A novice is defined as an adult archer ‘new’ to the sport and in their first year of registration with GNAS, the governing body of archery in the UK. Novices compete in their own category in competitions.

 

There is no novice category within Junior archery.There can be discrepancies in this. All club active archers must be registered with GNAS, but non-club/competitive archers do not. People who have learned archery outwith a club or from another country and subsequently join a UK archery club/GNAS for the first time will be classed as a novice, even if they can shoot an indoor score of 599 out of 600! Previous GNAS registered archers returning to the sport after a period of time do not re-enter a novice period.