Matteo Campagna
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Years of practice tell how good an archer is

7 studies · 682 archers measured

ForContextAgainst20102015202020252023, context, n = 2512008, context, n = 2202018, against, n = 622022, for, n = 612023, context, n = 442025, against, n = 362018, context, n = 8
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.

The studies that set years of practice beside level point in opposite directions, and none was designed to answer the question. In the Chinese national team, across sixty-one athletes, the official technical grades follow the years: ten to thirteen for the international grade, six to eight for first class, in both sexes, though with no statistical test. Among sixty-two high-level archers, on the other hand, years do not clearly separate the European level from the national one (15.7 against 11.8, p = 0.061), while arrows per week separate them well (696.5 against 273.7, p = 0.001); and in thirty-six university kyudo practitioners years of practice do not predict the percentage of hits (r = 0.18, p = 0.31), although this is a conference abstract covering a narrow range of experience. The descriptive snapshots show why the figures do not add up: archers reaching the Korean national school championships mostly have five or more years of practice, in Turkey eight young archers compete nationally in their age group with fewer than two years of practice on average, and among two hundred and fifty-one Turkish club archers who have competed nationally 86 per cent have been shooting for less than seven years. Years measure different things from one country to another, and no study counts the arrows shot in those years: only one counts those shot each week.

Also phrased as: "more years of shooting, more points"; "experience and score"; "years of practice in archery"; "how many years it takes to get good"; "years of training and level"

In practice

It is taken for granted that whoever has been shooting longer shoots better, and years of practice are often used as a measure of an archer's level.

Evidence

  • 2008
    Context Archers Published later

    220 middle and high school recurve archers at the 2007 Korean national championships: less than 1 year of practice 6 (2.7 per cent), 1 to 3 years 35 (15.9), 3 to 5 years 53 (24.1), 5 to 8 years 62 (28.2), more than 8 years 64 (29.1). It describes who reaches that level and does not link years to score. Regional journal.

    Effect of the Interaction between Middle and High School Archery Trainer and Players to the Exercise Satisfaction, Trust and Adherence · Kil-Dong Hong, Kyong-Sik Kim, Ki-Yeol Bae

  • 2018
    Against Archers Published later

    62 high-level recurve archers, retrospective questionnaire on career injuries: training experience is 11.8 ± 7.3 years at national level and 15.7 ± 7.5 at European level, p = 0.061, which the authors read only as a trend. The difference runs in the direction of the years but is not significant, and standard deviations of more than seven years show how much the two groups overlap. In the same sample, arrows per week do separate the two levels: 273.7 at national level and 696.5 at European level (p = 0.001).

    Acute and Overuse Injuries in Elite Archers · Claudia K. Niestroj, Volker Schöffl, Thomas Küpper

  • 2018
    Context Archers Published later

    8 young Turkish Olympic recurve archers competing nationally in their age group, with 1.75 ± 1.39 years of practice (range 1 to 5) and aged 15.63 ± 1.85. A descriptive figure from the sample table of a study on kinesio taping, in a journal with questionable editorial standards.

    The Effect of 4-Week Training with Shoulder Kinesio-Taping on Shooting Accuracy of Young Archers Questionable venue · Olcay Mülazımoğlu, Yakup Akif Afyon, Selçuk Sayılır, Ayşe Salgın

  • 2022
    For Archers Published later

    61 Chinese national team athletes, split into the three official technical grades. Men: international grade 10.67 ± 1.86 years of practice (n = 6), national 8.88 ± 3.02 (n = 17), first class 5.75 ± 2.06 (n = 4). Women: international 13.33 ± 0.52 (n = 6), national 8.54 ± 2.47 (n = 13), first class 7.73 ± 2.34 (n = 15). Grade rises with years in both sexes, but these are descriptive data with no statistical test, taken from the sample table of a study on cognitive reappraisal.

    Effect of Cognitive Reappraisal on Archery Performance of Elite Athletes: The Mediating Effects of Sport-Confidence and Attention · Dongling Wang, Ti Hu, Rui Luo, Qiqi Shen, Yuan Wang, Xiujuan Li, et al.

  • 2023
    Context Archers Published later

    44 Malaysian recurve archers representing their state at the national championships, 24 men and 20 women, aged 20.66 ± 2.08 with 7.82 ± 2.21 years of practice, all active for at least three years. Descriptive, conference proceedings.

    Relationship Between Competitive Anxiety and Performance: A Study of the Archers at the National Competition · Jamatul Shahidah Shaari, Nur Farah Diyana Mohd Nizam, Mohad Anizu Mohd Nor, Nur Asmidar A Halim, Suhana Aiman, Yudik Prasetyo

  • 2023
    Context Archers Published later

    251 Turkish club archers aged 17 to 20 who have competed nationally, 61.0 per cent recurve and 39.0 compound: 1 to 3 years of practice in 45.0 per cent, 4 to 6 in 41.4, 7 to 10 in 6.4, more than 10 in 7.2; only 10.0 per cent are national team athletes. Descriptive, regional journal.

    Okçuluk Sporcularının Sporda İmgeleme Becerilerinin Hedef Yönelimi Düzeylerine Etkisinin İncelenmesi · Esra Şentürk, İlker Özmutlu

  • 2025
    Against Kyudo archers Published later

    36 Japanese university kyudo practitioners: years of practice do not predict the percentage of hits (r = 0.18, p = 0.31; regression beta = 2.03, p = 0.32, 95 per cent CI -2.12 to 6.17). It is a conference abstract with the method described in a few lines, and a university sample covers a narrow range of experience, which on its own lowers the correlation.

    The Effect of Working Memory Capacity and Kyudo Experience on Kyudo Performance · Riko Kitahara, Yoko Okamura, Kenta Ishikawa

Status history

  1. 2008 Not studied The first data are a snapshot of who competes, not a test: among the two hundred and twenty middle and high school archers who reached the Korean national championships, 57 per cent had been shooting for at least five years and only six out of two hundred and twenty for less than one. It says how archers reach that level, not whether years explain how good they are: there is still nothing on the question.
  2. 2018 Contradicted The first measurement that touches the question arrives, and it goes against it: in sixty-two high-level archers, years of training do not clearly separate the European level from the national one, 15.7 against 11.8 years with p = 0.061, which the authors themselves read only as a trend. The same year, in Turkey, eight youngsters compete nationally in their age group with an average of 1.75 years of practice, but that is a descriptive figure in a journal with questionable editorial standards. A single contrary study, cross-sectional, with a difference that still runs in the direction of the years: the evidence against is thin.
  3. 2022 Contested Within a national team the picture reverses: among sixty-one Chinese athletes the official technical grades go together with years of practice, ten to thirteen years for the international grade against six to eight for first class, in both sexes. These are descriptive data with no test, but on a sample where level is a federation ranking rather than a single day's score. Studies on archers pointing in opposite directions: Contested.
  4. 2023 Contested Two descriptive samples leave the status where it is and show why the figures do not add up: the forty-four Malaysian archers representing their state have an average of 7.8 years of practice, while among two hundred and fifty-one Turkish club archers who have competed nationally 86 per cent have been shooting for less than seven years and only 10 per cent are national team athletes. Years measure different things from one country to another, and what all of them lack is how many arrows were shot in those years.
  5. 2025 Contested A second contrary finding arrives, from kyudo: in thirty-six Japanese university practitioners years of practice do not predict the percentage of hits (r = 0.18, p = 0.31; in the regression beta 2.03, p = 0.32). It is a conference abstract, and a university sample covers a narrow range of experience, which on its own lowers the correlation. The studies still disagree: Contested.

Related

Related articles

Research lines

Cite
APA

Campagna, M. (2026). Years of practice tell how good an archer is (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/technique/years-of-practice-and-skill-level

BibTeX
@misc{campagna2026_annipraticaprecisione,
  author = {Campagna, Matteo},
  title = {Years of practice tell how good an archer is},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
  url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/technique/years-of-practice-and-skill-level},
  note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}

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