Self training

[doomie22]

Hello,

I have been doing archery (recurve) for nearly 2 years now and I have got to the point that I want to start training and setting tasks for myself.

Has anyone got an ideas or they have done anything like this?

I am asking as I am getting bored of just doing in house tournaments and just shooting at the boss to see what score I get.

I currently shoot indoors with a 40 foot range.

Thanks,

Doomie

[SVL]

During the past two years have you shot outdoors and if so what classification do you have. I find myself that I do prefer to shoot outdoors and setting outdoor targets is often easier. For indoors you only shoot about 12y... what size target face are you using. Perhaps you could get a scaled target for 20y/18m equivalant and see how you do. When I come to the indoor season I try to use this time to make sure my bow is well tuned and my shooting style is good. I tend to work on shooting style over this period rather than scores. Get somebody to do a video of you shooting and then do some analysis with your club coach.

For me indoor targets are technique orientated while outdoor targets are to use what I worked on over the indoor season to improve my outdoor scores.

If you have a club coach, go have a chat

[doomie22]

I think the way I asked might of been wrong.

I have been fully trained (I am becoming a trainer in the new year). What I am after doing is coming up with a challenge system for myself that has say 10 parts to it (starting easy and working up to hard), that I can do and see how far I get through when I shoot, so the goal is to complete it without failing.

So for example if its was 10 parts to it, the easiest one is just hitting the boss through to getting 3 arrows stuck in the end of each other and say I get through parts 1-5 and then fail on the 6th I have to go back to 1.

Hope this explains it better.

Thanks

Doomie

[geoffretired]

That sounds a bit like goal setting with scores or groups size as the way to judge improvement.
You could decide on a group size, example within the red. That could be extended to within the red at 40y up to 100y etc.
That seems to be focusing on results rather than on the improvements required to bring about those results. Would technique improvements be part of your plan too?

[ThePinkOne]

Originally Posted by doomie22

Hello,

I have been doing archery (recurve) for nearly 2 years now and I have got to the point that I want to start training and setting tasks for myself.

Has anyone got an ideas or they have done anything like this?

I am asking as I am getting bored of just doing in house tournaments and just shooting at the boss to see what score I get.

I currently shoot indoors with a 40 foot range.

Thanks,

Doomie

Have you decided what you actually want out of archery?

That's the first thing. The rest follows from there.

DarkHorse.

[Little Miss Purple]

Only you can set your goals - we all have different expectations and these come with different boundaries!!!

[exziit]

i set myself a goal and thats to become a national team member here and to get better or at least learn something after every shot

[TJ Mason]

Slow to respond to this because I wanted to have a good think about what drove my own improvement. So it's a ludicrously long response, hur hur!

Goal setting is important, but you need a good idea of where you are in order to set goals.

Firstly, record your arrow scores. Get a score pad and write the arrow scores down after each end, totalling them as appropriate. If someone else is doing the scoring, don't rely on their totals - do it yourself and compare. Later, I bash these scores into a spreadsheet I've developed, so I have an electronic record of what I've shot. You can also use a PDA, but I ain't got one. For each distance and each round, I count the number of 10s, the number of 9s etc. I also have a summary spreadsheet that records date, venue, round, score, hits, golds, classification and whether PB.
This will help you to get a good idea of your shooting patterns. You might discover (as I did for my indoor scores) that you're weak on the first and last dozens and stronger on the middle dozens. Then think honestly about why these patterns are occurring. This can give you a clue that you need to warm up before the round to get off to a better start, and stop worrying about other people's scores so you don't get dragged down towards the end.

Secondly, record the conditions in which you shot. How were you feeling, physically and mentally? What sort of day did you have before you got to the shoot? What were the weather and ground conditions like? What were the lighting and noise conditions like? What external distractions did you encounter? What was enjoyable? What were you hoping for? What were your motivations? Were you confident in your equipment?
I put this information into a spreadsheet called "analysis", along with the date, venue, equipment used, score, hits and golds. This makes good reading at later dates and helps you to set realistic expectations before a shoot.

Thirdly, record the things that went right and the things that went wrong. Did you discover an equipment problem? Were you really pleased about your follow-through? Was your bow-arm wobbly? How expensive were your bad shots? Think about the reasons for problems and possible solutions. Don't neglect the positive aspects, though - you might need reminding at a later date of what you were doing back when things were going well.
This also goes into the analysis spreadsheet.

I also record how I'm feeling for the future.

This will raise specific questions in your mind. Ask them here! Or on Archery Forum or Sagi. Works for me.

From this info, you can think about goals. There are all sorts of goals: score (including classification and handicap), equipment, technique, mental. They can basically be classed as either

• process goals - how you do something
• performance goals - the outcomes you want.

Some of my process goals over the last six months:

• get my bow-hand placement consistent (technical)
• do a proper tuning session so I'm confident in the equipment (equipment)
• keep my bow arm strong with the elbow rotated properly (technical)
• stop tipping my head backward (technical)
• revised to: stop dipping my head forward (technical)
• learn how to deal with external distractions (mental)
• stop distracting myself with dreams of Olympic glory every time I shoot a decent end (mental)
• let down when I know I should (mental)

My performance goals:

• shoot at least one First Class score in 2006
• revised to: shoot two more First Class scores in 2006
• get consistently above 500 on a Portsmouth
• score 540 or more on a Portsmouth before Christmas 2006
• score 560 or more on a Portsmouth before April 2007

Read your goals every so often, especially before a shoot.

Don't base your goals on things you have no control over, such as what other people do. Don't say "I want to win this particular shoot" because there are always some awkward blighters who might just outscore you.

Revise your goals in response to events, such as when you meet or exceed a goal, or there's a change of personal circumstances.

Make a note of when and how you achieved a goal, or why you revised (or abandoned) it. Be honest about wy you're not making progress towards a goal, but don't beat yourself up.

Some people say to make a long-term wish list and don't worry about how far-fetched it seems. Well, maybe. I don't find that works for me. I'd rather set goals for six months ahead (currently "go from an unconvincing First-Class to a convincing First-Class") and a year ahead ("get at least one Bowman score") that are achievable if I push myself. These fit the SMART (Specific-Measurable-Achievable-Realistic-Timed) criteria that goal-setting gurus talk about.

Be honest about it all. You're writing this for yourself, no-one else, so don't worry about coming across as a winker(sp). All it means is that one day you'll look back and think "what a winker(sp) I was".

[Little Miss Purple]

And if you tell others of your goals...don't be put off by their answers!!!

I said I want to get 1100 on a hereford..."do you know how hard that is" was the reply. It can't be that much harder, I'm only looking for another 30 points on my pb.

You know what your capabilities are and if you can realistically achieve them. This may depend on how long you have been shooting, what equipment you are using and how much time you give up to practice & competitions

[ThePinkOne]

Originally Posted by Little Miss Purple

And if you tell others of your goals...don't be put off by their answers!!!

I said I want to get 1100 on a hereford..."do you know how hard that is" was the reply. It can't be that much harder, I'm only looking for another 30 points on my pb.

You know what your capabilities are and if you can realistically achieve them. This may depend on how long you have been shooting, what equipment you are using and how much time you give up to practice & competitions

Yeah, and don't let anyone try make you content with being "2nd class" in any sense of the word...

My first season with R/C I set a goal of getting 1st Class and getting my 800 Rose. I'd only just had my first proper modern take-down R/C (before that was long bow and a 50-year-old one-piece recurve with wooden arrows) and the coach I then worked with me told me this was impossible and I should revise my goal to 2nd class

So I went out and proved to him just how wrong he was- reached both my goals. Then found myself another coach...

Same happened this summer when I switched to compound in May 06. The same guy told me that my classification WOULD drop when I switched..... poppycock! What he didn't know was that I decided that no way was the DH going to put any score less that 1st class down, and moreover by the end of the summer the DH would have a 1100 Rose, 1200 FITA Star and a top-end Bowman classification. Funnily enough, the coach working with DH accepted those new goals as doable and he and the DH were right...

Funny thing the mind. But, if you set goals that are stretching (but realistic) then work in a systematic way to achieve them (the latter is pretty important, it's the work that counts not the dreams) AND BELIEVE YOU CAN... Also, it helps if you have a focus and stick to it. In my case, I decided this Winter I would work seriously on form- and not do ANY indoor tournaments or the club league. 3 months into this schedule, it is paying off, and I am seeing my indoor handicap drop substantially from where I was at the start of the indoor. But to do this I forfeited any "glory" and am sticking to a very boring (on occasion) regime. However, this is because I am focusing on the outdoor at the moment, someone else may do it a different way.

Regards

DH