Archery Levels

The Junior Olympic Archery Development Xperience, also called the JOAD Xperience, is the official training program of USA Archery that is designed for teaching at camps, 4-H clubs, parks and recreation classes and at after-school programs. Archers of any age earn pins indicating their mastery of basic skills in archery. The program emphasizes range safety, form, shots, training and technique.

  1. White Pin

    • The first pin archers earn is the white pin, indicating a mastery of safety and rules. The training leading up to this pin covers range safety, correct conduct on the range, scoring correctly and correctly retrieving arrows.

    Black Pin

    • The black pin certification covers both the equipment and the shooting form for archery. In the equipment area, archers learn the parts of a bow and an arrow, the different types of bows and their correct names. In the form arena, archers learn how to stand for shooting, correct posture, where to place their hands on the bow and how to draw the bow back correctly.

    Blue Pin

    • Earning the blue pin from the JOAD signifies a mastery of shot execution. Archers receiving this pin know the correct anchor point, know how to aim and focus and know how to properly release the arrow and follow-through.

    Red Pin

    • The red pin indicates an advanced level of practice and training. The archer's knowledge of safety, equipment, form and execution are far beyond the rudimentary level, and the archer has practiced and gone beyond the average in study and training.

    Yellow Pin

    • An archer receiving the yellow pin consistently shoots good groups and displays excellent sportsmanship. He demonstrates correct technique in stance and posture as well as draw and follow-through.