interesting question ?

[FlourPower]

All it would take is someone to mention the flaw and then archer #1 would be toppled! Then again all it would take is a bit of instruction to sort this out. Changing people's mental papingoes!

[piphil]

At the moment I'm going from #2 to #1. I have a tendency to over-self-coach. Every shot I balls up is blamed on a technique flaw, which I then have to work on. I figure the cause of this is a lack of confidence in my technique.

I'd much rather be in the state of mind where I know my technique isn't perfect, but it's the best I can do, and therefore any bad shots are just a result of random error that all human interaction is associated with.

I'm hoping if I can find someone to be a permanent mentor or coach I can leave the finding of technique or form flaws to them, allowing me to simply concentrate on the shooting itself, which I'm starting to realise takes far more concentration than the watching the pros reveals. Mostly, it has to be said, the concentration is on thinking of nothing, but it's concentration nonetheless...

[Tony_zelah]

If you put a badly tuned bow into a Hooter shooter it will put the same arrow in the same hole time after time. So I'd rather have good form any time, even if it did mean I needed six different sight marks each end to make the arrows group!!!!!!

[EVC]

#1 hands down. Based on my own experience.

I shot 1088 (FITA) at my third official tournament. When I stopped thinking too much and just shot ("What the hell, what do I have to lose" mindset) I shot 332 at 30m (OK, maybe not brilliant for top shots but, hey, I am not one!), PB in tournaments. Fully relaxed, though concious of not best form/technique. It's a pitty that mindset came only at the last distance.

The last tournament (4th official) I was too anxious and also more concerned about form/technique flaws. Result: 1066 (even though I performed slightly better at the longer distances.)

I whish I could switch to that WTH,WDIHTL mindset the next tournament right in the 90m round.



Elder.

[Mistake]

Originally Posted by Yorker

My general opinion is you can fix an archers form and shooting style as a coach but you can never fix their persona. Various members of our club just break down in competition, there is nothing at all we can do about it.

I'm about to ruin your case in point..


I've never manage to perform to my practice standard in competitions (well.. ok.. thats not strictly true) because i have had the wrong mind set to do it.

I've finally learned to have a better mental management system and how to adjust my mind set, and just last week I managed to shoot a 594 Portsmouth under quite a lot of pressure from both other people and myself (ok it was a fairly informal competition but there was still a lot of pressure) .

Some people take longer to learn how to relax at competitions and shoot well, where as others have a more natural ability to relax into the shot, but yes it is much harder than learning technique.

[madmac]

Number 1 all the way
If he/she is consitantly doing the same thing then thats all we aspire to isnt it?

[Robin the Hood]

I'll go for No 1. But I'll also go one step further....
No 1 is shooting with everything put into each shot, but even with trying their best they still shoot minor re-occuring faults.
I'm assuming that the faults are the same every time. If so I would be very surprised that their scores didn't stay at a satisfying consistancy. After all, if every shot is the same be it good or bad style the arrow will go in the same place....
After all there are some good archers who can prove this when you see them shoot and you wonder how they get away with it....

Paul...

[ASW1973]

ther is no difference between training a mental or a technical skill, why should there be?
In both cases the right teaching gets the right results

[geoffretired]

Originally Posted by ASW1973

ther is no difference between training a mental or a technical skill, why should there be?
In both cases the right teaching gets the right results

It's good to know that it can be done. Perhaps most of us are more familiar with teaching technical skills. Is there a few key elements to know about with teaching mental skills or is it too complex to put in a nutshell?

[Deadeye Doc]

Of course mental skills can be taught, otherwise the Lanny Basshams and Terry Orlicks, not to mention ASW173, would not be in business. We are all told, at some point, by our coaches, 90% of this game is about mental management. Once one has "a technique" that works, even though it is flawed, provided it is not too grossly bizarre, repetition will get results. We "talk" ourselves out of shooting well.

Geoff, any sports psychologist will talk about "positive mental attitude" and "negative self-talk". Both of the two people mentioned above, Lanny Bassham and Terry Orlick, one from Texas and the latter from Canada, have written extensively on learning to focus only on positive outcomes, and eliminating self-doubt.
I like Lanny's story about the time he began to try and dissect why he was shooting "8s". What he learned from this was how to shoot "8s", when what he needed to be doing was analysing how to shoot "10s".
A maxim that is perhaps helpful is not "practice makes perfect" but "perfect practice makes perfect". Learn how to shoot tens.
So ideally shooting with both good form and a great mental attitude - "I shoot tens!" - is what we should strive for. If I remember correctly Lanny says "if we let our conscious mind shoot the arrow, we definitely have the second team in there". Once technique is learned let your unconscious shoot the arrow. Focus on the positive, never let the negative stray in there. How often have you been going well and you suddenly think "Oh, I haven't shot an eight (or a nine) lately!" and, hey presto, next shot ... BLAH! ?
Hope this helps?