How to identify 'talent'

[.jpg]

Posted this on Sagi first but I thought I'd see what people here think:

Among a group of novice archers, what would you look for when trying to find people with natural 'talent'?

Stance? Stability? Alignment? etc.

Thoughts please

[harlequin]

We are mostly novices on this board ourselves, so who here is experienced enough to contribute?

[.jpg]

harlequin - 9/9/2005 1:27 PM

We are mostly novices on this board ourselves, so who here is experienced enough to contribute?

Looking through the threads there seems to be pleanty of experienced archers here, some of them coaches.

And novices can voice their oppinions too. I'm still a novice for another month

[cecile]

Talented archers...
Beginners who are talented often show a lot of concentration on what they do.
Those who naturally use their back to draw the string have a good start and will improve quickly.
...
This is what I noticed.

[Old Bloke]

If they speak with a Birmingham accent, is a good starting place.

[Marcus26]

Something I forgot to mention on Saggi was how well they use their clicker/release aid.
If they can squeeze the release correctly from the start they have a good chance of being excellent. If they use their clicker correctly from the start they are leaps and bounds ahead of others.
If they punch and refuse to work on it they will most likely hit a point they can not improve on.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by .jpg

Posted this on Sagi first but I thought I'd see what people here think:

Among a group of novice archers, what would you look for when trying to find people with natural 'talent'?

Stance? Stability? Alignment? etc.

Thoughts please

Er... People who hit the target...?
Seriously, consistently hitting the target at an early stage is probably as good an indicator of talent as any other. It's not necessarily a good indicator of accomplishment further down the line though. No assessment of talent gives you that, as it's not altogether related to talent - more to determination and commitment. I've seen *so* many "naturals" give up, and so many "talentless" people continue, over the years.

[Thunk]

In my experience, novices don't use a clicker; indeed, they were not provided on my beginners course, and I was actively discouraged from getting one one my first bow for at least a few months until my draw length settled.

Archery being a physical sport, I would have thought a good degree of physical co-ordination would be one thing to look for.

[LineCutter]

The ability to shoot something that looks like a group, early on. That's probably it - you're looking for the signs of an ability to do exactly that.
Enthusiasm/focus/attention are good signs of improving more or more quickly, but I don't think that was quite the question being asked.

[Marcus26]

Originally Posted by thunk

In my experience, novices don't use a clicker; indeed, they were not provided on my beginners course, and I was actively discouraged from getting one one my first bow for at least a few months until my draw length settled.

Archery being a physical sport, I would have thought a good degree of physical co-ordination would be one thing to look for.

Day 1 my shooters have clickers are start learning to use them correctly. Why build bad habits early?