Pre-Shot Routine

It is very important to following a pre-shot routine ever time you shot. This routine aids in remembering to follow the steps of proper form in the correct order.

Here is an example of my pre-shot routine :

-Grip the Bow (Place the bottom Limb on the top of your shoe)
-Check you stance (feet are parallel)
-Nock the arrow – Grip the string
-Check posture while raising the bow Draw the arrow smoothly
-Aim
-Push and pull (release occurs subconsciously)
-Follow through

Notice that all of the items in the list are physical steps and conscious thoughts. They remind you to perform the next step and keep you on a consistent track. That is a good thing. Running a pre-shot routine also occupies your mind, keeping you from becoming distracted by those around you or worrying about your score. The process aids you in both remembering to perform everything in a certain order and in maintaining focus.

Make sure you practice this on Friday!

Emmanuel

Slow motion video of the world’s best Archers!

Hey FC Archers,

Feels so good to get back to our Friday night Archery sessions! Great to see so many of you returning and continuing with your archery training.

Have look at the video, it’s only 3 minutes long but it’s in slow motion and does a great job at showcasing the ‘shot cycle’.

Angle-by-angle slow motion video of the worlds best archers for training and coaching purposes. Learn to shoot like the pros.

https://youtu.be/c7jJuWTQ6CQ 

See you at FC Friday,
Emmanuel

The Enemy of Improvement

Hey FC Parents and Archers,

There is a famous Japanese proverb that says, “After winning the battle, tighten your helmet.” In other words, the battle does not end when you win. The battle only ends when you get lazy, when you lose your sense of commitment, and when you stop paying attention. This is zanshin as well: the act of living with alertness regardless of whether the goal has already been achieved.

We can carry this philosophy into many areas of life…

“The battle does not end when you publish a book. It ends when
you consider yourself a finished product, when you lose the
vigilance needed to continue improving your craft”

The enemy of improvement is neither failure nor success. The enemy of improvement is boredom, fatigue, and lack of concentration. The enemy of improvement is a lack of commitment to the process because the process is everything. This lesson is one repeated over and over every time students come to practice at FightClub on Fridays. Archery training is such a gift to all that practice it.

See you on the range!

Emmanuel

The Importance of Self Learning

Hey FC Parents and Archers,

One of the great side benefits to archery is that is is 80% self learned. You definitely need a good coach to provide you with direction, some technical education and form corrections but after that you just need to shoot a lot of arrows and see what happens. The more you shoot the more patterns appear and questions arise. Students learn by doing and evaluating the results. The good thing about archery is that you can see the results of an action quickly. You pull your bow back, let the arrow fly and bam – you have a result that appears crystal clear on a target face. If something went wrong its either one of two things … a problem with your bow or a problem with you the archer? Most blame the bow, but from my experience it’s usually something the archer did wrong …LOL

When the students come to shoot on Fridays I usually give them a quick lesson about the various form and technical proficiencies and review what I’m looking for… then I step back and let them shoot and learn. The results are very impressive and the kids are still having a lot of fun.

See you all this Friday for the first class after the summer break!
Emmanuel

Stillness

Hey FC Parents and Archers,

The ability to stay still – what a rare skill these days. The world at our fingertips, anytime and anywhere but without stillness how do we reflect on what it all means? Time slows, understandings grow, and knowledge builds when I shoot my bow. I hope and wish that all students learning archery at FightClub find these things too.
Olympic Gold Medalist in Shooting Peter Wilson wrote about this very subject not to long ago ….

The Power of Stillness

by Olympic Gold Medalist in Shooting
Peter Wilson

The word ‘sport’ conjures up images of athletes pushing, grunting sweating or panting in a bid to get faster, higher or stronger. But some prize stillness – both in mind and body. I’m talking about the mental sports like archery.

The arm pumping or leg lunging movements of sprinters or footballers are distilled into a slow, almost imperceptible squeeze of a trigger. It’s not about kilometres or even metres of movement but millimetres. Maintaining this kind of physical stillness in the heat of competition requires serious mental control. The heart is pumping but adrenaline is the enemy.

A raised heart rate may cause a slight shift in arm position but also a momentary mental drift and the focus is lost. I’ve worked with a few archers shooters and the zen-like state they aim to reach is remarkably similar to that of meditation. A shooter may take 40 shots in a match but the shot being taken is the only one that matters – it’s the very essence of here and now.

If the shot before was bad the mind frets about the future score. If the shot was good the mind anticipates success: both are bad.

The yogic sage Patanjali wrote ‘yoga is the stilling of the thought waves of the mind’ in his Yoga Sutras. Yoga has a vast range of techniques to reel in a jittery mind easily adapted to the mental sports. Breathing exercises used both pre-match and in between shot cycles, to pre-shot visualisation and meditation. Mindfulness is also useful as it teaches us to stay both alert but anchored to the present moment.