Beginning to Shoot and Laying Groundwork

Upon beginning archery I put a fair amount of time into it in the beginning but I never really put a lot of groundwork into it. I remember in 6^th grade at camp they gave us a bow and put a target down range and it was like a competition. However, we never just took a moment to really get a good feel for it and just practice so that’s what I thought archery was, all focused on accuracy and such right from the beginning. When using targets, I wasn't great and it frustrated me, I never put the groundwork down when I probably should have. 

When I was first learning to shoot I felt a little too prideful and like I needed to exceed and be good at it right from the start, and a little too impatient to finally get good and shoot something really far away. In the book the author mentions, “Following a consistent routine is the key to becoming a great archer. If you are new to archery, just concentrate on developing proper shooting form. Don’t worry right now about accuracy or even how far away the target is placed” (Engh 39). This is key to success as being impatient will never allow you to reach full potential, practice makes perfect and you have to lay the groundwork before you can actually achieve anything. He mentions hay is a good target because it is unmarked, just shoot into it, not from a distance, maybe 15 feet, just shoot it and practice good form, don't worry about distance, or accuracy, that will come from practicing this now. 

Although later accuracy is of course quite important in shooting, putting arrows just down range will help but you still.It mentions how proper string release is vital to accuracy in archery. And that one way to learn to release a string smoothly with the back of the hand still relaxed is the bucket drop. By filling a bucket to about 10 pounds and then lifting it a few inches off the ground but keeping the back of the hand relaxed, and then releasing the bucket allowing it to fall. Doing this repeatedly will eventually make your release much smoother (Engh 38). After doing this repeatedly for a few minutes and picking back up the bow, as the book said it did feel like I was releasing a lot more smoothly. 

Do you feel like you rushed yourself a little bit when you were first learning to shoot? If yes, if you could go back and take it a bit slower to get a good feel and become an expert at the basics, why?

Engh, Douglas. Archery Fundamentals. IL: Human Kinetics Inc, 2005. Print.