sattva Hello Yellow #4 (Florence, MA)
June 25-26: Bay State Games of America (Hopkington, MA)
July 9-10: Mass State Outdoor JOAD Championships (Hopkington, MA)
August 6-7: Mass State Outdoor Championships (Hopkington, MA)
August 20-21: Mass State Outdoor Championships (Hopkington, MA)
September 25: Sattva Hello Yellow #5 (Florence, MA)

National Outdoor Events

USAT Qualifier Series Events (Learn about USAT here)

April 1-3: Arizona Cup (Phoenix, AZ)
May 27-29: Gator Cup (Newberry, FL)
June 10-12: SoCal Showdown (Chula Vista, CA)
July 29-31: Buckeye Classic (Dublin, OH)

Outdoor National Championship Events

May 11-14: USA Archery Field Nationals/World Games Team Trials/World Team Trials (Yankton, SD)
May 19-22: USA Archery Collegiate Target Nationals (Chula Vista, CA)
July 20-24: USA Archery JOAD Target Nationals (Decatur, AL)
August 10-13: 138th Archery Target Nationals & U.S. Open (Malvern, PA)