anchor points

[doubletop]

help me please

my youngest lad is having difficulty settling in to an anchor point that stays the same he shoots a recurve bow 20# at 28 inches however only draws about 22/23 inches
for christmas santa bought him a new sight and thats where the problems started prior to xmas he was drawing to the corner of mouth fairly consistently and was scoring well on a good day at 9 metres

new sight and he has been told to draw to under his chin which is where the problems started his head is up to much his anchor point is up as well and he wont listen to me (see another post in coaches paradox)
wat im asking for is if he draws to the corner of his mouth still is he going t be ok at further distances which is not wat we are being told
he is being told he has to draw to under his chin and he had a bad day at the club session and i want to bolster his confidence again
btw he is only 8
many thanks in anticipation

[tel]

Presumably it's the club coach telling him to 'draw to under his chin'.
Isn't this one of those things you eventually develop your own version of anyway? (Personally - don't know why - my anchor has recently migrated to under my chin resulting in a more centralised feeling to the whole shot). In the meantime I guess you have to go with the flow.
One thing though - how is his anchor up if he's gone from corner of mouth to under chin? If he is tilting his head so much that his draw is the same as it was but his hand ends up under his chin he must be looking skyward! That is the thing to concentrate on (head) I would have thought. As for the distances, encouraging 'bad' form to get the yards is not the way to go - the distances can wait until he has developed. As you say he is only 8.

[GeoffT]

If he is 8....................just let him anchor where he wants and enjoy his shooting......Otherwise he will soon fall out of love with archery and join the thousands of ex-archers.

[doubletop]

tel
sorry i probably didnt explain it all that well his anchor point now is on his cheek dont ask how it got there it just did im just his dad and i know nowt (in his eyes LOL) he is saying that he cant get it on his nose and chin like he is being told by experienced archers that were on the beginners course as teachers late last year i was looking on the internet after posting the thread starter and have managed to find a few pics of people drawing bows showing there anchor points as under the chin so am hoping to show him these
as for the distance thing he is desperate to shoot as far as every one else please dont think im asking him to run before he can walk i just want him to enjoy his shooting

[Furface]

As I read your mail, your lad has till now been shooting barebow and is finding it difficult adjusting to a sight. This is one of the hardest steps, particularly among youngsters, as there is a flood of micro-adjustments to cope with. You are right - the most important thing at that age is to keep him motivated. And that means hitting the target.
Split the change into handlable sections. Try not to concentrate on anchor point, as that might develop into a simple clash of wills. What I would do is first concentrate on stance - keeping upright, HEAD ERECT AND LOOKING AHEAD (I have always found telling the youngster to imagine he's having an award from the Queen, or some such helps them imagine the right stance). Then let him draw back as before to the corner of the mouth, but looking through the sight rather than down the arrow (the height of the sight should be set to the depth between his mout and his eye at this stage). This takes some getting used to, remember. When he is comfortable with this (and it might be several sessions down the line) start him drawing to his mouth, and then moving his hand down to his chin (the height of teh sight now needs changing to eye-to-chin). This has the added benefit of not drawing under the chin and coming up, which tends to hunch the drawing shoulder. Eventually the end anchor point will feel comfortable, and (in my experience) he will start naturally drawing there.
Good luck

[PaulT]

I agree, don't let anybody 'over coach' him and put him off.
Also the centre of chin reference point doesn't work for everyone, we're all built differently, letting him find a reference that feels comfortable to him whether to the centre or side of chin is better as he will find it easier to replicate and he will enjoy his shooting more. Pas this on as well it may help!

[doubletop]

thanks all for the advice it doesnt help when i need people to guess wat im trying to say as i cant explain it properly but furface has it about taped thanks again will try and prize him off the x box and see wat happens

[Thunk]

I'm with GeoffT - the important thing is that he shoots; hang 'do this' and 'don't do that' all over him and he'll become another recruit to the Playstation Brigade.

The other important point is hitting the target. There's nothing more frustrating for anyone, let alone someone as young as eight, to be shooting and the arrows ending up in the mud. So don't let him try shooting distances where he hasn't a realistic hope of reaching the target - there are limits to how far a bow of that poundage can reach!

The trouble with anchoring on the cheek is that the whole bow is now off-line; assuming he is right-handed, the arrow will now have atendency to go left, which will need to be corrected by the windage adjustment on the sight. The bow has now lost centre-shot and the windage will have to be adjusted for every change of distance. An anchor pooint on the nose/chin really is best for those very practical reasons. If he finds this difficult to achieve, would a kisser help?

[Wrexham Exile]

try and reach a compromise. you dont HAVE to anchor directly under chin. i dont.
try getting him to achor under the jaw line so the string goes just down the side of his nose. in effect just moving his hand down his face a bit, it will be less of a change for him and still let him shoot "his way". this may not be ideal for the long term but should help keep him interested and keep him enjoying it.just change a bit at a time. i agree about over coaching too, i even get that now!

best of luck and i hope sticks with it

AL

[Flandyman]

HERATIC WARNING - HERATIC WARNING


Umm - Why the sight? - if he is comfortable with barebow stay with that for now - as others have said main thing is he enjoys his archery - you can do distance with barebow ! yes the cheek anchor has impact but that can be managed and by the sounds of it he has been dealing with that till now.

I shoot barebow - as do both my daughters from the start - they both shoot up to cub and junior field distance to great effect.

I often feel that there is a 'rush' into sights and the 'added' bits too early.

Just my view - hence the Heratic warning !