News

Archery Northern Ireland would like to make all members aware of an important update to the selection criteria for the 2026 Indoor Home Nations competition.

Following consideration by the joint Coaches and Competitions Working Groups, the minimum score requirement has been removed from the selection criteria for this year’s Indoor Home Nations.

Please note the following statement from the joint Working Groups:

“The joint Coaches and Competitions Working Groups have decided, having regard to the late notification of the selection criteria, to remove the minimum score element for the 2026 Indoor Home Nations criterion. It is the intent of the joint Working Groups to apply a minimum score criteria for all future Indoor and Outdoor Home Nations competitions.”

⚠️ For clarity, there will therefore be no minimum score requirement for the 2026 Indoor Home Nations selection process.

This change relates specifically to the 2026 Indoor Home Nations. Archers considering selection are encouraged to carefully read the full selection criteria for all other requirements and information.

Archery Northern Ireland is pleased to share the Senior and Junior selection criteria for the 2026 Home Nations Indoor Championships.

🏹 Senior Home Nations Cup – Indoor Championships
📅 Friday 4th December 2026

🏹 Home Nations – Junior National Indoor Championships
📅 Sunday 6th December 2026

Archers interested in representing Northern Ireland are encouraged to read the relevant attached selection policy carefully for full details on eligibility, qualifying scores and the selection process.

⏰ Score submission deadline: 12 noon, Monday 21st September 2026
📧 Score submissions: coaches@niarchery.org.uk

If you have any queries regarding the selection criteria or submission process, please contact coaches@niarchery.org.uk.

Good luck to everyone putting scores forward! 💚🏹

#ArcheryNI #TeamNI #HomeNations #IndoorArchery

Archery GB Youth Festival 2026 – A Fantastic Week for Northern Ireland

The Archery GB Youth Festival 2026 has officially come to an end after a fantastic week of competition at Lilleshall National Sports Centre.

This year, 21 archers from Northern Ireland travelled to the Youth Festival, competing across qualification, the Home Nations event, pairs, team and individual matches.

Throughout the week, our young archers represented themselves, their clubs and Northern Ireland brilliantly, supporting one another on and off the shooting line and bringing home an impressive collection of medals along the way.

Northern Ireland Archers

A huge congratulations to all 21 archers who competed:

🏹 Sofia Robson

🏹 Emily Smyth

🏹 Ethan McKinney

🏹 Jack Tomlinson

🏹 Jess Whittley

🏹 Erin McAteer

🏹 Erin Lunney

🏹 Mariam Abdelfattah

🏹 Sam Jones

🏹 Harry Black

🏹 Adam McBride

🏹 Claudia Bloxham

🏹 Katie Jennings

🏹 Ed Teggart

🏹 Luke Keenan

🏹 Zack Kelly

🏹 Ashton Kelly

🏹 Jamie Woodhead-Halliday

🏹 Ronin Devine

🏹 Nova Telfer

🏹 Gareth Sempey

Clubs Represented

• Lisburn City Archery Club
• Ballyvally Archers Banbridge
• Muckamore Company of Archers
• Campbell College
• Lough Cuan Bowmen

One of the highlights of the week was seeing archers from across our clubs come together as one Northern Ireland team. Regardless of club or discipline, everyone supported one another through the highs, the close matches and the tougher moments.

Home Nations

🥇 Katie Jennings & Ed Teggart – Compound Youth Gold

 🥉 Sofia Robson & Emily Smyth – U18 Recurve Bronze

Pairs

🥇 Emily Smyth – U18 Recurve Pairs Tier 4 Gold

🥇 Sam Jones – U18 Recurve Pairs Tier 3 Gold

🥇 Ronin Devine – U15 Recurve Pairs Tier 2 Gold

🥇 Luke Keenan – Compound Youth Pairs Tier 2 Gold

🥈 Erin McAteer – U15 Recurve Pairs Tier 2 Silver

🥈 Adam McBride – Compound Youth Pairs Silver

🥉 Jess Whittley – U18 Recurve Pairs Tier 4 Bronze

🥉 Erin Lunney – U18 Recurve Pairs Tier 3 Bronze

Team Matches 

🥇 Claudia Bloxham – Recurve U15 Female Team Gold

🥇 Jess Whittley – Recurve U18 Female Team Gold

🥇 Harry Black – Recurve U15 Open Team Gold

🥈 Luke Keenan – Compound Youth Open Team Silver

🥈 Nova Telfer – Barebow Youth Female Team Silver

🥈 Katie Jennings – Compound Youth Female Team Silver

🥉 Jamie Woodhead-Halliday & Mariam Abdelfattah – Recurve U15 Female Team Bronze

🥉 Adam McBride – Compound Youth Open Team Bronze

Individual Matches

🥈 Katie Jennings – Compound Youth Female Silver

🥈 Claudia Bloxham – Recurve U15 Female Silver

🥉 Ed Teggart – Compound Youth Open Bronze

More Than Medals

While the medal haul is a fantastic achievement, the Archery GB Youth Festival is about so much more than results.

It is about gaining competition experience, shooting close matches, achieving personal bests, making new friends and creating memories with archers from across the country.

Whether our archers returned home with a medal, a PB, a match win, more experience or simply some brilliant memories, every one of our 21 Northern Ireland archers should be incredibly proud of what they achieved during the week.

For some, 2026 was their first experience of the Youth Festival, while for others it may have been one of their last. We hope the friendships formed and memories made at Lilleshall stay with them for many years to come.

A huge thank you must also go to all of the coaches, team staff, parents, families, clubs and volunteers who supported our young archers throughout the week.

Events and experiences like the Youth Festival simply would not be possible without the countless hours of work, travelling, coaching, encouragement and support that happen behind the scenes.

Most importantly, it was fantastic to see everyone come together as one team, regardless of club, supporting and cheering each other on throughout the competition.

Northern Ireland might be small…

BUT WE ARE MIGHTY! 

Congratulations to all 21 archers on a fantastic Archery GB Youth Festival 2026.

Now it’s time for some very well-earned rest! 🏹

LET’S GO NINJAS! 🥷🏹

If you’re ready to take your first step into coaching, our upcoming Archery GB Session Coach course is a great place to start. Whether you want to support beginners at your club, help grow the sport, or develop your own coaching skills, this qualification will give you the knowledge and confidence to coach safely and effectively.

The Session Coach qualification is made up of six modules, each building on the previous one. To complete the qualification, you’ll need to attend each module in order.

Book Your Place 🔗

Starting Your Coaching Journey

Course Code: 26-CJ-39

Register here:

https://agb.sport80.com/wizard/event/44198/home

Empowering Archery (Part 1)

Course Code: 26-EA-28

Register here:

https://agb.sport80.com/wizard/event/43978/home

Introduction to Technique

Course Code: 26-IT-39

Register here:

https://agb.sport80.com/wizard/event/44199/home

Creating Engaging Sessions

Course Code: 26-CE-39

Register here:

https://agb.sport80.com/wizard/event/44200/home

Using Your Coaching Skills

Course Code: 26-UY-29

Register here:

https://agb.sport80.com/wizard/event/44201/home

Supported Practice & Coach Presentation

Course Code: 26-SP-29

Register here:

https://agb.sport80.com/wizard/event/44202/home

We’d love to welcome you onto the course and support you as you begin your coaching journey. If you have any questions before booking, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Archery Northern Ireland – Youth Festival Team Announcement! ✨

The NI Archery Working Group is delighted to announce the archers selected to represent Northern Ireland at the Archery GB Youth Festival 2026, taking place at Lilleshall National Sports Centre.

Congratulations to every archer selected. Representing Northern Ireland is a fantastic achievement and reflects the commitment, determination and performances you’ve shown throughout the selection process.

The Youth Festival is one of the highlights of the junior archery calendar, bringing together talented young archers from across the UK. We know our team will embrace the challenge, enjoy the experience and represent Northern Ireland with pride.

🏆 Event: Archery GB Youth Festival 2026

🗓️Date: 4th–7th August 2026

📍 Venue: Lilleshall National Sports Centre

We’re also delighted to have Marty McCullough supporting the team as Compound Coach, Carl Bryer as Recurve Coach, and Damien Lennon as Team Manager.

Please join us in congratulating our Youth Festival team and wishing them every success as they prepare to compete against the best young archers from across the UK. We know you’ll wear the Northern Ireland colours with pride, enjoy every moment of the experience, and make memories that will last a lifetime.

Good luck, Team NI! 💚💙🏹

#GOTEAMNI #SmallButMighty #YouthFestival #ArcheryGB #NorthernIreland #FutureChampions