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INTRODUCTION TO ARCHERY (continue) |
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The first couple of days my arms were really sore but I persisted and within a week was quite comfortable shooting from a distance of 10 - 15 meters. No reports of injured domestic animals created quite a relief but the odd arrow still ended up either in the garden or the park across the road. My brother was living with me at the time and it was his daily chore to look for the "lost" arrows :)LOL!
Since day one my grouping was not bad, but I had the odd "flyers".  Chris advised that I would be "getting there" once the "flyers" do not occur anymore. Confidence grew and on 28 April 2003, I shot the grouping as per photograph and was quite a proud rookie.
This grouping was shot from a distance of 10 m. I know a lot of people in the archery business will say that one has to start at 20 m, but I am one of those people that prefers to take things a little bit slower, but when I do something, do it well (maybe it is a female thing). I wanted to rather feel comfortable and focus at first on handling the bow than concentrate on hitting the targets. In order to achieve this objective, an achievable goal had to be set and shooting from 10 m made me feel quite comfortable.
For my fellow archery Rookies, the following pointers were given to me regarding the handling of a bow and I would call it the 7-steps in starting out (bear with me if I am not using the right terminology yet):
- Start with your feet in the correct position, facing the target sideways, chest open. Fit the arrow into the correct position in the bow.
- Lift the bow and position the bow in your hand. Do not grip/clasp the bow, rather let your forefinger and thumb touch lightly with the bow pressing into your hand.
- I am a right handed person - once the bow is comfortable in your hand, turn your hand slightly so that the string does not hit your hand, arm slightly bent.
- When pulling the bow, find a place behind your ear where your finger holding the release can "lock" - this is different for every person and in hind sight I could feel when my hand was steady and when not, experimenting in the beginning with different points behind my ear.
- String of the bow on your nose preferably in the middle with your eye aligning the target through the sight.
- Keep your finger behind the feather release when doing all of the above and when ready to shoot, move your finger to the front and pull the release.
- I am never sure when to describe the breathing but breathe in when doing the above, and out once steady - breathe in prior to releasing and out when you shoot. Similar to rifle shooting.
If there are any other tips on offer from the more experienced archers reading this, please e-mail the Rookie - we love to learn new things!
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