The earliest people known to have used the bow and arrow were the ancient Egyptians, who adopted the weapon at least 5000 years ago. The Romans owed much of their military superiority to armies of skilled archers. Medieval ballads celebrate the skills of English archers in hunting, fighting and sport. Archery has long been popular as an amateur sport, particularly in England. The oldest continuously held archery tournament, the Ancient Scorton Arrow, was founded in Yorkshire in 1673 The Grand National Archery Society, the official organization of British archery, was established in 1844. The National Archery Association of the United States was founded in 1879 and held its first annual archery tournament in Chicago that year.

Archery competition is divided into various categories, such as target, field and flight shooting. The main events of a target-shooting tournament are called rounds, with a specified range and number of arrows. The target is circular and has a series of concentric rings around a solid center, or bull's-eye. The colors of the rings from the center outward are gold, red, blue, black and white. They are assigned point values for arrows shot into them.

Crossbows

The Crossbow or Arbalest was a weapon used in war and sport in medieval Europe. It had a wooden handle with a bow made of wood, iron or steel crossing it at a right angle. The bowstring was pulled back by a lever. The crossbow shot a bolt or quarrel (missile) placed in a groove on top of the handle and propelled with considerable power when the trigger was pulled. The only disadvantage to using the crossbow, was the fact that it took too long to reload for the next shot.

Axes

The axe was a tool used to chop, split, chip and pierce. It was originally made of stone and through the ages acquired a wooden haft or handle, and the blade was either copper, bronze or iron. The handle was straight to gently curved. It was initially used as a tool to clear the medieval forests. It eventually became a weapon in hand to hand combat. Those who learned the skill were capable of throwing the axe with deadly aim, hitting their mark and causing extreme damage. It was not one of the more popular distance weapons because of its balance.