Parry and thrust! By Jove jolly well said JW, in fact it was the very thing I was going to say, but alas, I hath tarried too long, and dwelled upon it, till it twas over taken, by you, who wouldst have young youth, to see what he seeketh, is but before him, and all is needeth, is to pointeth out thy words of wisdom, and that rules, are indeed followed, if he wouldst but see pattern of history, hath but reborn of itself again. Aye, it be the truth that saxton, pope, and young, not being a modern rock group, had but to delve into the lifestyle of Ishi of yore. It is indeed from there, and not to be forgotten the Thompson Bros. , that they did indeed reviveth, the bewitching art of ancient archery. If thy judges cannot see the turning points in the history of archery, and how it slowly died out after the invention of gunpowder, and then the flintlock, percussion, and then the cartridge, weapons, it all but disappeared, save but for the poor primitive soles that still depended on it for survival, then what fools they be! As JW hath spoken of, turning points in history, are not only in the past, nay, but they be in the present also, for will not these points in the future, be referred to as turning points of the past, as we speak now of those points in those times of long past? Dangeth, I needeth a wench!
Guess I will just have a beer.
Now fast forward to modern times, and wallah, Archery is back as strong as ever, and gaining more, and more converts. Start off explaining the pros and cons of the English long bow, and then the slow demise after gunpowder became available, and the decline of archery to a hobby, and no longer a martial weapon, even though the Mary Rose, had cannon, and matchlocks, they still had archers, in the crow's nest . Then came the resurgence of archery, to Olympics, to Saxton pope, et al, and the invention of the compound bow, and then the turning point where archers are going back to basics, and relearning the primitive archery, that fed and protected our ancestors, and trying to match wits with the same game animals our ancestors hunted, and learning the skills it took to master the primitive bow and arrow, and the skill it takes to get close enough to make a humane kill. Up to you, but anything about the long bow has already pretty much been said. But good luck, and there is a lot of info here, and people with a lot of knowledge of the history, and pros and cons of the long bow, it's construction, dimensions, wood types, etc., and are more than willing to answer your questions. Get the info, and play modern news media, and use artistic license, using just enough partial facts, and half truths, to make it interesting enough to sell to the Judges.
As we used to say in the Dental Lab business, it if doesn't fit, polish the hell out of it!
Judges like shiny things also.
Wayne