Shooting confusion

[Greenman]

After spending most of the year messing around with longbows and horse bows I entered a competition with my recurve for a change ( spent an hour getting sight marks for an American round). So pottered of to the comp. quite happy and enjoyed myself....but shot like a complete Muppet....came as a bit of a surprise! So, have come to the conclusion that if you want to shoot well you have to shoot one discipline, shooting with different techniques(draw,sighting and release ) is bound to compromise your primary style. I have not bothered much with scoring ,using it at best to quantify my progress, or lack of it, so hadn't really noticed my decline in standards.The problem I now have is do I concentrate on one type of bow and shoot it reasonably well ,or do I shoot 3 types of bow and have a lot of fun but shoot them badly. Fun or scores, is there a compromise ? Oh, one positive aspect to shooting badly is that Target faces last longer !

IMHO I find it better to stick to one form of archery and bow. lol I can talk It's a case of "Jack of all trades, master of none" If you want to do well and get good scores I feel you will need to decide on what bow suits you best and go for it.

[SVL]

What do you want from archery ?

If you want to go for county squad, classification and badges .... then stick to one bow and work on being good at that.

If you want to just go and enjoy your shooting and company of fellow archers with no pressure to improve then do all the different types of archery available.

(I am currently running with the second option ..... in about three years when I have more time available I will revert to the first option) I still strive to improve but know it will take longer

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Greenman

or do I shoot 3 types of bow and have a lot of fun but shoot them badly.

rather depends on how you define "fun". IMO it's not much fun to shoot a bad score or, if you prefer, to shoot less-well than you know you can. For me "fun" is shooting a score I'm happy with and beating others (people and scores) in the process.

You have to decide what makes you tick.

Adam

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Greenman

So, have come to the conclusion that if you want to shoot well you have to shoot one discipline, shooting with different techniques(draw,sighting and release ) is bound to compromise your primary style.

I'm not altogether sure about that... The different classes of weapon have more in common, than they have differences. The issue is knowing what carries across, and not deluding yourself about how well you're doing with a particular class of weapon.

It's likely to be true that if you want to excel in a particular discipline, you should practice that more, but it doesn't necessarily mean you need to exclude others. Skills in one carry across to the others.

Originally Posted by Rik

I'm not altogether sure about that... The different classes of weapon have more in common, than they have differences. The issue is knowing what carries across, and not deluding yourself about how well you're doing with a particular class of weapon.

It's likely to be true that if you want to excel in a particular discipline, you should practice that more, but it doesn't necessarily mean you need to exclude others. Skills in one carry across to the others.

Not so sure Rik I feel switching between them just leads to confusion and a lack of consistant form. But each to there own.

PS never looked at my bow as a "weapon" I know in theory it could be a weapon, but all the same, it's horrible description..much prefer "bow".

[Gibbon]

I agree...(with Rik)
Until recently I had defected to the dark side for a while, and I found that my basic knowledge of how to shoot recurve helped me develop a relatively consistant technique fairly rapidly.

Am now comming back to shooting my recurve again, and have found that I have been able to quickly identify any problems that may have arisen from not shooting recurve in a while... (unfortunately, the main problem is a slight worsening of a pre-existing issue...so im still working on it :P)


As long as you do put in the effort/practice to all the disciplines you intend to shoot, there is no reason that I can see as to why you shouldnt do well in more than 1 discipline at the same time... though very few people will be able to do it to the highest levels

[SVL]

I found that when I shoot compound I have to work on keeping the back tension to shoot well and then when I go back to recurve my shooting improves. It was not until I shot the compound that I realised it was one of the items I needed to work on with the recurve.

Now with longbow I just need to get around to sorting out some matched arrows :-)


So I would agree there is some crossover between bowstyles, but you would need to have a lot of time available to become really good in a range of bows.

Originally Posted by Gibbon

I Am now comming back to shooting my recurve again, and have found that I have been able to quickly identify any problems that may have arisen from not shooting recurve in a while... (unfortunately, the main problem is a slight worsening of a pre-existing issue...so im still working on it :P)

Kind of need real evidence that the switch between the two bow types made a difference. I suspect it's a more a case of "A change is as good as a rest".

Originally Posted by SVL

.... but you would need to have a lot of time available to become really good in a range of bows.

Very valid point..there is simply not enough hours in the day.