[Medoc]

A bit of background first, I have been shooting since the early 1970's almost exclusivly recurve with a bit of longbow for fun, I acheived MB "almost" during the early 90's.

A couple of years ago I decided to try compound shooting to mix things up a little, and from the off decieded to get a coach. The person who I approached was starting his course work for the senior coaching level, I did not ask him to coach me because of this fact but because he has shot compound since the 1980's to a good level, This was more important to me that the fact he was a GNAS coach.

From the start I fully trusted what he was telling me and "bought into" the changes he made to my shooting, I pay him for his time and travelling expenses and we cover all aspects of my shooting, as well as the form we also cover periodisation and goals and goalsetting plus how to handle the mental side of shooting when in a tournament.

Not everything that we have tried has worked but the majority has, within the time working with him I have found his imput invaluble, eventually I maybe could have got to where I am now by myself but this is unlikely.

I have achieved all my goals so far and I am confident that I will do so this year. I view this as a partnership and my coach deseves a large amount of credit for my achievments, he has passed his level 4 in this time period.

Finding a coach who you can trust and who tells you both good and bad is very important, you also need to believe that he is guiding you in ther right direction.


Lastly a little rant, I think it is commendable that people want to become coaches to help archers, however it dismays me to see that a fair number who pass exams immediately enrole for the next level, surely it would be better for them to coach at that level for a couple of years before moving up.