WAC
In April 2012, Marleen Domburg reached out to Wageningen's student community to see if there was interest to start an archery club for students. At this point, the nearest archery association ACE-Xclusive was in Ede. A lot of students responded with interest, and it was decided to found a new student sports association.
The first hurdle to cross was to find a suitable location: Sports Centre de Bongerd did not have enough space to house us at that time. In spite of this, the first training of the WAC took place on September 25th, 2012 in the barn of building 114 of Wageningen University, with a total of four attendees. On October 10th 2012 the Wageningen Archery Club was officially founded notarially.
In the weeks after, members organised the gathering of more materials to be used in beginner's courses and bow rent. The first beginners' course started on January 8th 2013. On February 16th, 2013, the first board of the WAC prepared and signed the club's articles of association (NL: 'statuten') at Notariskantoor Verheesen in Roermond. The (co-)founders also made up our association's first board: Marleen Domburg (chairwoman), Ivo Dols (secretary) and Rowena de Hoop (treasurer). Around this same time our club's logo was designed by Jolein Smit.
On March 11th, 2013, the WAC officially became a member of university sports association Thymos. Shortly after our first internal competition took place (May 28th, 2013) and the club made its first public appearance at the Historical Parade of Wageningen (June 15th, 2013).
On December 2nd, 2013, the WAC moved from the barn in University building 114 to the basement if the Olympia hall in the centre of Wageningen, along with ACE-Xclusive. On 26th of February 2014 our first Olympus shoot was held - our own alternative to the Dutch tradition of "King's shooting". Here winners in each category are crowned as traditional Greek, Pagan or Roman gods of the hunt for the year.
Over the years, the club continued growing and having a successful existence. We organised many activities such as barbecues, participation in external events, and more. The association celebrated its first Lustrum (five-year anniversary) in 2017, accompanied with a multitude of parties and events for current and former members. In 2018, WAC members participated in the Netherlands' very first Dutch Student Championship (NL: NSK) in Archery, hosted by our sister association ESH Da Vinci. At this occasion, a few of our members took it upon themselves to protect ESH Da Vinci's logo sign, since it was very poorly secured, and we didn't want anything bad to happen to it. ESH Da Vinci communicated they were very thankful for our protective efforts.
Because the Olympia hall was set to be demolished, the WAC had to vacate its homely basement on April 1st, 2019. We could find a new home at ACE-Xclusive's wonderful new location at the Hollandseweg. These new accomedations feature a cantina, an 18-metre indoor range, and a large outdoor range.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the club kept active, organising online activities to keep in contact and trainings whenever safely possible. During the pandemic, the WAC organised the third NSK in Archery. Unfortunately the cross-city elements of this NSK has to be organised remotely: Participants shot at their own associations, and attended a prize ceremony online.
In October 2022, the WAC will celebrate its 2nd Lustrum and 10 years of existence. Aside from these festivities, the club is still growing, and as vibrant as ever. We'll keep doing our best to make archery possible for all interested students in Wageningen.