Archery coaching notes
The things you were always too afraid to ask: safety, technique, practice and attitude for beginners.
Summary
These coaching notes are intended for beginners to archery, to accompany the club's beginners' course. They cover all the basic aspects of shooting a bow, including safety, technique, practice and mental attitude. The notes assume you're familiar with most of the equipment you'll be using. It's important that all of these aspects are understood before a beginner can hope to shoot to the best of his or her capability.
1. First of all
First of all, well done! By reading this I can tell that archery is more than just a passing interest, and that you want to know more. These few rags of paper are an attempt to illustrate some of the more important aspects of bow shooting, technique and equipment, which should prove useful to anyone taking up the sport.
Archery is the oldest surviving form of shooting sport, but nowadays, with the development of new materials and bow technology, we shoot bows that have very little in common with the ancient hunting weapons. Modern laminations of highly efficient woods, metals, epoxies and other composites let bow makers build limbs that are extremely efficient at storing and releasing energy. The result is a much higher arrow velocity than would have been possible even twenty years ago with a similar bow weight.
With a good understanding of technique and equipment, regular practice will enable most people to achieve scores to be proud of.
Assuming you've been introduced to the equipment you're going to use, let's look at the most important aspect of bow shooting: safety.
2. Safety: read this!
Before even thinking about shooting, start every session with a safety check. Bows do not last a lifetime, and a bow that fractures or an arrow that breaks can be a pain in the neck, not to mention making you look like a complete prawn. Inspect the bow for worn, loose, broken or otherwise deteriorated hardware and fittings. The string must be free from signs of fraying and, on a recurve bow, must be completely seated in the grooves at the ends of the limbs, so it won't slip off or down the bow when you use it.
If you find anything that looks broken, frayed or bent, report it to an experienced member of the club immediately.
The arrows must be examined too. Reject any arrows that are damaged in any way. If they are split or missing fletches, piles or nocks, do not use them. Club arrows may have minor dents or very slight bends. If an arrow is excessively bent, so that you can see the bend just by looking down the shaft, do not use it. Very slight bends won't make any difference at short indoor ranges.
The nock, the forked piece of plastic at the non-pointy end which engages with the string, must be intact with no signs of cracking.
This is very important. Shooting an arrow with a faulty nock may stop the arrow from being sent on its way, effectively dry-firing the bow. You'll have been told already that dry-firing a bow, without an arrow, can damage the limbs, cracking them or in the worst case fracturing them, sending splinters and bits of limb flying all over. This wouldn't go down too well in the heat of a county tournament or down in casualty, so beware!
3. Technique
There's only so much one can say about technique. Everyone is different, thank goodness. People come in many different sizes, shapes and physical abilities, so what suits one person may not be best for someone else. These notes are only recommendations for a good general technique. As archers gain experience they develop their own technique, the one they shoot best with the body and equipment they've been blessed with. So before you come running to me about sore arms, poor scores and the day you ever looked at these notes, take some time on the range to find the technique that suits you best, feels most natural and is the most comfortable.
Now that's over and done with, we can get on with the fun bit: shooting.
3.1 The stance
That's a posh way of describing the way you stand, strike a pose, or otherwise show off.
Stand with your feet at right angles to the target face, at a comfortable spacing; about shoulder width apart is best for most people. Spread your weight equally between both feet so you're not leaning forwards or back. An imaginary line across the tips of your toes should extend to the centre of the target. If it doesn't, shuffle round a little until it does.
Holding the bow vertically, facing the target, lay an arrow across the arrow rest and nock it (connect it to the string) just below the nocking point, the brass ring clamped on the string, sliding it up against that point. If two nocking points are fitted, the arrow fits between them.
Place the centre of your index finger's first joint on the string just above the arrow nock. The middle and fourth fingers go below the nock, with the string running along the first joint. (Use the first joint until a natural best fit is found; it depends on the type and thickness of finger tab you use.)
Make sure the cock fletch (the odd-coloured one) faces away from the bow handle. If it were the other way round, the cock fletch would be stripped off as the arrow passed the arrow rest, which won't endear you to the equipment officer.
Your shooting fingers should be protected by a suitable finger tab or archer's glove.
If your fingers are placed properly, the string will turn slightly as the bow is drawn, so that its right side moves towards you. This applies a minute force to the arrow that stops it coming off the rest. If the arrow does come off the rest, much to your annoyance, it's probably because your shooting fingers are touching or even gripping the nock. Otherwise it may be caused by too much finger wrapped around the string, twisting the right side of the string towards the front of the bow as it's drawn. A little patience and practice is needed. Remember that left-handed archers twist the string the opposite way. I told you everyone was different!
Now comes the physically demanding bit. Drawing the bow should be a relaxed, slow movement.
Keep the bow arm pointing towards the target, with the shoulder of the bow arm relaxed and low, not crunched up next to your chin. At full draw your shoulders should be low, and there should be an imaginary straight line from your bow hand, through your bow arm, across your shoulders and back, and out to the elbow of your drawing arm.
This is really important. If you can do this, shooting will be much easier and less tiring, because you'll be holding the weight of the bow across your back rather than in your shoulders, which tire quickly. Try touching your shoulder blades together; it's bound to give you a straight back. It will feel strange at first, but persevere and things will get easier with practice.
As the bow is drawn to full draw and held there, several things become important. One is that the drawing hand must be anchored in the same position for every shot. If it isn't, the relationship between the eye, the string and the bowsight will vary, and so will the point of impact. The anchor point differs from person to person: some people anchor low under the chin, others by the side of the mouth. It's only a matter of experiment to find which suits you.
With the bow at full draw (starting to get tired yet?), the sights must be aligned. As with shotgun shooting, your shooting eye is the rear sight, so it's essential that the bow is supported, positioned and held in exactly the same way each time.
3.2 Aim
If the bow is drawn correctly, the string should line up with your eye-to-sight line. You'll probably see the sight pin either to the left or the right of the string; that's fine. If, once on aim, you need a little adjustment to bring the pin onto the target, move your whole body or pivot slightly at the hips. Moving your bow arm instead changes the whole eye, string and sight relationship, making this shot different from the ones before it. The same goes for your drawing hand: once it's anchored, don't move it while on aim.
3.3 Grip
The grip on the bow handle shouldn't really be a grip at all. The bow is supported by pressing against the web of your hand and the base of your thumb near the wrist. Your fingers should do nothing to grip the bow. Many experienced archers keep their fingers straight while shooting, not touching the handle at all, because any finger pressure tends to twist the bow on release, throwing the arrow slightly away from the intended point of impact.
Watch some of the more experienced archers and you'll see this straight-finger hold in action. You'll also see the bow strapped to the wrist with a cord or wrist strap, to stop it flying out of the hand since the fingers don't grip it. If you try this, use a wrist strap: nothing embarrasses an archer more than releasing an arrow perfectly into the gold, closely followed by the bow that sent it!
3.4 Release and follow-through
At last, time to let go of the blasted thing!
A good release comes from relaxing the fingers of the drawing hand and letting the tension of the bow uncurl them quickly, freeing the string. While doing this, try to keep your bow arm in position and the tension in your drawing arm.
If either arm moves or flinches, the release will be a bad one. Without being pessimistic, the release is one of the most important and difficult physical skills to master. A poor release not only sends the arrow off its point of aim but upsets its flight, making the shaft wobble and reducing accuracy further. With perseverance, experiment and practice, a good release will come in time.
As the arrow is released, it's essential to follow through properly. The bow arm should hold its position even after the arrow has left the bow; don't let it drop. Because of the tension of holding the string at full draw, the releasing hand will tend to move backwards to some extent. Keep this movement to a minimum without over-controlling it. Hold the follow-through until the arrow strikes the target. This prevents premature movement. Your eye should stay on the target and lose sight of the arrow completely.
4. Practice
This is the time-consuming bit! No one became a Grand Master Bowperson overnight. It takes a lot of practice to achieve good scores. Keep thinking each shot through: if you nock, draw, aim, release and follow through, superb accuracy will come. Practice doesn't just strengthen the muscles you use to draw and release; it trains your thought processes too. Shooting regularly imprints a mental image and feel of everything you do. That matters because, as we'll see next, you shouldn't be thinking hard about every action. You simply replay the video stored in your mind.
5. Mental attitude
So suppose you've got a perfect stance and a smooth release and follow-through on every shot, but you're still getting rotten scores. What's wrong? Either you've forgotten your arrows or you haven't got the right attitude. I've spoken to one or two Olympic gold medallists on my travels, and they all gave the same kind of answer when asked about practice.
They reckon a lot of practice is a must, but one thing too often overlooked in training is the mental attitude you bring to the sport. Archery should be relaxing. When top archers shoot, their heart rate drops dramatically as soon as they reach full draw. They can isolate themselves from the outside world and get on with shooting in their own blinkered way. You're hardly going to shoot your best if you're cursing under your breath every shot that isn't exactly where you wanted it. If you miss, so what? What's done is done. The important thing is the shot you're about to make.
I've been told that archery is 40% physical and 60% mental. Before condemning your kit to the bin after a bad shoot, take a look at yourself, your attitude on the day and what you were thinking about while shooting. Remember that most bows, if moderately well tuned, can shoot better than the people using them.
Shooting should ideally be completely automatic. You should almost shoot in a daze, putting the arrows in like a machine. Opinions vary, but I reckon the last thing you want to do is concentrate fully on that little gold spot 80 yards downrange. If you think too much about keeping your sight pin exactly on the bullseye, you'll become gold-shy, flinching whenever you anticipate a good shot and ruining what would otherwise be a good score. It happens, believe me. It's also possible to over-shoot. If you keep going on a practice day when you're physically and mentally exhausted, you'll probably start picking up bad habits: plucking the release, dropping your bow arm and so on. If possible, practise for shorter periods but more often.
6. The last word
Above all, enjoy what you do. If you can master the basic physical principles of the sport and learn to relax on the shooting line, you're bound to start shooting good scores. Then you'll realise just how rewarding the sport can be.
Good luck!
If you find these notes interesting or of practical use, please email me.