If you're searching for an archery coach, the levels matter. USA Archery — the national governing body for Olympic-style archery in the United States — operates a 5-tier coach certification ladder built on the National Training System (NTS), the same framework used by the U.S. Olympic Archery Team.
Each level builds on the last. A Level 1 instructor and a Level 4 NTS coach are not interchangeable, and the difference becomes obvious the moment your goals get specific. This page explains what each level can and can't do, what it took to earn, and how to use the levels when you're choosing where to train.
Prerequisites:
Match the level to the goal. A few simple translations:
Three questions cut through the noise:
1. What's your current USA Archery (or NFAA/ASA) certification level, and how long have you held it? 2. What does a typical session with you look like — form work, tuning, mental, what mix? 3. What does success look like at 6 months for someone at my level?
If you get vague answers to any of those, find another coach.
A Level 3 coach who hasn't shot competitively in 10 years and a Level 3 coach who tunes 5 bows a week and coaches state champions every season are very different people with the same card.
When you're vetting a coach, look for three things alongside the level:
At Archery Sarasota, Rob Gilbert is USA Archery Level 3 NTS Certified — the senior tier of NTS coaching, with active competitive coaching experience and a 120+ yard outdoor range built for the work. Scott Reed is USA Archery Level 2 Certified — running beginner and youth introductory programs.
If you're looking for coaching that matches your goals, book a private archery lesson or contact us to talk through what you want to work on.
USA Archery's coaching pathway has four primary tiers: Level 1 (introductory, focused on basic safety and group instruction), Level 2 (intermediate, covering shot process fundamentals), Level 3 (advanced, focused on the National Training System and individualized coaching of competitive archers), and Level 4-5 (high-performance, working with national-team-track athletes). Each level requires the previous one as a prerequisite, plus coursework, mentorship hours, and an exam.
A Level 1 coach is qualified to lead beginner group lessons and run basic safety briefings — typical at summer camps, park district programs, and intro-to-archery sessions. A Level 3 coach has been trained in the USA Archery National Training System (NTS), which is the same biomechanical framework used by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic archery teams. Level 3 coaches work with individual archers on competitive shot process, equipment matching, and tournament preparation. The two levels exist for different jobs, not as a "better/worse" hierarchy — but for serious technical or competitive work, a Level 3 is what you want.
If your goal is recreational shooting, beginner lessons, league nights, or learning the basics, a Level 1 or Level 2 coach near home is the right answer. If your goal is a Western elk hunt, an ASA or USA Archery state or national tournament, a TAC distance course, or you're an intermediate archer whose progress has plateaued — that's Level 3 territory. Level 3 coaches are rare in Florida, which is why archers travel for that specific work.
A small number — fewer than a dozen statewide based on USA Archery's current certified-coach directory, and most are concentrated in club or team contexts rather than offering open private lessons. Archery Sarasota is one of the few private facilities in Florida where an archer can book one-on-one Level 3 coaching by appointment.
NTS is the biomechanical shot-process framework taught at USA Archery Level 3 and above. It breaks the shot into a repeatable sequence — stance, set, setup, draw, anchor, transfer, expansion, release, follow-through — calibrated to the archer's body geometry rather than a generic ideal. NTS is what most U.S. national-team archers train in, and it's the framework used in the coaching at Archery Sarasota.
Not currently — we operate as an Archery Development Center for athletes, not as a coach-training facility. For Level 1 and Level 2 certification courses, check the official USA Archery course calendar at usarchery.org. Level 3 certification is invitation/recommendation-based and requires Level 2 plus mentorship hours.
If you're a Florida archer trying to put what you read here into practice — book a session.
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