FITA Stars

 

Many archers have inquired about the benefits of participating in a FITA Star tournament. If you have been wondering about this too, here is a brief explanation on what the FITA Star program is all about.

FITA Stars are award pins distributed by the Federation de Internationale de tir a l'arc (International Archery Federation) for scores shot in registered FITA Star tournaments under FITA archery rules. The scores are 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300 and 1350. The same award is available to men, women, adults and juniors. Men shoot the long distances of 90, 70, 50 and 30 metres, while women shoot 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres

There is no FITA star award for Cadet boys as they shoot 70 metres, however SANAA Pins and awards are available.

There are FITA Stars for recurve and compound archers. The FITA Star itself is the FITA logo, which is the 1000 point recurve award. Subsequent awards have the same star in the centre with a background colour corresponding to the target face (1100 black, 1200 blue, 1300 red, and 1350 gold) Compound stars are backed with a round shield while the recurve is triangular. The 1000 compound star has a white background.

The Tournaments

Each year starting in August, SANAA requests from the provincial associations the FITA Star tournaments for the upcoming year. They are noted on the calendar with a special symbol. Sometimes dates change due to unexpected circumstances so we encourage archers to check often for changes.

 

Also, while we like to have a complete listing at the beginning of each year, Star tournaments do get added throughout the year. Clubs may still, therefore, request a Star tournament for the current as well as the upcoming year.

 

To register the Star tournament with FITA, SANAA sends to their office in Geneva, Switzerland the list of proposed tournaments in December. Archers attending these tournaments are then eligible to receive world recognition should they shoot a world record score. Notice should be forwarded to the SANAA records officer as soon as this happens, since it has to be reported to FITA within ten days of its occurrence.

 

SANAA requires that the archer's scorecard be submitted to the records officer so it can be forwarded to Geneva for verification. When the score is ratified, FITA sends a World Record Achievement Certificate to SANAA which is then forwarded to the archer.

 

All archers benefit from participating in the Star tournaments. There are FITA Performance Awards that "shall be granted when the competitor achieves the relevant score for the first time in the appropriate event".

The Stars

SANAA purchases from FITA a stock of outdoor FITA Star pins for both recurve and compound archers. When the archer achieves one of the score levels to qualify for a pin, he or she should submit the verified scorecard (or a clear copy) to the SANAA records officer. The scorecard should be signed by the archer and a witness. The complete name and address of the archer plus payment for the pin should accompany the score card so that the award can be processed as soon as possible.

 

For both the recurve and compound divisions, here are the levels for each of the stars. They are the same for both men and women:

1000 points - Star pin 1100 points - Star on Black 1200 points - Star on Blue 1300 points - star on Red 1350 points - Star on Gold 1400 points - Star on Purple

 

These FITA pins are very lovely and many archers take pride in achieving them. For further details on the FITA Performance Awards program, look for the information in Book 1, Chapter 6 of the FITA Constitution and Rules book. You will note that FITA has an expanded list of pins available for various competitions, but at the moment only the ones mentioned above are available for archers through SANAA.

 

As of July 2002 these FITA Star Awards are now available to males and females cadets. An this is applicable each of their respective distances 70 meters for the boys and 60 meters for the girls. The pins are identical to those of the Junior’s and Senior’s pins except for the background which is silver instead of gold.

 

These awards are only available to SANAA members and may be claimed by sending their official scorecard complete with witnessed signatures to the SANAA Treasurer.

The FITA star is a cherished international award, as such, it will be sent to the Provincial Secretary for presentation during a suitable occasion.

 

1350 awards may be delayed, as they must be ordered individually from FITA in Switzerland. Sufficient quantities are not always on hand, so a delay should be anticipated. The pins must be claimed and are not awarded automatically. The archer is responsible to request the pin along with a the scorecard.