Tag Archives: traditional archery

Mar 31 2013

Finding help

Happy Easter everyone, I hope you have all had your fill of easter eggs and festivities.

Recently Jordan wrote on her blog site  (http://jordansequillion.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/getting-information/) an article on organisations and societies for the newbie, that’s inspired me to do something similar for the UK.

I can’t list every club in the UK but I can point you towards some useful websites so here goes a few.

nfasNFAS – National Field Archery Society –  http://www.nfas.net/

UK based organisation, which we shoot in most months, there is a good list of clubs and if you want you can find a shoot every weekend.

 

efaaEFAA – English Field Archery Association – http://www.efaafieldarcher.com/ Thought I was a member briefly I have never had the opportunity to shoot under the EFAA banner but know many people who do.

 

archerygbArchery GB – http://www.archerygb.org/ As the sites says Archery GB is the governing body for sports archery in the Great Britain and Ireland.

Another useful site is the Archery Interchange, http://www.archeryinterchange.com/ with its extensive forums offering advice on all things archery related.

AIUK-Logo-small

Thanks for reading and I hope you find this useful.

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

Mar 8 2013

Aiming for the fish’s eye

No I’m not talking about bow fishing, it is a quote from a book that came to mind after reading a recent archery article on the web.

A link to the artilce was posted on the Infinite Curve blog site http://theinfinitecurve.com/2013/03/07/bare/. If you have the chance read the post and follow the link to the full site http://www.bowyersedge.com/elements.html

As I said the article reminded me about I book I read over 20 years ago “The man who never missed” by Steve Perry. Its the first in a trilogy of books.

original book cover

original book cover

New book cover

New book cover

The story revolves around the main character Emile Khadaji and his mission to overthrow an evil galactic Confederation read empire. He masters a variety of skills including martial arts, bar tending, economic, smuggling etc, but one skill becoming a marksmanship in an exotic dart gun called a Spetsdōd.

Whilst being taught to shoot it he is told the story of the 3 archers at a competition run by the local lord. The 3 archers had been matched all the way through and were eventually pitted in a head to head round. As an alternate  target the lord placed a fish on the target boss.

After the final round the ruler asked the 3 archer what they had aimed for. The first archer said they aimed at the fish, the second said they aimed for the middle of the fish, the final archer when asked what they aimed for said they had aimed for the fish’s eye.

Well, you can guess who won.

The moral of the story being you only get as accurate as you try to be.

Reminds me of another sayings you hear from time to time.

“That was a lucky shot.”

“Yes it seems the more I practise the luckier I get with my shots.”

As always thanks for reading.