We are pleased that we will be able to start holding archery practices once again. Due to the Kingdom, MDH, and CDC guidelines and recommendations, there will be a few extra things for you to think about.
First, if you are sick, please stay home, even if you don’t know if it is COVID-19. Staying home will help you recover faster, so that you can come back to archery sooner, when you are healthy again. And it protects the others who go to archery practice.
Second, everyone should consider the risks of coming to practice, and determine whether it makes sense for them
or not. We know that people want to see each other again, and people don’t want to miss out, but we will still be here and holding practices later, so if you aren’t comfortable coming to practice yet, don’t worry. We’ll miss you, and look forward to seeing you when it is safer.
Third, some changes to how practices will be run. Please read these carefully.
- We will NOT have loaner gear available. We cannot sanitize most of the equipment without damaging it, so we will not be able to provide loaner gear. If you are looking to buy your own gear, we would be happy to give you advice on what to get.
- We strongly recommend that you wear a mask. We understand that a mask can interfere with shooting (or even be damaged by shooting), so masks can come off when you are on the line, but we’d really appreciate it if everyone wore a mask when off the line.
- Please keep social distancing in mind, and stay 6 feet apart from those not in your household while at the range (including on the line). We know this will be difficult, but it’s part of keeping everyone safe.
- You will need to bring your own hydration, sunscreen, bug spray, etc. We also recommend that you bring your own seating, as there is not enough at the range to allow for social distancing.
- We have fluctuating numbers for archery, but we do sometimes have as many as 15 archers, plus others who come to watch and hang out. Given the size of the ranges, and the fact that these are public ranges and are often in use by multiple other groups and families, we want to be very careful about the 25 person limit for outdoor gatherings. While not everyone at the range will be part of our group, the size of the ranges mean that when officials are counting, they may not separate groups, but just count that there are more than 25 people in a small area, and decide to close the ranges, which would be sad for everyone. To avoid that, we have the following two items.
- First, we’ve negotiated with Thrown Weapons to have our practices at 10am on Sunday mornings, which is a time when both ranges are often less busy, especially compared to our usual time.
- Second, for at least the first few weeks, we’d like to minimize the number of onlookers. If it turns out our practices aren’t too big, we’ll remove this request. The one exception is that children are still required to have a responsible adult in attendance.
- Depending on the number of archers at the practice, the marshal may set up a rotation for which rounds people shoot, and at which bales. We need to keep social distancing in mind when we retrieve arrows, so there will likely be a limit to 2 archers per bale per round (which will also minimize having to touch another person’s arrows while pulling your own).
Lastly, locations for practices are changing a bit. The Marsh Lake range in Bloomington will still be in use for the southern range, but the Marsden Lake range in Arden Hills does not have many bales in even moderately good condition, so we are switching our northern range to the Brooklyn Park Archery Range, which is a lovely range with lots of shade at all times of the day. We will not be holding practices inside, so if it rains (or looks like it will rain), practice will be canceled, and we will do our best to make that announcement Saturday evenings.