What next for beginners?

[Jimster71]

Hi,

I finished a beginners course at the beginning of February and was shooting once a week, indoors, up until this week. Now we are outdoors, we have 3 sessions a week and I also have a boss in the garden (it's only 9m but I can practice form with it and build up strength/stamina).

Since the beginners course, we are pretty much left up to our own devices as regards shooting. What should we be looking for next in terms of support and what sort of things should we be aiming to achieve in the near future?

Personally, I will probably grab one of the coaches to get some feedback on how I shoot, to see if there are any glaring mistakes or if I'm picking up any bad habbits.

I want to ensure that I steadily improve in my shooting and would like some sort of structure to base that on as well as a measure to guage how well/badly I am doing.

[clickerati]

If your club has coaches, then definitely use them. That's what they're there for. Make sure they know you want feedback.

[Jimster71]

I'm definitely trying to shoot more arrows. I've managed to shoot every night for 4 days on the trot. I realise that I need to be accurate with tight groups at short distances to have any hope of hitting the long distances.

On my 9m target at home, I'm eventually aiming to have everything in the 10 on a 40cm target. Currently I have everything within an 8 on a 60cm at that distance.

[jaarus]

Try having several aim points on a target face at that range ,to prevent (as your group tightens) smashing the backs of all your arrows.
This would bring a prompt halt to any practicing!

Well, bar pracicing refletching and renocking

[ben tarrow]

Originally Posted by Jimster71

Hi,


I want to ensure that I steadily improve in my shooting and would like some sort of structure to base that on as well as a measure to guage how well/badly I am doing.

Ask your coach about the FITA/GNAS Feather/Arrows awards scheme (he wont have heard of it, but he could look it up on the GNAS website) and the GNAS Classification scheme.
These provide structured waypoints or goals on the path of personal improvement.

[Jimster71]

Originally Posted by jaarus

Try having several aim points on a target face at that range ,to prevent (as your group tightens) smashing the backs of all your arrows.
This would bring a prompt halt to any practicing!

Well, bar pracicing refletching and renocking

I got some 3 spot vegas faces (40cm) for when my groups are getting better.

[Thunk]

I'm still amazed that there's no formal course to follow on from the beginner stage. I realise that eventually people will branch out into other specialisms (compound, longbow, etc) but it seems to me that a follow-up recurve course, say six months after finishing the beginners course, is a no-brainer.

[!!!]

Originally Posted by ben tarrow

Ask your coach about the FITA/GNAS Feather/Arrows awards scheme (he wont have heard of it, but he could look it up on the GNAS website) and the GNAS Classification scheme.
These provide structured waypoints or goals on the path of personal improvement.

My better half is working her way through the arrow awards, great for getting groupings at the shorter distances, and also learning how to maintain your kit, fetching arrows, setting up knocking points that sort of thing. The award badges look really good as well.
The Arrow awards scheme is well worth asking about.

[geoffretired]

Since the beginners course, we are pretty much left up to our own devices

How often have we seen this on the forum??
I think your device, for getting help, is the right one.
Make it obvious that you want to go further and hopefully the help will be there when you need it. If it isn't, make sure you can get the help you need from somewhere.Avoid the "Pinball scenario" where different people offer you help that pushes you in different directions each time.

[pHz]

similar situation here - but with the small blessing there are maybe 6 or 7 of us who started within a few months of each other and so we have a kind of informal mutual support society going where we will happily trade tips / ideas / moans / observations / etc

no substitute for a formal follow up from a proper coach (of which we have precious few at our club - and those we do have are no longer that active) but better than nothing - and it helps that a two or three of us are happy to almost obsessively gather information and advice from whatever source we can

but i know what you mean about the 'pinball effect' - discovered only this week that one of our more experienced archers had been advising someone (a pretty decent archer too) about balancing their recurve but had been advising to try and balance the bow around a point that NONE of the sources ive read mentioned - since this advisor had originally helped me tune my bow when i first got it i can see how a lack of a formal follow-up to the beginners course could cause problems for some archers

im sure i had a point somewhere in there

slainte : rob