You Can't Buy Points

[JohnK]

Originally Posted by GeoffT

COACHES ?! How can a coach not spot this ! I recently spoke to a coach who has never been to a tournament! It would appear that you can become a coach if you can stand up without falling over.

And I quote another archer sent over by a County coach:

"XXX told me to come over and ask you to help sort out my pressure button. See, he said he's a compound archer so he doesn't know how to set a pressure button up."

This is the same coach who tried to paper tune the wooden trainer recurve a beginner (she'd been shooting for 7 weeks) had brought to a coaching clinic. No, it didn't have a button,

Don't get me wrong - there are many fine coaches out there, and some of them even have badges to say so, but there are others who give the rest a bad name.

[droseman]

Originally Posted by Bald Eagle

Absolutely spot on,tinkerers mess up big style. So many archers ask me to check out their gear and I can't believe the state it is in. "I haven't touched it" they say! No self respecting dealer would send them away with gear in such a state!. Once it is set up, leave well alone, shoot it and enjoy!

I couldn't agree more - I went down the 'tinkering' route last year, and it was nothing but bad things for my scores and confidence. My equipment is shooting well now, and its not getting touched for the rest of the season.

Dave

[Rik]

It's not just the coaches...
Chilterns used to notorious for a poor attitude towards beginner kit. They tried to sell my wife a bow with a string which was *visibly* too short, and grumped about it when I pointed it out to them...

And I saw a compound (sold by Quicks) which arrived at the right draw length by having the wrong size of cams, and the wrong string length for the cams...

Our standard advice to new starters is "Don't go and buy kit on your own. Always take a 'coach' with you". Quotes (') because our club coaches aren't all qualified. But then this is one of those situations where experience counts more than qualification (oh, hang on, when is it ever the other way around? ).

[JohnK]

Originally Posted by Rik

It's not just the coaches...
Chilterns used to notorious for a poor attitude towards beginner kit. They tried to sell my wife a bow with a string which was *visibly* too short, and grumped about it when I pointed it out to them...

It's not the first time I've heard such a story relating to that particular shop.