The Icelandic Archery Federation (World Archery Iceland – WAI – Bogfimisamband Íslands – BFSÍ – National Federation – NF) organized a World Archery Level 1 Coach course (WACL1) in Iceland from 9-14 June 2025 in Bogfimisetrid archery centre. The course was sponsored by Olympic Solidarity (OS) with support from the National Olympic Committee (NOC-ÍSÍ) and World Archery (WA).
Ten participants from 6 different clubs completed the course, completed the assessment and passed the exam:
- Baldur Freyr Árnason – BF Boginn
- Anna Guðrún Yu Þórbergsdóttir – BF Boginn
- Henry Johnston – BF Boginn
- Sóley Rán Hamann – ÍF Akur (First non-binary coach)
- Ari Emin Björk – ÍF Akur
- Helgi Már Hafþórsson – ÍF Akur
- Eva Tomisova – SF Skyttur
- Elísabet Ásdís Kristjánsdóttir – Afturelding Reykhólar
- Daníel Örn Arnarsson Linduson – LF Freyja
- Eowyn Marie Mamalias – BF Hrói Höttur
The diploma gives the ten, who completed the course and exam. international coaching qualifications level 1 (World Archery Level 1 Coach) for four years.
It was nice to see that UMF Afturelding in Reykhólar and SF Skyttur in Hella sent their first participants to a coaching course. These clubs had no certified archery coach before this course. It is very important to continue the development of coaching in the country, and the support Olympic Solidarity provides in continuing that development is immeasurable. The average age of the participants was very young in comparison to most courses so far. Which is very positive to see.
NF’s member clubs decide who they want to send on their behalf to a coaching course with the National Federation. The main purpose of the course is to create active coaches who are supporting the development of their member clubs. Participants need to complete the theoretical part of the coaching course level 1 online and work as instructors in their club for one year under other coaches within the club before they attend the practical part of coaching level 1 (exceptions are made from this for example for clubs/territories that have no coaches). Registration to the theoretical part of coaching level 1 in Iceland is open all year round on the federation website. Practical courses are organized when there are enough participants that meet the requirements.
The World Archery Coach trainer for the course was Tim Swane from the UK. This is Tim’s second coaching course in Iceland with World Archery and Olympic Solidarity. He also ran a Level 2 Coaching course in 2023 with WA and OS in Iceland.
Tim also paid a short visit to the NOC office while the students were busy with a task led by an NF employee. There, Tim met Ragnhildur Skúladóttir (Director – Education and Public Sports) and Willum Þór Þórsson (President of the NOC). Tim discussed education in sports and we got to see some historical documents from the historic 1936 Olympics that had just been turned over to the NOC from an estate.
The best example of good collaboration between WA MA and NOC for OS projects is Iceland, according to WA staff. WA uses Iceland as a positive example for other nations to follow in various matters, including when it comes to Olympic Solidarity projects. NF staff have also on occasion assisted other nations by sharing information and knowledge, in collaboration with WA or directly.
Iceland is also a favorite of coach trainer Tim, as the courses in Iceland are, according to him, among the easiest and best organized that he teaches. This, combined with the participants’ very high English proficiency, often means that the course is ahead of schedule, giving extra time for further review or covering additional content.
The course schedule is long from 9am to 7pm, or about 10 hours a day for 5 days. That’s not counting the items that need to be completed before the course starts (the online learning part of the course, the World Anti Doping Agency course online in the Adel education system, and many other things).
Tim has also been working on updating the course structure for World Archery. The course in Iceland was the third practical course to be held in the new structure. The latest structure started this year and is such that there is much more emphasis on the practical aspects of coaching and more of the theoretical parts are being moved to the online courses that need to be completed before the practical course. This way it is possible to shorten the practical courses from 7-8 days to 5-6 days, and at the same time improve the proficiency and confidence of the candidates in applying their knowledge in real world coaching. Tim also came to Iceland to test a concept indirectly related to that development with Gummi.
A take down version of the WA ZeroBow was also developed during the seminar. Making it easy for participants to travel with the training tool in their luggage. A 16mm plastic pipe cut into 3 pieces connected with a 20mm pipe and tape, and a WA ZeroBow grip. Simple, easy and cheap, although further development of the concept will no doubt be done by Marc and Tim in the WAEC in the future. The participants in the seminar all made their own version and took home a WA ZeroBow take down version. Although the participants jokingly started calling it the GummiBow since he had the idea and built the first prototype during the course.
All the main points that L1 coaches need to know were reviewed.
The 10 who passed the exam join the group of 19 coaches in Iceland who had WA coaching qualifications before the course. Which makes the total 29 in Iceland at the moment.
- 2x BFSÍ/WA level 3 coaches
- 11x BFSÍ/WA level 2 coaches
- 16x BFSÍ/WA level 1 coaches
(Although WA only gives out diplomas for L1 currently)
29 coaches is not enough to service the 1066 athletes registered in Iceland, but it is still a great improvement in the ratio of coaches vs athletes in the country.
18 people were interested in attending the course, but many cancelled their participation due to work or personal reasons. There is a good basis for organizing future coaching cources in Iceland. The rough guideline for the WA coaching cources is 8-14 people per 1 coaching trainer and a maximum of 20 if there are 2 coach trainers.
12 participants participated in the L1 course this time and 2 dropped out during the course. 5 men, 4 women and 1 non-binary. A fairly even gender ratio, in line with the OS’s requirements for support for such courses.
Sóley Rán Hamann was the first non-binary (gender fluid) participant in a World Archery coaching course, and the also the first non-binary person to pass the exam (to the best of our knowledge). It is possible that some of Olympic Solidarity forms will need to be changed to reflect non-binary coaches.
There was no direct flight from Iceland to Manchester on Saturday after the course had ended, so Tim spent the day with the NF staff that took him to the National Museum and the Viking Festival that happened to be during the same weekend (of course in both cases to check out the bows, arrows and archery related stuff hehe).
A volcanic eruption started in Iceland during both the L1 course in 2022 and the L2 course in 2023. We had hoped it had become a trend that every time a WA/OS coaching course is organized in Iceland that an eruption starts. But unfortunately (or fortunately depending on where you live) there was no volcanic eruption or earthquakes during this course.
Iceland plans to organize a World Archery Coaching Level 2 in Iceland in 2026, if there is enough interest. If not, interest will be examined in organizing another Coaching Level 1 course in 2026. Hopefully with continued collaboration with Olympic Solidarity, World Archery and the NOC (ÍSÍ). The pre-planning of those courses has already begun. The earlier you start the application process the more likely you are to host a successful seminar and get support from World Archery and Olympic Solidarity.
It is also very important for a successful seminar to have the archery range and classroom very close to each other (or just set the classroom up at the archery range). It saves travel time and logistics, which saves valuable time that can be spent on teaching the candidates, and makes it easier for the coach trainer to adapt to any situation that comes up.
We congratulate the new coaches and thank OS, WA and the NOC for their support in organizing the course.