Getting those points

[indybutts]

This is a question that applies to all archers at any and all levels so let us all know how you did it.
This is the scenario, about 6/9 months ago you where shooting say 450 or 500 or 550 on lets say for arguments sake a portsmouth round,(substitute any round or score you want).
You are now scoring consistently 10,20.30 points more than that with the odd exception of course.
What did you put the improvement down to was it say, positive mental attitude or maybe putting in a lot more practice,or maybe something as simple as getting your bow tuned properly.........im sure you have got the idea by now.
I personnaly went from a 545 portsmouth to a consistent 565 average with a PB of 580 once i decided that yes archery was for me and when i went to the club to practice thats what i did practice not talk.
All this happened within the 9 months i have been doing archery and obviously other factors have come into play as well,but i would say attitude was top of the list.
So now its over to you and if you are reading this then you have a viewpoint so come on lets hear it.

[cliveanne]

My reply is... Remebering what that last bad shot felt like, & trying to eliminate having that feeling again. I used to be a recurve shooter (I still am at heart) but I'm re-training myself from scratch with a compound getting the feel again, so when I go back to recuve, I hope to have got rid of m bad habits.

[Little Miss Purple]

I'm not sure how to answer that one!! After about 3/4 months of shooting I was just below bowman, I then went to see my coach and everything went downhill!! lol - a lot of my stance, bow hand, draw etc was all changed. My form is improving again but I think it is down to practice - but if my mental state is not on archery, forget any decent score!

[robbo]

It's definately about mental state and lots of practice.

I find that if i'm laughing and joking with people behind the line when I go up to shoot i don't concentrate hard enough and the scores suffer.

My scores have jumped in the last few months and I put this down to working hard on my loose and simply putting the hours in. My current Portsmouth PB is 524 (after 6 months of shooting) but I feel I have a good 540 in me, I just need to string it all together for a whole round.

It's also confidence, it took me a while to break the 500 mark but now that I have I rarely shoot below it because i have the confidence that I can do it, my scores have increased as a result.

[Max]

Hi Indybutts - let me get this straight. You shot a 580 Portsmouth within 9 months of picking up a bow, then decided, "I think this archery game is OK?". I think maybe we ought to be asking you how we should improve I think I will take up fishing.

I improved about 20 points on last year on a portsmouth round, mainly through members of my club helping me and telling me where my form was shaky. I am just about getting to the point where I can feel when something goes wrong and put a cause to it. That will probably be the most important factor in improving next season. So long as I can remember what I did right of course! Keep up the fantastic progress mate!

[Shirt]

Picked up a few by discovering that back tension is a good thing, and that a quick shot will tend to go in the middle better than one where you've hung about for ages trying to aim in the middle...

Problem is I forgot how to do both of those over Xmas. Dammit.

[cliveanne]

Originally Posted by Shirt

Picked up a few by discovering that back tension is a good thing, and that a quick shot will tend to go in the middle better than one where you've hung about for ages trying to aim in the middle...

Problem is I forgot how to do both of those over Xmas. Dammit.

I'll go along with that. I now shoot 3 arrows to a recurves one, more often than not. It goes to show "Don't think... Just do it"
Some of our club members recon I'm shooting too fast for my own good, then I show them my score book Nuf said

[LineCutter]

I suspect that most of my scoring jumps are due to the granular nature of the scoring.

A near linecutter scores less than an actual line cutter & the difference between a 10 & a lesser score becomes more pronounced as your expected score increases. (Think about the density distribution if your group is centred about the X, as the standard deviation decreases).

In other words, the better you shoot the higher the scores, but for some increases in accuracy the scores jump, because if the way in which scores are recorded. Now if the archery liberal party could bring in a scoring system based on proportional representation....

[Little Miss Purple]

My scoring varies a great deal according to how stressed womble is with his shooting - if I could switch off to his flapping etc, my scores would improve no end.

[Barry C]

A combination of very very hard practice, good equipment, and most important the mental attitude so you dont choke when things are going well. Choking is very common. So I would say for me belief is most important.