[Archers] Incident at Stierbach Baronial Birthday

Mon Jun 22 18:14:43 PDT 2015

I totally agree with the sentiments expressed so far.  We have a local marshal, it’s OK Lorelei, I won’t use your name, who likes to put 50 cent pieces at 40 or 50 yards as the target.  These old eyes can’t even see the bloody thing much less attempt to aim at it.  If I hit it, it is total luck.  But I still participate and have fun.  After all, that’s what this is supposed to be all about.  At the SAADs I’ve been MIC for I have tried very hard to create a shoot challenging to experienced archers and yet one that novice archers can still score points at and have fun.  In the past we have had people cheat at the shooting stations.  No names mentioned  this  time……..  But that is NEVER the point.  If I want competition that really means something there are many other venues of much more meaning.  This is a hobby, a game, it is ALL make believe.  Do any of us seriously believe just because someone is wearing a fancy crown that they are really a king?  I don’t mean to dis the position.  It is one I would never earn nor really want the responsibility of and honor those that do.  But my point is that an archery competition at any event is for FUN as Janyn said.  People who get their knickers in a twist because of the inclusion of “luck” need to go back to their camp and start drinking early and get a life!

Cog’s two cents worth………………………………………..

From: Archers [mailto:archers-bounces at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org] On Behalf Of michael sheppard
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2015 7:14 PM
To: Jay Nardone
Cc: archers at seahorse.atlantia.sca.org
Subject: Re: [Archers] Incident at Stierbach Baronial Birthday

Brother's and Sister's,

I couldn't agree more.  We are better than that.  

YIS,

Saphir

On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 12:45 PM, <jaynardone at comcast.net> wrote:

Good afternoon my Esteemed Brothers and Sisters of the Bow. I write you today with a heavy heart and great sadness over an incident that occurred at the event last weekend on the Archery range. I had to take a step back myself for a few hours before I wrote this to assure that I am not conveying emotion but rather fact myself. Also when these things occur I like to approach them like the NTSB at an accident, (okay stop laughing at the geeky engineer :P ) Unfortunately this was no accident, accidents are something that occur out of our control and unfortunately in this case the "out of their control" was very much in their control but for whatever reasons, didnt work out the best way.

There are a few areas I want to touch on in this note so I will take them one at a time to be as clear as I possibly can....

1. It seems an archer was upset with the design of the shoot and that their score was adversely effected because of the element of luck designed into the shoot. In giving them the benefit of the doubt that they were genuinely just very "passionate" about their position or just having a "bad day" they lost sense of reality and ended up berating the MIC and other MiT's and archers who were in range of the shouting on the range. This makes me think of two points here:

  A.) If anyone (archers, marshals, etc...) has an issue with the shoot design you have two simple choices. Dont shoot, go do something else or deal with it and shoot. We are all out there (or should be) for one reason, FUN! Yes many of us are competitive, hey you wont find someone else more competitive than me, but I would never ruin someone's or a group's fun over something so silly as my score unless I found blatant cheating or cause that effected my score, which was not the case here.  I know some archers don't like the introduction of "chance" into a shoot design, but I know many of us welcome it and actually think it is a refreshing break to the outcome. It is the very reason I chose D&D for this year's SSB shoot, it allows archers to use their skills but their scores can change drastically simply based on a dice roll. I gave up 40 points on one target because I shot 4 different slots that were zero's, oh well that was my choice to shoot those spots not the shoot designer!

B.) Okay point "B", if there is an incident like this on the range you as MIC, marshal, MiT, etc don't and shouldn't handle it alone. While these incidents are very very rare, this is only the 2nd I remember since I joined in 2007, and I thank you all for that; they do occur. Once again at this event like the other, the DEM, EDEM and 2 or 3 regional's were all there on the range. I applaud my marshals for being strong enough to handle the issues but I and my staff cant help you if we don't know about it! Like most of these issues, I didnt know about it until I got contacted by a Count or two who are my friends but also concerned about their people. We have very straightforward rules for people who become combative, unruly or just out of control. I have zero tolerance for those actions and they would have been removed from the range immediately! So please if this ever occurs again (lets hope not!), simply ask the person to "Wait a minute" and send someone to get someone from the Marshalette officer structure. 

Okay back to number one. This was uncalled for and had no business happening! Especially in public on the range in front of those who had to hear it's ugliness. In times when we are wondering why our numbers are dwindling, this is not the behavior to be conducting ourselves too accordingly. When I was welcomed into the Atlantia archery community years ago, it was a warm and friendly welcome. That is what Atlantia archery is! We are no drama, no whining and no haters, period! 

Okay enough of my soapbox, the SCA is a "Self policing" society and I know the Archery community has been very good at it in the past. I guess all I will say is something my Mother used to tell me, "that if you cant say anything nice, don't say anything at all!" Our shoot coordinators spend a great deal of time and money and effort to put these shoots on for us and I challenge you if you feel they are so wrong to put together a shoot the way you would like too and invite us all to participate in your shoot! I like the diversity of shoots we have in our Kingdom and the creativity of our archers and marshals and applaud them all.

Now enough of the silliness, lets focus on positive energy and go have some fun!

In Service,

Janyn

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