The UC Irvine Archery Club is making a name for themselves in the collegiate and national-level tournaments, turning an individual sport into a close-knit family of athletes.
Archery used to be a niche sport that not all universities offered. Now, over 90 colleges and universities, including UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside offer archery as a club or varsity sport.
Since the establishment of the UCI Archery Club in 2006, the university has facilitated a place for archers to train, compete and grow in a supportive team environment.
The club offers recreational and competitive options in barebow, recurve and compound divisions. As the simplest form of archery, barebow consists of a curved base and string, making it popular for beginners. Recurve is a high-tech modern version of barebow, using a sight for aiming and other add-on equipment customized to the archer. Compound bows employ a levering system to draw the bow, allowing for faster flying arrows — ideal for hunters and competitors.
Bright and early, students start their day focusing their minds, bodies and hearts by welcoming newcomers and veterans alike to take a break from earning their degrees and aim for a different target: an archery bullseye.
The club trains three times a week from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Anteater Recreation Center. Students can try out the sport for $5 a day or join as a member for $55.
“I know a big deterrent for those interested in joining the archery club is the daunting 6 a.m. morning practice schedule,” 2023 biological sciences graduate Isabella Villegas told New University. “But I would say the friends I made, the addition of a new hobby and winning made all those early morning practices worth it for me.”
For those late risers, members train unofficially at the archery range at Miles Square Park in Fountain Valley, Calif. to meet fellow archers in a relaxed atmosphere and shoot farther distances outside. This better prepares archers for tournament conditions, but competing for the school name is an entirely different challenge.
To defend their schools rank, archers from different schools face off head-to-head, with each archer’s score gaining points for their school. The schools are then ranked at the end of the tournament by the total points. In tournaments, the club competes against other UC schools in organized categories such as, qualifications, team rounds and mixed teams.
The club competes in tournaments such as the Indoor Nationals, SoCal Indoor Archery Collegiate Championship and the Vegas Shoot. They aim to bring UCI to top rank for every competition. Members can decide which tournaments to compete in based on their goals and schedules.
“Before joining the club, I never did archery in a team or experienced collegiate archery,” 2023-2024 club president, and 2024 graduate Hussain Wafaie told New University. “When I did, I was fascinated by the number of schools competing in collegiate archery and how passionate they are about the sport and about winning.”
Representing UCI, an individual’s performance affects the whole, and when united they are a force to be reckoned with.
“Although archery is regarded as an individual sport at the non-collegiate level, collegiate archery involves teams and is extremely fun. It promotes teamwork and allows every club member to contribute to the club’s performance in competitions throughout the year,” Wafaie said.
The SoCal Indoor Archery Collegiate Championship (SIACC) is the first tournament of the quarter students aim to train for. This year, it’s held on Jan. 25-26, with UCI hosting one qualifier at Miles Square Park on Nov. 16.
“I remember everyone coming together to show such strong team spirit against the other schools,” 2023 captain Nick Duong told New University.
In 2024, UCI took first place in SIACC with a total score of 1,230 points across recurve, compound, barebow, and fixed pin divisions. The team’s defense of their title builds on their first-place wins in 2020, 2022 and 2023. In 2022, UCI placed first out of 10 schools at the West Regional tournament, an indoor tournament held at UCLA that year.
The Vegas Shoot tournament brings together approximately 4,000 archers for 3 days annually, including Olympic Champions such as Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold. The club participates every year and establishes discounted travel and board for its archers.
The club not only focuses on competitions, but also the health of the archers — both mentally and physically — which is why the club hosts a variety of “off-the-line” activities. The club comes together to celebrate holidays and birthdays and hosts banquets, where athletes can get to know each other and build team spirit.
“I joined the archery club at a sort of low point in my own life, and I’ve been in love with it ever since,” Duong said. “A big reason for that is because of the friends, and in some ways, the sort of second family I’ve gained from it.”
In order to raise money for the club and encourage school involvement, the UCI Archery Club hosts their own tournament, the annual Anteater Cup, where all Anteater archers — including alums — compete together. In 2024 the Anteater cup was held on May 19, and this year’s date has not yet been finalized.
“[The board and members] are truly the backbone of the club,” Tran said. “There is still a lot more work, but I have high hopes for this club. I am excited and cannot wait to see what the future holds for us.”
The club is recruiting new members as they begin preparations for the fall tournament season. Interested students can email the club at archery@uci.edu.
Caroline Ambrose is a Sports Intern for summer 2024. She can be contacted at carolisa@uci.edu.
Edited by Benjamin Flores, Kaelyn Kwon and Jaheem Conley.