[shhh-thunk]
Hey guys, this is NUSensei. Now when I see new archers get into the sport there's
always this sense of excitement, the buzz of getting your brand new bow, the thrill
of seeing the arrow whiz through the air. There's fun and energy and excitement.
It takes over you. But, as the saying goes, you have to walk before you can run, and
many archers develop poor habits and fall into many traps. What mistakes do archers make?
What can turn a pleasant pastime into a horrible pursuit?
I like to sum up the many newbie mistakes into three main aspects:
too far, too heavy and too soon. The first aspect, "too far", refers to a natural inclination to
shoot from as long a distance as possible. After all
archery is a shooting sport. It's an accuracy sport. If you can hit a target
at 50 meters, that's really impressive.
That's where the fun is. Seeing the arrow go whoosh, arcing down towards a bullseye,
and it feels wonderful.
That's why we do archery. That's the challenge, and I get that. After all why
would you want to shoot an arrow at 5 meters away? That's boring.
That's not challenging. The problem with shooting too far in your early days is
that you lose focus on your form.
What happens is that you become too fixated on trying to hit the target. You do
whatever it takes to get the arrow to land in the bullseye, and sometimes it
can happen, but bull's-eyes can be accidents, but groups aren't flukes.
Archery is not a random number generator. You should be able to control the shot
process. If you're shooting from too far a distance, then you are trying too hard
to hit something you can't actually hit. You can't guarantee which means you're
not actually doing archery. You're just lobbing arrows and hoping for the best.
The best archers, who are shooting at long distances,
can do so, because they spent hours, days, months, or years, training at short
distances. If you put in the time and effort to train at short distances then
your form will be good enough to shoot at any distance. You have full control of
the shot process, and that is satisfying.
What is more fulfilling to you, getting one bullseye every hundred shots or
getting all six arrows into the gold. In some way it's an element of wishful thinking.
You think about shooting at long distances, you will become better and
shoot accurately, but that is simply not the case. In fact, shooting at long distances
can hamper your form and development. What happens is that long-distance
shooting can mask your problems. You don't actually know what's causing
arrows to group the way they are. The mistakes you make are amplified at long
range. There's no pattern. You missed the target, and you can't really read what's happening.
At least at short distances you can analyze the pattern and grouping and
diagnose where you're going wrong. At long distance you are focused on too
many things. You're distracted by the target. You are intimidated by the
distance, and you are plagued by poor form. You have to eliminate these
variables. Stay at short distance, build your confidence, and work your way up. By doing
this you establish a clearer pathway and a gentler learning curve. You become a
safest shooter, and you break fewer arrows.
The second aspect, "too heavy", refers to draw weight.
While you can buy 50 pound bows or higher,
this really isn't a good idea for your first bow. There is a culture and
mentality where higher is better, stronger is manlier, and so on, but this is
really bad advice for a new archer.
You have to understand that you must work your way up towards a safe draw weight.
Not everyone is built the same. You shouldn't feel pressure to shoot a
faster bow or heavier bow, just because it looks more impressive.
It doesn't work that way. The weight you pull isn't as important as how well you
use the bow, but there's more to it. By starting too high you don't develop the
right muscle control needed to ensure a smooth shot process. If you can't control
the bow then you are an unsafe shooter.
It's dangerous to others and dangerous to you. You will hurt yourself. If chronic
form problems don't worry you then chronic shoulder problems will. It will
affect the quality of your life and will stop you from doing archery in the
future. Take the time to build yourself up. Weightlifters don't lift the heaviest
possible weights when they start. They build themselves up, and the same applies to archery.
And you really have to ask yourself "why do you need a high draw weight?"
Some people simply don't need it.
The third mistake is "too soon".
This can refer to both draw weight and distance, but, when I think of it, I think
of mindset. I think of the progression of an archer. It's normal for an archer to want
to become better.
That's why people do archery, to shoot more accurately, to get higher scores.
However not everyone progresses at the same rate,
and unfortunately many archers hold themselves to the standards of others.
Archery is easy to learn but difficult to master, and some people take longer
than others.
One person might start doing archery and then represent the state team in a
matter of months. Others will shoot for years before they become solid,
experienced, confident archers. That's okay.
You cannot put yourself to someone else's benchmark or someone else's standard.
You have to progress at your own pace.
Putting yourself in the mindset where you have to compare yourself to other shooters
can really ruin your archery experience, and that can be more harmful than
starting on a heavy draw weight or shooting too far.
Eventually, you will become confident enough to shoot at long distance.
Eventually, you can condition yourself to shoot heavy bows, but if you have the
mindset of putting yourself against better archers, and you're not up to that
level, you may never find joy in shooting your bow. Archery is a personal challenge,
but you have to be realistic. A world class archer is going to train and
practice hours every day. They're going to shoot a thousand arrows every week.
If you don't have that commitment then don't expect the same results. You have to work up to it.
If you want to compete and succeed then you need to put in that time.
Otherwise, don't measure yourself against the very best because you are
shooting at different levels.
So remember, if you're starting out, don't go too far, too heavy, too soon.
If you make the right choices early on, if you plan for your development, and you put
yourself into a positive mindset,
not only is your archery journey going to be rewarding, but it's also going to be fun.
Anyway, this is NUSensei, I hope you found this interesting and helpful.
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.