Tag Archives: coach

Mar 22 2013

Literature Review – Idiot Proof Archery-How to Shoot Like a Pro

I recently bought this book (Idiot Proof Archery-How to Shoot Like a Pro) on a trip to Wales Archery.  But I had first seen a copy about a year ago whilst competing at the Scottish championships. Some of my club members from Artemis had a copy and were promoting its content.

Idiot proof archery

Idiot proof archery

I like the style of writing, as it makes the book an easy read. It also means you can easily put it down and pick it up or flick through.

I think it gives good advice for those wanting to improve and I found the Dos and Don’t chapter particularly informative and insightful. Another thing is if you are a coach or interested in developing coaching skills there is some good advice and tips throughout the book on things to look out for in your students.

I particularly like the quick key points tips in the margins.

I would classify myself as a traditional archer in many ways, in so far as I shoot mostly wooden arrows from bows without sights. I have a compound and carbon arrows for my recurve, sights etc but prefer instinctive shooting, which means some of the material and subject matter covered is not as relevant. Having said that I still found this very insightful and in short a good read.

Images can be a little small but they succeed in getting the messages across. the one thing I think is lacking is an index of content to aid in finding topics.

I’ve included a link to Amazon below but as I said I bought my copy from Wales Archery, which is a great little shop in Crick, Monmouthshire.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Idiot-Proof-Archery-How-Shoot-Pro-Step/dp/0971281211

ISBN-10: 0971281211

ISBN-13: 978-0971281219

Nov 26 2012

Injury and archery

I’m sure many reading this have seen photos of injuries associated with archery. Some of you may have been injured yourself or patched people up.

Sharon recently injured her right hand in a bicycling accident. On further investigation at hospital it transpired she had fractured her ring finger either side of the first joint.

Sharons hand

Sharons’ hand, the swelling and bruising has gone down.

For those of you with medical knowledge it is the intermediate phalanges and proximal phalanges  which I think is the metacarphalangeal joint.

Images of hand - source Wikipedia
Image of hand – source Wikipedia (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Scheme_human_hand_bones-en.svg )

Though this is a minor injury. The bone is not broken all the way across, but is broken in 2 places, it will result in no shooting for minimum 4-6 weeks as the bones knit back together. She is not a happy archer and keeps hinting at stringing bow in couple of weeks. To which she gets a stern telling off.

  • Don’t rush back and expect to perform at same level.
  • Give your body time to heal – rushing back to shoot may result in complicating your injury

Putting pressure on healing limbs or muscles is BAD idea. Consider this. When you draw up you are putting pressure on your 3 fingers. Depending on your personal draw and technique you might exert slightly more pressure on say your ring finger than your index or vice-versa. Either way, if one is injured you must give time for your body to heal.

Sharon Shooting

Sharon Shooting a few weeks ago

I presently have a not very happy archer, but I would rather a not very happy archer for a couple of weeks than an injured archer for a few months.

Thanks for reading