My first arrow of the night was a wall shot. "Dear Lord I should have known it was going to be one of these nights!" I screamed in my head. I knocked my second arrow and drew back, anchored and took a deep breath. I let the pin float softly around the gold. "Breath." I whispered in my head, "breath." I released the trigger and listened to the smack of my new arrow. I blinked and looked down range, to the left of center about 1 inch. I knocked my next arrow. The little girls rested their bows on the bow stand. I breathed, aware of their eyes on me. "Breath" I whispered, the pin floated around the yellow. I sucked a breath in and let the release go. The arrow struck perfectly center. By the end of the night I had shot an even 200. It wasn't great, but it is an improvement. I still had a lot of problems, a lot! I walked away from the practice frustrated.
My proficiency at the range has absolutely sucked as of late. I'm in my head to much, worried about getting my pins perfectly in the center of the target. Worried if my draw length is to long or if the draw weight is too much. Concerned about smacking myself in the arm and a bow bruise. Wondering if the other archers are staring at me, criticizing me in their heads. Hoping my arrows aren't to long or too short for me. Sometimes I drag my divorce into my head and then I'm really messed up and unable to shoot clearly. And occasionally the hurt of losing Sonny, the woman who taught me how to shoot and who I consider my second mother, creeps into my heart and head. I've just been worrying about too much and not focusing on really shooting.
I've worked really hard with the trigger so I'm not so trigger happy, it's helped, but occasionally I feel like I'm rushing myself. I never had that problem shooting fingers. I'm constantly trying to keep my bow arm rigid, which I know isn't right, but for some reason I always have to remind myself to relax and stop locking my arm and knees. I spent two years in lessons trying to get rid of the rigid arms. MC always has a smarty comment about me being stiff, I'll let your mind wander on that one.
Occasionally I flinch when I release the trigger, usually when I think to much about it. Or I'll let the string pull my arm forward, or I'll just release the release mid draw, and sometimes I can't reach the same anchor point. I've got a lot to work on. I know I'm not going to be perfect, show me an archer who doesn't find flaws in themselves and I'll show you Ted Nugent. I bet he even finds flaws in himself. I want to make major improvements, but first I HAVE to get out of my head!
I'm a little less frustrated right now. Next Tuesday has to be good, it has to be. I can't stand being fustrated with myself, it just makes thing so much worse. I do have to look at the brightside and be optimistic, I did shoot a 200 it is an improvement, but it's also a long way off of 500!
Becks
What kind of trigger do you shoot? Make sure whatever you do shoot does not have a light trigger, or any travel in the trigger before it goes off.
ReplyDeleteYou need to be able to rest your thumb/finger on it, without fear of it going off (that's the trigger pressure bit). If the trigger has travel, it will move before going off. That will cause flinching because the concious mind will try and anticipate the shot going off. With no travel, it wont know when its going to go, and it will be a surprise shot.
Currently I am shooting a tru-fire hurricane release, I'm not strong enough to shoot a back tension release due to an old riding injury. I've played with the trigger as much as possible, I've got a thumb release on order, I borrow one of the guys and shoot 100% better, I'm just waiting for it to show up in the mail.
ReplyDeleteI'm finally able to rest my finger on the trigger without releasing it, when I first started shooting one I'd be half way drawn and I'd already be releasing, so I've made some improvement, it's just going to take time.
Do you shoot a back tension release?