“Practicing with purpose is the key to progress.” – John Wooden, Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court (1997)
Here’s what not to do during your practice session: show up to the range and try to hit the target as many times as possible. You might wonder, but isn’t that the point of archery? So, you shoot arrow after arrow, mindlessly trying to hit the center. Maybe you’re successful with some of the shots. In the end, this is a recipe for stagnation.
Instead, practice sessions should be reflective, purposeful, and challenging.If you’ve ever watched competitors or performers train in other disciplines, you know that they practice drills and exercises to develop or reinforce specific skills. Chess players solve problems or puzzles on the board. A boxer practices with a speed bag. Musicians play scales and arpeggios. We can apply these same principles to our archery training.
Reflective
Our training sessions should incorporate feedback in order to improve our performance. This is perhaps the most difficult part about archery. Its simplicity deludes us into focusing on where the arrow lands on the target. If the arrow hits the center, our feedback is that perhaps we’re doing something right. If it doesn’t hit the center of the target, then obviously we’re doing something wrong. The target provides no other feedback. What is it that we’re doing wrong that we’re not hitting our target? In all reality, the most valuable feedback comes from ourselves - the follow-through of our release arm, the steadiness of our bow arm, the pose of our stance. Much of this feedback might come from our coach but we can and should learn how to evaluate our own performance. This requires us to genuinely reflect on our form and identify areas we feel discomfort or weakness. These are the areas where we need to focus ourselves.
Purposeful
Our practice sessions should focus on improving or maintaining a specific aspect of the shot sequence. Musicians practice scales and timeless exercises to reinforce or improve skills. We too have drills and exercises that help us focus on improvement rather than our scores. Musicians don’t play scales because their concert will feature an exceptional performance of a major scale. Rather, they play skills to reinforce their skills - so that they can more easily master songs that feature these musical sequences. Archers practice this same principle. We must practice every minute step of our shot process so that we can more consistently execute a perfect shot sequence. We need to practice each step with perfection so that the process is burned into our subconscious.
This may mean that some days you don’t even look at a target. Instead you might practice on a close bale with no visual stimuli to focus on. Instead you focus on executing a perfect release. Perhaps you might work with balancing discs in order to improve your balance and stability. Or perhaps you practice with a mirror so that you can study your form as you complete the shot process. Sometimes we are shooting at the target but we are consciously focusing on our string blur or our anchor rather than the result of the arrow. In each of these exercises, we are aiming to improve a small part of our form so that we are more consistently able to execute a great shot.
Measurable
The most difficult part about practice is the temptation to use the target as feedback. It is obviously the most important measure that we will be judged as an archer. However, it’s important that we measure ourselves honestly. Instead, gauge yourself on how consistently you can incorporate a desired change in your form. Other skills are more measurable. Perhaps you want to increase your strength and endurance. Measure this by how long you can hold. Try to increase that.
However we design our practice sessions, it’s important we strive to challenge ourselves.
Practical Practice Tips
Be sure to warm up before your start shooting. Loosen up your muscles and get your heart rate slightly elevated so you feel more focused. Part of my warmup is to shoot at a blank bale to get some warm-up shots without the temptation of evaluating my initial shots of the session.
Pick an area to improve on. This may involve drills or training tools such as a shot trainer. I won’t go into great detail on every single exercise to tackle every possible shot sequence issue. Your main concern is to identify something you’d like to work on and find an exercise to target that skill. A coach may help with this. Remember that trying out a new drill won’t instantly resolve a form issue. Some habits take a long time to break so these drills may take several sessions.
The closer you are to competition season, incorporate scoring into your training. I don’t think scoring is necessary in every practice session especially if you’re trying to resolve some major issues. However, it’s important to remember that shooting under pressure is an important skill to develop.
After scoring or simply shooting at a target, return to blank bale to reinforce your form. I’ve always found that scoring tends to change my form so I make a habit of returning to the blank bale to leave the session with my desired form changes more fresh in my mind.
Just as we warm up in the beginning, we need to cool down. Stretch out. Also, take this time to make and reflective notes in your journal.