County squad coaching

Just a short entry to say what a good experience I had with the members of the Durham and Northumberland county squad today. I was invited along by Abbey Cooper and was impressed by the archers and their attitude. A very enjoyable and fruitful session.

Stabilisers: What they do and how to select them!

I was coaching a client last week and we were looking at his stabilisers. “what would be the best set up for this bow?” he asked. This is a question that I get asked regularly and I always put a reign on my natural desire to show them what is the best and go through a simple test to allow an individual to select the best set up for an individual. It is important to note that, unlike some static metods, this method is only interested in the dynamic aspects of stabilistaion. Of course at this point you must be clear exactly what stabilisers are there for: 10% perceived balance during the draw, 80% stability of aim and facilitation of execution, 10% feel on follow through (but if the former are there you can live with a bow with awful follow through ); 0% VIBRATION DAMPING. Vibration damping can be sorted out, if need be, after balance has been attested to.

Proviso:

There is only a point to this if you have no obvious issues of bow torquing or poor alignment (either of these two problems may be assumed if the sight ring or centre of the scope does not over the arrow in calm conditions).

So here is the best method:

1) Shoot until you are shooting arrows comfortably in the middle of the target.

2) Remove all of the stabilisers from the bow, including side weights and backweights. Shoot again at the same target/distance. You will experience the bow moving rapidly left and right but if the draw length and alignement is good should hold pretty much rock steady up and down. Many of my clients who have added stabilisers fairly arbitrarily are surprised by how still the bow sits vertically and in some cases how much tighter the groups are with no stabilisers.

3) Add the long rod (for recurve archers this point should include your desired vbar extender and vbar with no twins) . You expect the left/right “bobble” to disappear at this point. Without this left right movement (or greatly reduced amplitude and frequency) you expect to keep the solid vertical stability of no stabilisers . If this vertical stability has been lost you need to look at length and weight of centre stabiliser ( random vertical movement make centre stabiliser longer and heavier, dropping out of the gold make it shorter or lighter).

4) Twins will reduce any left and right movement

5) So you should now be at a comfortable stabiliser set up that you do not have to fight against to give you good results, this is your basic balance between long rod and twins, and you are ready to fine tune it. A quick note on back weights:these are used to help purely in the grip/hand interface and can be added to increase the contact of the base of the hand in the grip (so you can use a back weight or shoot a slightly higher grip if you need one).

6) Take an A4 sheet of white paper with a thick vertical black line on it that you can see at the distance you are shooting at. Shoot a series of arrows from the top to the bottom of this line, if you do not have a tight line (same amount left and right of the line) of arrows then add/subtract weight from the side rods (in the case of recurve shooters-shorten vbar extender) also changes in the angle of the vbar will tighten or worsen the consistency of the arrow line.

7) Now check stabiliser set up by shooting along an horizontal line: If the arrows are not tight to this line in the horizontal plane then you have a grip or alignment problem that needs to be addressed. Within the area of stabilisation there are two areas to look at: check that there is no movement in the bow hand wrist AT ALL during the draw or try a back weight. If there is still an issue then you need to go back to technical aspects as this is not a stabilisation issue.

You now have the correct ratio of stabiliser lengths and weights and if you are using one, vbar angle. If you feel you want a heavier set up add weights across the system to keep this ratio.

Compounds and Sight Marks

Every year at this time people try and shoot their longest distance with a compound and fall short. Just this weekend I was working with the Scottish juniors and discussing with them the ways they can get round this.

So what affects sight mark:

In order of biggest effects:

1) poundage (but the effect of an increase is as a percentage of starting poundage and the FITA limit, so a 3lbs increase has a greater effect for a 40lbs starting point than a 55lbs starting point and the limit is 60lbs).

2) Peep sight hight, (this is measured as the distance from the centre of the peep to the centre of the arrow at full draw, which takes into account axle to axle).

3) Arrow weight

4) nocking point. But we can discount this one as all compounds shoot best at zero to 1mm above square which gives the best sight marks

So it sounds complicated doesnt it:)?

lets set some simple rules to make it easier: bow speed can be used as a defining aspect of whether these long distances can be achieved and takes into account aspects 1 and 3 above. to make 90m the minimum bow speed is 260fps and to make 70m the minimum is 230fps. These minimum speeds can be used to quickly define if the distance can be made, if you are above these speeds and cant make the distances then you are anchoring abnormally high and therefore the peep sight hight is less than functional and you need to change anchor, minimum peep sight heights are 3.75 inches for gents and 3inches for ladies (measured as above NOT at rest).

So if you have a bow with less than the stated speed what can you do? Increase the poundage or reduce arrow weight (see other entry on this blog about how to select arrows).

If you can not alter these two factors what can you do?

1) move anchor point down and increase the peep hight. This can only functionally be done with a thumb release if you are anchoring higher than index finger on your jaw line. However you could use a wrist release and this will lower the anchor point.

2) shorten the nock loop which will alter the position of the string with respect to the eye, shortening the nock loop will require the peep to be raised giving an increase in sight mark.

These are the only factors that can be adjusted to functionally make distance, if these alterations do not let you make the distance then you may want to look at a faster bow.

new entry

I have not written on the blog for a very long time.
Too long in fact.
So where am I up to?
Well work is hard but fulfilling with a client list of nearly 100 after 6 months in business ranging throughout the uk and Europe. I have just returned from a very fruitful coaching trip to Luxembourg and even managed to slip in a competition at the end of it. I always enjoy the double FITA at Libramont shot indoors, this is an excellent competition to go to at the start of the outdoor season and see how things are going. For me things went alright (2736) and I finished third but was well beaten by two excellent gents compounds ho were both on for in excess of 1400 come 30m on the Sunday.
Several of my clients shot well, Andrew O’connor shot back to back 1300’s in this his first ever 90m round shot with a compound, and Alex Lamb is showing that he is moving in the right direction with a 293 at 90m on the Sunday and finishing 4th in the recurve division. Also from Edinburgh university (but this time the Alumni) Claudine Jennings won the ladies compound shooting 1366 and 1348.
Like myself she is faced with the difficulty of balancing her professional commitments with her sport and felt that the biggest let down to her scoring (especially on the second day) was fitness. To this end an effort must be made by us both to get fit enough to compete for to days over the next month.
This time (April May) is the ideal to look at fitness, especially if you are based in the UK where the weather is just too horrible to even practice effectively at this time outside. I have stated in print that any level of archer must be fit enough to shoot 3 times the number of arrows required in competition and so I had better apply this to myself
Becky Gridley shot well at the Dearne valley field championships in the same weekend I was away. Becky should be a member of the world students games team in summer and counts herself as almost exclusively a target shooter so it as nice to see her going out to an early field competition. Her 640 score  was respectable enough and gave her boyfriend (Tim Keppie, another client) a scare on the second day.
On the work side I have nearly finished a series of “tutorials” on aspects of compound and recurve archery that will be posted to the site in May. This is to replace the idea of a dvd that I have been playing with over the last 9 months. I prefer tis method of production as it is more flexible and allows me to update each section as i want to without the complex production values of a dvd. The areas covered ill include several tutorials on posture, alignment, and anchor point as well as a compound specific series including release aid execution. These tutorials are a mixture of live footage and training footage mixed with poer point slides to give a seminar feeling. I hope that they will tie up with the articles available on the website which I have written for various magazines.

what arrow spine?

I have been contacted by 3 different people in the last 24 hours with respect to arrows and spine.
So lets go through this: “how do you choose the right spine to shoot out of a compound?”
There is one proviso that must be accepted: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO STIFF AN ARROW WHEN SHOOTING A COMPOUND!

First: Choose a point weight, for many this will be a personal choice between 100 and 120 grains, lets choose 120.

Second: work out the heaviest weight of arrow that includes this point weight and will give you adequate performance for what you are looking to do. So in target archery that is a minimum speed of 230fps for female seniors, and 265fps for gents seniors. This figure can be worked out using a computer program such as Archers advantage or just through experimentation with different weight arrows through a speed gun.

Third take this total arrow weight and look at the various spines of carbon and carbon aluminum arrows that this will equate to. These are all the arrows that will perform best for your set up as they are the stiffest arrow that you can get away with shooting with respect to the point weight you want to shoot and the arrow speed you require.

If you then set the bow up with the rest going through the middle of the string with respect to a centre line on the bow the arrows will tune (paper tune, bare shaft whatever method you choose). If they appear not to then you are torquing the bow, and this can be explained in a multitude of ways in a later blog .

these arrows don’t tune

These arrows dont tune!
I hear this so many times, and it is the arrogance that CAN generate this statement that never ceases to amaze me. Let us understand some things to start with, It is the poundage and draw length that define whether an arrow tunes on a recurve. Basically there are no good or positive individual differences between archers that make an arrow tune or not tune there is only bad technique. With a recurve or a compound I can give false tuning results, be that bare shaft tests, paper tear tests or any kind of test you care to mention and this is down to torquing the bow.
Some basics:
Recurve, button soft enough to nearly be influenced by the clicker, arrow just outside of centre shot, and 8-10mm nocking point.
For interest sake I ill include the standard set up on a compound, although I have already discussed arrow spine selection for a compound in another part of the blog.
Compound, arrow/rest through centre of string, 0-3mm of nocking point.

Now let us have a look at the easton spine chart for a 26 inch 34lbs and 29.5inch 45lbs on the fingers recurve, it has advised an ace 780 and an ace 470. Now for me the two arrows it stipulates could be a trifle on the weak side but not to the extent that they would not tune, and I have picked draw weights and arrow lengths that are on a cusp. If an archer bought these spines they will be able to tune them with 100 grain points by moving the limb adjustment up or down 1.5 turns maximum. So there is nothing wrong with the spine chart.

BUT…… Why do arrows not tune when bought slavishly from the spine chart, three reasons:
1) The archer has made one of the measurements incorrectly
The archer has not picked an arrow that allows them up to 1.5 turns positive and negative on the limb
The archer has the right spine arrow and is shooting the bow poorly
If the answer is number 3, then the archer has two choices, 1) get some help and shoot the bow properly, 2) don’t blame the spine chart

Using your practice time properly

It never ceases to amaze me how little thought is given by archers (even quite good ones) to their practice time below is some information about practice structure taken from a video clip which can be seen here. This makes up part of a lecture I give on practice structure and getting the most out of practice time.

Practice methods. Top athletes structure there practice to include drill work, as well as high volume and high intensity training. The balance between these areas will allow you to get the most out of your archery training.

The amount of time spent on volume and intensity training will alter with respect to the season. During the off season there is an equal amount of intensity and volume training for fitness with drill work to focus on technique. During the competitive season the amount of volume work decreases as the fitness levels have been achieved and the concentration is on drill work and high intensity practice.

Volume training includes bare boss and physical training. This increases fitness and is done without technical analysis. Although the volume work will decrease in season it is an important part of any session

Drill work is where a skilled archer performs tasks that allow them to look at and train specific parts of the technique. There are many physical drills but here are a couple that look at physical feedback. The archer uses a mirror to allow immediate visual and physical feedback on the shot, giving a greater tie up between kinesthetics and feel allowing for increased use of visualization. In this drill the archer “calls” the shot on release and a partner spots it allowing the archer to learn a greater accuracy in understanding physical feedback.
Intensity practice is where the archer imitates competitive situations in a safe practice environment. This requires shooting to the rules of the round including timing and scoring It requires the setting and monitoring of goals for both measurable achievement in score and the pinpointing of possible difficulties that will be encountered in competition. Done properly this is a rich experience that can even include the anxiety of success in competition.

The proper use of practice techniques allows the individual to not only make the best use of the time available to them but also work on as many aspects of performance archery as possible.

Here is an example of a practice schedule for an intermediate (non elite) archer during the competitive season so the emphasis is on intensity not volume:

Good Practice Technique

The aim of good practice technique is to manipulate your practice to mirror competition as much as possible. This will allow you to practice the skills used in competition and identify strategies to enhance your performance under pressure. Therefore practice sessions must be structured, this will largely be in mimicking competition conditions both in structure and in content including limited sighters, shooting three arrow ends, timing and scoring. Shooting under pressure may be simulated by shooting against other club members. Other important considerations are pr- performance management which will include developing an effective warm up, both in mental and physical terms and dress.

Competitions and practice should be approached with a pre-performance plan that covers your expectations of the session, analysis of what you have done and a realistic assessment of the effectiveness of strategies used to control the score (see attached plan and example).

Analysis of what you have done is vital feedback and includes using target plot or shooting at a new target face – group size, sight set, where bad arrows go.

Strategies: used to control the level of performance during competition score.

Coping strategies on how to deal with bad shots and how to deal with performing under pressure.

Practice time 4-6 hours per week split into three sessions of approximately 2 hours.

An example of a practice session:

Warm up without bow (10 mins)

mobilise, stretchy band

increased thought of score, build up mental arousal concentrating on expectation and performance pre performance planning!

Sighters (10 mins, to allow for break between sighters and competition)

6 sighters as with normal competition, timed to 2 minute ends with a two minute break between shooting and collecting arrows

Scored Arrows (50 mins)

30 arrows in three arrow ends, in timed ends with two minute breaks between shooting and collecting, scored

various strategies to increase pressure and therefore simulate competition will include: concentrating on the number of points dropped, competing against another archer and performing after exercise

various strategies to cope with increased pressure: dealing with bad shots and re-focusing, using the time period to your advantage.

Drills (30 mins) EXPLAIN THAT ONE FOR EACH SESSION ALSO UNDERSTAND THAT THESE ARROWS NOT NECESSARILY SHOT TO TIME

further 24 arrows maximum

these are based upon performance within the scored arrows and will include: single arrow ends (this breaks up the natural rhythm as in head to head competition and means that the individual must be able to turn on and turn off or rest performance), plotting groups (to imitate accuracy of sight positioning within competition and reinforce group size) shooting three arrows in 30 seconds (compound 1 minute).

Finish (15 mins)

final 12 arrows big pressure shots, shooting for tens, timed three arrow ends in two minutes

 

Record

Practice sessions should be recorded but only in terms of score, work done and the briefest of comments on performance including three good and three bad things, which will be used by a coach to evaluate and direct the program.

 

 

Clickers!

I really am unsure as to what I should be putting in these blogs but now that it has been set up I guess I will start with this…… Clickers, how to use them and not blame them!

This subject just keeps re-surfacing on web boards and is a popular question when I am coaching or giving lectures. A clicker is a piece of kit that makes the recurve archer let go of the string, it is a trigger that the archer becomes conditioned to which will give a sub-conscious response. It is not, within intermediate and above archers, a draw check.

The draw check is dealt with by good, consistent, posture as can be seen in the chapter on dynamic posture which is on the resources page. A draw length is designated by how the whole body fits together in a kinesthetically clean manner with the lowest use of physical and mental resources.

So back to this clicker thing…..

It is part of the kit on a recurve and should be included from the first few sessions. When learning, one would set the clicker at roughly the right position (perhaps a bit long) and let the archer learn how to make the click happen without too much descriptive teaching. I personally always teach my novices to watch the arrow as they are drawing back and to look up and aim when they see the clicker blade dip on the point. As an archer’s skill gets better and their posture and alignment become wholly consistent they will draw an arrow to within a couple of mm of the same place everytime, irrespective of whether or not they have placed a piece of spring steel over the arrow, SO IT AIN’T A DRAW CHECK

If posture and alignment are good then this last couple of mm to make the clicker go off is not achieved by any cognitive movement at all, but just by letting the big muscles that have been used to get to this position interact with the clean lines of the body structure.

The problems with using a clicker are two fold:

1) Poor Posture: for example, if the front shoulder climbs, the clicker can never go and if the back shoulder is over emphasised in the draw then similarly it will require cognitive effort to execute the clicker.

2) Self report information and poor teaching techniques. These have built up a collection of myths and lies about how clickers are executed! As soon as someone tries to teach this by talking about a movement at full draw just dont listen. This kind of explanation has been fostered by asking skilled performers how they make the clicker go off, the bottom line is they don’t MAKE it go off, but they have to say something and so the myth of back tension was born

Like ALL aspects of a closed skill the athlete puts their body and mind in a position to let it happen.

This is why many top archers look at the clicker before aiming. This allows them a moment of cognitive appraisal that all of the feedback they are getting through their body’s senses is “correct” and then they get on with it. They stop processing internally and change the focus to external when the bein to aim and so the shot “happens”.

Enough for now!

Performance Archery website

This first post is just to direct you to the Performance Archery website

More thoughts and ramblings on performance psychology, archery technique and training to come on this BLOG