More on Coaching Archery by Ruis Steve

Author:Ruis, Steve [Ruis, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Watching Arrows Fly, LLC
Published: 2013-02-11T16:00:00+00:00

Making Progress

So, you now have a system in place to track performance, from which you can then make reasonable expectations of outcome. You have plans for equipment, form and execution changes, and mental game adjustments. Now we need to make progress. How is this done?

More and more experts are coming to the same conclusion: progress is made fastest through dedicated practice. By “dedicated practice” they mean simply intense practice in which errors are corrected as they occur. No mistake is allowed to be repeated. This practice is more effective than just high volume practice or, really, any other kind of practice because you are only practicing doing it right and because of the intensity and focus, effectively training your subconscious mind to help you do it right. Because of the intense focus, most people can’t do this hour after hour which is actually ideal as few of us have that much time to spend at practice anyway.

Legendary basketball coach John Wooden understood this and he reinforced it with his players: if they weren’t practicing with enough intensity, he would punish them. The punishment? He would cancel practice and send the players home. Most players who played for John Wooden can tell a story of a cancelled practice and the disappointment they still feel associated with it. A truly competitive athlete thrives on intense dedicated practice. If my own practice is lethargic, or a student of mine’s is so, and some enthusiasm and intensity can’t be generated, it is time to go home. Why waste time pretending to practice; it won’t help you meet your goals.

Practice has to be focused and intense to make rapid progress—it also has to be smart. Most archers stand back at the regulation distance and fire arrows at a regulation target face in their practice rounds. This is fine if you are already shooting very high scores. But if you haven’t achieved high scores yet, be smart. Start closer in to the target and even use a larger target face. If shooting indoors and you or your student is to shoot at a 40cm target at 18 m/20 yds, try a 60cm or 80 cm target face starting at 9 m/10 yds. Start so close to the target that you would be embarrassed to miss the center of the gold. Then shoot perfect scores. Try this! It is not as easy as you think; one’s mind has a tendency to wander because the task is “so easy.” This requires you to really focus. After you have shot three perfect scores, move back from the target a couple of paces and repeat. When you get back to the regulation distance, switch to a regulation or smaller target and move closer in again and repeat the process. If you really want to put pressure on yourself/your archer, make missing the center ring a penalty that moves you/your archer back to the previous distance. The advantage here is that when you use a process like this, you not only

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