concentration

[itsallgoodfun]

Hello Spiderz, maybe you should sit down somewhere (as quiet as possible) focus on breathing, take deep breathes and then hold them a second or two and then exhale, basically you are getting oxygen into your bloodstream, the effects of which are beneficial to your shooting.

[TWIW]

Originally Posted by Kae

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts TeddyBear.

Its always interesting to hear other techniques.

Kae.

Me too, please.

C

[TWIW]

Teddybear. That sounds really good. I must get back to my Tai Chi.

Neo - relaxation and visualisation - way to go!!

[Enure]

Originally Posted by Neo

To concentrate at a competition i close my eyes before every shot. breathe deeplyrest your longrod on the floor to reduce the weight and hold position for 5-10 seconds.

Turning my head towards my target with my eyes closed. Open my eyes the first thing i see is the GOLD, sonentrate and stare the gold out...willing the arrow there. Raise my bow, begin the draw position my sight wait for the clicker and BANG

hopefully a gold.

but i dont listen to the clicker. i can feel my clicker through the bow and wait for the clickers vibration, cancel out any noise, just think GOLD

This is precisely the method i used to use to concentrate. I have found however this started to take me too long on the line with the rest of my breathing so have slowly changed it out of my routine as i found it was more part of habit than necessary for me.

I found by doing the deep preperation breathing before standing on the line i was mentally prepared for the shot setup as soon as i stood on the line and due to years of concentrating on the gold i naturally rested here when i looked towards the target anyway. It's also saved me a fair amount of time on the line and has allowed me to worry a lot less on time should i have to come down for a shot etc.

That said i probably couldn't of got to a stage where i'm happy without the full preperation on the line unless i had gone through the previous steps for a great deal of time.

ps. Teddybear, thanks a lot for that advise that really does sound great!

[john rowland]

Originally Posted by spiderz

i have great trouble concentrating in competitions when i can hear others around me talking

does anyone have any tips on how to combat this problem

greatly appreciated

I have a friend that has exactly the same proplem i will repeat what i said to him and he has told me it has helped, , i cannot tell you how to beat it only how i feel when shooting, i shoot by repeating the same actions every time feet in line with bull , bow hand position correct , brace with back muscules guard under chin kiss button between lips nose touching string, string shadow cutting sight ring then sight ball on gold all attention on ball staberlise ball , release , i am told that a cannon could go of and i wouldnt hear it , its a bit like entering a cone of silence ,and the only person there is me , Hope that helps John

[slartibartfast]

I have found that rather than making things quieter with ear plugs, making things louder helps. The more noise going on the quieter it is in my head.

[Flying Whale]

Originally Posted by slartibartfast

I have found that rather than making things quieter with ear plugs, making things louder helps. The more noise going on the quieter it is in my head.

In that case.... we have a sibling of one of our junior archers we lend to you. Your mind could be absolutely silent.

[slartibartfast]

Originally Posted by Flying Whale

In that case.... we have a sibling of one of our junior archers we lend to you. Your mind could be absolutely silent.

Thankyou for you kind offer. I shoot at Upton now and again so not far to borrow them but we can make plenty of noise with loud music and the like and at Long Mynd we have plenty of juniors.

[Pancake]

for me the background sounds don't always effect me as we have a few people at our club who like to talk loudly at innoportune times. after a season indoors with them i've found background noises less of a problem.
prior to this i used to keep a song in my head and go through the old breathing routine at specific stages throughout the shot until release.
i've had a chest and throat infection recently and forgotten all about this which has probably been one of the reasons for recent inconsistencies.
so i just want to say thanks to everyone whos posted on this thread you've made me remember my routine and i'm looking forward to giving it a try.
hope you all manage to block out the voices sooner rather than later.

[Tony_zelah]

Guess I fall into two categories and it depends on how I'm doing. if I'm shooting well the concentrations good too . But if I;m shooting badly the concentrations bad too. just wish I knew what causes what is it good shooting making me concentrate better or good concentration making me shoot better