Practice session made a difference :D

[Peregrine]

With the Barambah Trad Bash (my second Trad event) behind me, I've had a little time to reflect on the event, in particular my consistency and technique. I thought I'd share this in case it helps someone else, or the pro's can tell me if I'm doing it all wrong lol

Being very new to archery, I was grateful to walk the Barambah tracks with some experienced shooters, not only was it a heap of fun, they were generous with tips, techniques and sharing observations. I left the event with some key factors to work on One of the kickers provoking me to improve was the fact that Christine "The Hunt" kicked my butt! haha (Nice Shooting Christine - your practice is paying off!)

A few issues I've had (due to not enough practice yet!):

- Hitting nose with the string (always followed by sledging about the size of my nose)
- Shooting high frequently, especially on things like moving targets
- Rotating my hips away from the target during the draw. I've been getting a sore lower back after shooting sessions, and it looks funny lol
- Holding too long before releasing arrow thinking too much - i want to shoot instinctively

I decided I want to learn to use a glove instead of a tab, to aid speed shooting and because I want to go hunting one day and think the glove will be a more practical option. Tried the glove on the range before and hated it, but persisted today and it felt good.

I've moved my anchor point from index finger to the corner of my lips to something more defined and higher, in the hope to gain more consistency and maybe resolve shooting high. New anchor point is middle finger to the tooth below my eye.

Thanks to Phil who gave me a ping pong ball, marked with a circle and a spot inside. I took Phil's advice and dropped the ball in the backyard, taking aim from many different locations, and staring at the dot inside the circle on the ball. I used one arrow, and made sure I didn't shoot from the same spot each time.

I was having trouble with my stance, couldn't work out why I'd started to swing the hips, so I decided to shoot from my knees for a while, taking the legs out of the equation somewhat. Weird maybe, but it worked! Kneeling helped me identify that i was letting my weight move to my rear leg on the draw, and really helped my isolate the muscle groups i was using during the draw and understand my balance. I realised part of the reason I'd been twisting was to move my hips out of the way of the bow on full draw. (My stance is very upright). I haven't been canting my bow at all. I found if I cant the bow, i don't feel the need to twist my hips out of the way.
I may have been twisting away because i've been struggling to draw the bow. On my knees, I concentrated first on anchoring my core muscles, lifting my sternum to balance my upper body and focused on drawing with my back muscles. I focussed on bracing at the core (abdomen), concentrating on breathing and the draw, and releasing as soon as I met the anchor on the tooth (no holding allowed!), followed by awareness of my follow through and not dropping the bow hand. Pretty soon the ping pong ball was well punctured!

Once I felt I had a handle on the hip position and isolating my core muscles and upper body, I moved back to my feet and kept practicing. What a difference! Eventually I split the ball and was hitting it 3x in a row quiet a few times. I'm really happy and feel like the training session was hugely valuable.
I found it really interesting that the less I thought about aiming, and just concentrated on the "target within the target", not looking at my arrow and not holding to aim, the more likely i was to hit the ball. Thanks Phil for that advice.

A big thanks to the crew I shot with: Sue and Steve Wallace, Dave, Ronster and Christine. What a great weekend!
Tracey

[perry]

Good news Tracey, it's all about discovering how your Body works and adjusting time honoured techniques to suit you. Just be carefull with the changes and only work on perfecting one thing at a time, too much to keep track of otherwise

regards Jacko

[temudjin]

Hey Tracey,

good to see you are taking the time to think it through and find what works for you... there is nothing like good consistent form and practice, practice, practice if you want to improve your shooting.

On the glove vs tab issue, I use a glove - it just seemed easier for me than having a tab flapping around. But, when I shoot speed and hunter rounds I usually shoot without the glove - just barehanded - as it gives me much better feel when finding and nocking the next arrow. At most I might shoot 10 or 12 arrows in one of these rounds so it doesn't seem to impact on my fingers - I only shoot a 45lb bow also. I then put the glove back on for the regular targets where speed is no longer an issue.

Also, in the speed rounds I pay no attention to feather orientation - I just get the arrow onto the string and shoot it. Whether the cock feather is "in" or "out" doesn't seem to affect my arrow flight at all - but this only works if you shoot feathers, not plastic vanes.

Once you feel comfortable you might try these and see if they help you as well?

And lastly, again on speed rounds... I find that these help me to shoot more instinctively as I don't have time to spend on thinking and surprisingly I often shoot quite accurately on these targets. So, maybe something to practice is to shoot quickly (ie against the clock) and see how many arrows you can get out in say 30 seconds. Then you will be forced to shoot instinctively... of course you may be lousy at it until you get more practice (I certainly was!!) but it might force you to stop overthinking the shot.

Anyway, keep at it and remember to have fun, I hope to see you at a Trad Shoot soon.

[bigbob]

I did reply your post too but it seems to have de-materialised ! but would only endorse what Perry and Tom have said. Persistence and diligence will pay big dividends.You already are making huge leaps forward.

[dan76]

Hey Tracey,
Just on the issue with the tab and glove, i have shot both over the years and it really is personal which you use, that being said i prefer the tab as i think it gives me a cleaner release. I would recommend you practice a little with out glove or tab for your speed shooting as i shot at barambah too and i shot the hunt and speed round both with out my tab, it's only a few shots and poundage is no issue with that as i shoot an 80# recurve and i can shoot a few arrows without it hurting to much and it's the same with hunting, you don't want your hunt ruined just cause you can't find your glove .

As far as the holding to long goes i think everyone should hold at full draw for a second or two but if you think you are holding to long it is important to let down and restart the shot sequence because if you shoot after holding for a long time two things usually happen( well they do for me anyway) 1: it will be a bad shot and you will probably miss what your aiming at and 2: It adds to training your body and mind, they say you have to do something 1000 times before it is second nature i find it's a lot less than that if it's a bad thing.

The thing with your hips is not something i personally would be really concerned about so long as you are aware of it and are trying to correct it as it just sounds to me like it's muscular ( you just need more functional strength ) which is why your back is getting sore.And having an upright stance is a good thing in my opinion as i think to many people hunch over to much when the shoot, if your hips are getting in the way when you shoot in the upright stance then that means you sucking your bum in and pushing your hips forward i would guess which would also explain the sore back. If thats the case i would try rolling your hips back and pushing you bum out.

And the thing with your nose might be a good thing as you have an in built draw check and anchor point

But it sounds like your getting it sorted your self as your practice has improved your shooting already and well done on the improvements

Dan

[little arrows]

Hey Trace,

Having shot with you at the weekend, and watching what you were doing with your hip, (as lovely as the motion was, I didn't hear anyone complaining ) yes it needs to be tamed a little as you have worked out with the kneeling sequence.
We both leave our gloves on when doing all events. It is however, a personal choice.
Glad the practice is paying off, might try the Ping-Pong ball thing myself. It's one way to aerate the lawn.

cheers
sue