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About 150 points on a FITA round separate a club archer from a national-team archer

13 studies · 492 archers measured

ForContextAgainst198019902000201020201986, for, n = 1882015, context, n = 1602003, for, n = 202005, context, n = 202014, context, n = 182011, for, n = 171990, context, n = 151992, context, n = 152005, for, n = 132006, for, n = 131993, context, n = 102012, context, n = 91981, context, n = 62012, context, n = 1
Each circle is a study: its position gives the year, its row whether it is for, against or context, its size how many participants it measured. Light circles are studies on other populations or without archers.

FITA score by level, in the three studies that give the mean and standard deviation of each group

Each bar is a group mean and the whiskers are the standard deviation. In both Turkish samples about a hundred and fifty points separate the national team from the club beginners; in the American sample the gap between world level and the collegiate group is 115. In the 2003 study the women shoot at 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres and the men at 90, 70, 50 and 30, so the two scores are not directly comparable. The students on the course show the other end of the scale, and the study does not say how many there were. Soylu and colleagues, in 2006, report the same values as the 2005 study, which appears here only once. Data from: Landers et al. 1986, Ertan et al. 2003 and Ertan et al. 2005.
The numbers in the figure
StudyGroupValue (FITA points out of 1440)Intervaln
Landers et al. 1986, American recurve archers, annual averageWorld level1,272± 21.38 (mean ± standard deviation)9
Landers et al. 1986, American recurve archers, annual averageUpper collegiate or national1,221± 13.53 (mean ± standard deviation)32
Landers et al. 1986, American recurve archers, annual averageCollegiate1,157± 27.56 (mean ± standard deviation)28
Landers et al. 1986, American recurve archers, annual averageFourth group1,054± 38.49 (mean ± standard deviation)12
Ertan et al. 2003, Turkish archers, official competitionsNational team, men1,296± 43 (mean ± standard deviation)5
Ertan et al. 2003, Turkish archers, official competitionsNational team, women1,322± 24 (mean ± standard deviation)5
Ertan et al. 2003, Turkish archers, official competitionsClub beginners, men1,157± 35 (mean ± standard deviation)5
Ertan et al. 2003, Turkish archers, official competitionsClub beginners, women1,147± 40 (mean ± standard deviation)5
Ertan et al. 2005, Turkish archersNational team1,303.4± 26.2 (mean ± standard deviation)7
Ertan et al. 2005, Turkish archersClub beginners1,152± 9 (mean ± standard deviation)6
Ertan et al. 2005, Turkish archersStudents, after an eight week course288± 65 (mean ± standard deviation)

The figure holds, even though it arrives by a side road: the scores are almost always the description of the sample in studies made to measure something else. The widest comparison, on a sample of one hundred and eighty-eight amateur American archers, gives annual FITA averages of 1272 points in the world-level group, 1221 at high national and collegiate level, 1157 at collegiate level and 1054 for the weakest, with the spreads growing as the level falls. Two independent Turkish samples find the same step between archers on a national team and archers shooting at a club: 1296 and 1322 points against 1157 and 1147 in the first, 1303 against 1152 in the second, that is about one hundred and fifty points, with twice as many years of training. The same work also gives the bottom of the scale, with students at 288 points out of 1440 after an eight-week course. The step then shows among adolescents in a real indoor competition, where four years of practice against less than one raises the score per arrow clearly. What is missing is an orderly collection: competition formats and eras change from study to study, so the hundred and fifty points are an order of magnitude and not a conversion.

Also phrased as: "how many points separate club and national level"; "score by level on a FITA round"; "what a national-team archer scores"; "score gap between levels"; "average score of a club archer"

In practice

The score on a FITA round is the yardstick used on the range to talk about level, and it is taken for granted that between a club archer and a national-team archer there is a jump of over a hundred points.

Evidence

  • 1981
    Context Archers Published later

    6 archers from a university club in Osaka, admitted with at least three hundred and twenty points out of three hundred and sixty at thirty metres, that is 89 per cent, a level the authors describe as just above the average for student archers; one to three years of experience, two on average. It pins down where club level sits, without comparing it with anyone.

    Physical Fitness and Energy Metabolism of the Archers (1) · Koji Tsuji, Hide Takeyama, Hideo Koishi, Yoshiho Katayama

  • 1986
    For Archers Published later

    Amateur American recurve archers from 1982 to 1984: the four skill groups described have annual FITA averages of 1272 points at world level (nine archers, standard deviation 21.38), 1221 at high national and collegiate level (thirty-two, 13.53), 1157 at collegiate level (twenty-eight, 27.56) and 1054 for the weakest (twelve, 38.49). The world record holder was in the sample, with an average of 1308. The spreads grow as the level falls.

    A Psychobiological Study of Archery Performance · Daniel M. Landers, Stephen H. Boutcher, Min Q. Wang

  • 1990
    Context Archers Published later

    15 archers of the very highest level, nearly all from the American national team and with the Los Angeles 1984 gold and silver medallists in the sample: annual FITA average 1211 points out of 1440 (standard deviation 34) and best result of the season 1248 (40). It gives the reference value for the top of the late 1980s, lower than the world-level groups in other studies.

    Electromyographic analysis of bow string release in highly skilled archers · Philip E. Martin, William L. Siler, Dean Hoffman

  • 1992
    Context Archers Published later

    15 American recurve archers split by a stated threshold: 1250 points for the stronger group (eight archers, four of them from the six-strong 1988 Olympic team) and 1150 for the weaker one (seven). The authors give 1300 to 1350 as the scores that normally win international competitions, which sets the scale on which to read the hundred and fifty points.

    Archery Bow Grip Force Distribution: Relationships with Performance and Fatigue · Philip E. Martin, Gary D. Heise

  • 1993
    Context Archers Published later

    10 Japanese university club archers, mean age about nineteen: the best single round is around 1110 points out of 1440 (standard deviation 185) and the half round around 595 out of 720 (53). It is another anchor for club level, in a third country.

    Relationship between the muscle activity during aiming,follow-through, and the performance in archery · Hitoshi Watanabe, Koji Tsuji, Fujiko Yoneyama

  • 2003
    For Archers Published later

    10 Turkish national-team archers and 10 club beginners, half men and half women: FITA scores of 1296 (standard deviation 43) and 1322 (24) in the elite archers against 1157 (35) and 1147 (40) in the beginners, with 8 and 10 years of training against 5 and 4. The elite archers were also four to eight years older, so years of practice and age are not separated.

    Activation patterns in forearm muscles during archery shooting · H. Ertan, B. Kentel, S.T. Tümer, F. Korkusuz

  • 2005
    For Archers Published later

    Turkish archers at three levels plus students on a beginners' course: national team 1303.4 points out of 1440 (standard deviation 26.2), club beginners 1152 (9.0), students after an eight-week course 288 (65); non-archers were assigned 250 by four national coaches. A FITA round is 144 arrows over four distances. The same data as Soylu and colleagues 2006, so they count once.

    Quantification the relationship between FITA scores and EMG skill indexes in archery · H. Ertan, A.R. Soylu, F. Korkusuz

  • 2005
    Context Archers Published later

    The Turkish national team and candidates for it at a training camp: ten men with a FITA average of 1235 points (standard deviation 67) and six and a half years of training, ten women with 1241 (72) and seven years, half of them juniors. A descriptive comparison with no test, useful because it says that at this level the two sexes sit on the same score.

    Reliability and validity testing of an archery chronometer · Hayri Ertan, Behzat B. Kentel, S. Turgut Tümer, Feza Korkusuz

  • 2006
    For Archers Published later

    13 Turkish archers, seven elite and six beginners, with the FITA score over 144 arrows: 1303.4 points (standard deviation 26.2) against 1152 (9.0), that is about one hundred and fifty; non-archers were assigned 250 by convention. It reports the same figures on the same group as the 2005 paper and counts once.

    Archery performance level and repeatability of event-related EMG · A.R. Soylu, H. Ertan, F. Korkusuz

  • 2011
    For Archers Published later

    7 novice and 10 experienced adolescents measured in a real indoor competition: the mean score per arrow is higher in the experienced group (p < 0.001, partial eta squared 0.24), who had 4.1 years of practice (standard deviation 0.9) against 0.4 (0.3). The gap is there lower down the scale too, but the quarter of variance explained says that level is not everything.

    Autonomic nervous system modulation during an archery competition in novice and experienced adolescent archers · Andres E. Carrillo, Vasilios X. Christodoulou, Yiannis Koutedakis, Andreas D. Flouris

  • 2012
    Context Archers Published later

    One first-year beginner at a Japanese technical secondary school, trained with a three-stage set of form-monitoring devices: 563 points out of 720 at thirty metres (seventy-two arrows) at a regional competition, that is about 7.8 per arrow, third of twelve entrants and first among the debutants. A single archer, useful as an order of magnitude for a first year.

    Development of the Visualization Device of the Shooting Form Trace in the Basic Exercise of the Archery through Creative Engineering Practice · Hajime Miyauchi, Ippei Sumita

  • 2012
    Context Archers Published later

    9 competitive male archers from a Korean sports secondary school, twenty-five arrows at fifty metres: the group average is 8.4 points per arrow, but the individuals range from 7.3 to 9.1. Within a single declared level the individual margin is almost two points per arrow, which means the difference between one group and another is not the whole story.

    An Archer's Perceived Form Scales the "Hitableness" of Archery Targets · Yang Lee, Sih Lee, Claudia Carello, M. T. Turvey

  • 2014
    Context Archers Published later

    18 archers of mixed level at eighteen metres, two hundred arrows scored: 48.5 per cent in the gold, 38.5 in the red and 13 in the blue, that is six points or fewer, about one arrow in eight. A point of reference on the indoor target face, where the score is read in rings rather than in totals.

    Assessment of target performance in archery · İpek Eroglu Kolayis, Murat Çilli, Hayri Ertan, J. Axel Knicker

  • 2015
    Context Archers Published later

    160 children aged ten to twelve with no shooting training, eighteen arrows at twenty metres on the 80 cm face: the boys score 122.56 points (standard deviation 8.80, range 104 to 137) and the girls 120.08 (8.68, range 99 to 136), that is about 6.7 to 6.8 per arrow. In the same people the strength tests vary far more, so shooting flattens differences that strength shows.

    IDENTIFIKASI BAKAT OLAHRAGA PANAHAN PADA SISWA SEKOLAH DASAR DI KABUPATEN MANOKWARI · Nikanor Asaribab, Siswantoyo

Status history

  1. 1981 Not studied The first score figure in the registry is only a criterion for admission: six Japanese university archers with at least three hundred and twenty points out of three hundred and sixty at thirty metres, a level the authors describe as just above the average for student archers. No comparison between levels, so the question is not yet asked.
  2. 1986 Reported The first comparison between levels arrives, and on a wide sample: among one hundred and eighty-eight American archers the four skill groups described have annual FITA averages that are far apart, 1272 points at world level, 1221 at high national and collegiate level, 1157 at collegiate level and 1054 for the weakest. It is a cross-sectional snapshot, though, and of one country only: reported.
  3. 2003 Corroborated Ten Turkish national-team archers against ten club beginners: 1296 and 1322 points against 1157 and 1147, that is about one hundred and fifty, with twice as many years of training. It is a second independent sample, in another country, quantifying the same gap as in 1986: corroborated.
  4. 2006 Corroborated Two papers repeat the same figures on the same Turkish group, 1303 against 1152 points, and count only once. What is new is the bottom of the scale, with students at 288 points out of 1440 after an eight-week course: the step from club to national team is small next to the distance between a club archer and an absolute beginner. The status stays corroborated.
  5. 2011 Corroborated The gap also shows lower down the scale and among adolescents, in a real indoor competition: four years of practice against less than one raises the score per arrow clearly, with a partial eta squared of 0.24. A third independent sample, another country and another format, and the status is confirmed.

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Studies describe groups of archers, and your own numbers show how far the finding applies to your shooting.

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Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). About 150 points on a FITA round separate a club archer from a national-team archer (Version 1). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/score-gap-club-national

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_divariopunteggioeliteclub,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {About 150 points on a FITA round separate a club archer from a national-team archer},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/score-gap-club-national},
  note = {Version 1; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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