Every year some group will invariably call for new rule changes because they aren't doing so well with the existing rules. We want to exclude people who don't shoot wooden arrows.... we want to exclude people who don't shoot off a shelf... we want to exclude metal risers.... none of th is three-fingers under cheating stuff.... Arrows should have to be 500 grains or more.... bows should have to be "hunting weights"..... It's not fair the other guy is using a stabilizer.... Oh MY GAWD, he's stringwalking... Hey, I just saw him anchor a half inch lower than he did on the last shot!

Things have come a long way since the late 80's when the first Worlds was held at Triangle Lakes Archery n Middletown, Ohio and everyone shot from the same stakes except the cubs. I hear more complaining now about 35 yards from recurve shooters today than I did when the targets were out to 60 yards and sometimes more. The longbow shooters are excluded because there weren't any then.

Anyone who feels the RU class is unfairly long now has the Traditional Recurve class shooting off a shelf at the cub stakes to migrate to. I see no reason why the 35 yard max is outrageous considering it's only 2 yards more than the International shooting standard for recurves and longbows. I also see no reason why the US standard should exclude any type or style that is internationally competitive. There aren't enough people who show up at these shoots to merit a different class for every possible variation of equipment and style anyone can dream up and more classes isn't going to improve the turnout. I've seen rule changes occur virtually every year and attendance doesn't do anything but go down and the more classes, the fewer there are in each class. It sounds like people won't be happy until everyone has a class of their own. It's a new age sensitive new age thing.

Ken already addressed what I thought was the most important take-away from last year by far; A contingency plan so people who spent a lot of time and money coming down to compete will get to compete on all 40 targets (or 50 if they're in the top bracket). The rest of the diverse needs of the minute traditional element of this game will never stop, it seems.

What I think we should be really concerned with is getting turnout and attendance and stabilizing some rules so they're consistent from year to year and even between organizations. This game just can't go too far as long as every organization including International organizations all have different standards. Once those two things get resolved, maybe the traditional aspect of this can be revitalized. Until then, I wouldn't be surprised if Ken trashcans the whole traditional end of things because of all the headaches he goes through to satisfy a group that is very fortunate to put up more than 50 shooters for all three classes combined.