So, you are shooting competitions regularly now, maybe you've shot a few personal best scores in competition and possibly even won a medal or two, but now you are looking to set your sights on the next goal. That is when Provincial and National colours pop up on the radar.
Colours can be achieved in all three of the IFAA competition formats - Indoor, Field & 3D.
In order to achieve colours in the IFAA disciplines you need to maintain a pretty high standard of shooting over several months. All scores must be shot at official IFAA indoor events that have been sanctioned by SANAA.
For Provincial colours, you will need to shoot three (3) scores equal to or higher than the provincial qualifying score for your age category and respective shooting style. The three scores must be shot during the colour year, which runs from the day after your provincial championships up to and including the next provincial champs.
For National colours, you will need to shoot four (4) scores equal to or higher than the national colour score for your age category and respective shooting style. The four scores must be shot during the colour year, which will run from the day after the National championships up to and including the next national champs. You must also make sure that you secure your provincial colours (for the same colour cycle) before your national colours can be awarded. See quote from SANAA website below for clarification:
"Nationals Qualifying cycles for IFAA start after the previous National Competition until the current National Competition. Example Previous IFAA National Indoor Championship was on 4 & 5 May 2013, the cycle for the new season for National Qualifiers would start then on 6 May 2013 and end at the next IFAA National Indoor Championship which was on 3 & 4 May 2014. National Qualifiers shot at the Nationals still count towards the existing season.
No Provincial Colours can be achieved at Nationals. Provincial Colours need to be finalised before the National event. Provincial Colours is a prerequisite for National Colours." - http://sanaa.org.za/page.php?282
Colours are awarded annually. You will therefore need to achieve your respective scores each year to maintain your colour status.
For more details regarding the criteria and protocol for awarding of colours take a look at Article 31 of the SANAA Rules & By-laws.
While the SANAA administration does their best to keep track of scores of eligible colour recipients, it is wise to retain any qualification scorecards. Taking a photo of both of your scorecards is the easiest way to do this. It is then advised to submit the colour score claim to either or both the provincial and national body via email after the tournament and then again once you have all three/four colour scores in the bag!
The official IFAA colour scores for all of the different shooting styles can be found on the SANAA website here. However, at the time of this post being published the Indoor scores for the Bowhunter Recurve & Barebow Recurve categories have not been updated. We submitted a proposal to congress last year (2016) to have the scores adjusted with suitable weighting between the styles, age and gender categories. The proposal was approved but the scores have not yet been updated on the SANAA website. The SANAA administration have a 'million-and-one' things on their plate and so unfortunately sometimes these things take some time. In the meantime, I have created updated spreadsheets for the target recurve disciplines with the correct and official qualifying scores for reference.
A copy of the proposal that was passed at the SANAA National Congress in 2016 can be viewed here.
The minutes from the 2016 SANAA National Congress can be found here. See section 17 proposal 18.
Chad Himlok of Archers Of Zoolake with his Indoor Provincial and National Colour Certificates.
Good luck chasing down those colour scores!!
Strong Shots
Dean McHendry