Archery from A to Z: D is for ‘Dedication’

The appeal of archery for beginners is the easiness with which they can hit the center of the target from a very short distance. Once they have sent a few arrows in the yellow center on a target at 10 meters, they want to move on to farther distances. The farther the better, so they think. But then they realize that the farther the distance the lower their score and when they start missing the target completely, they lose interest and it is not long before they stop coming altogether to the archery field. Why? Because you need dedication to become a good archer.

As a beginner, the last thing you want to do is shoot your bow at the farthest possible distance. Actually, as a beginner, you shouldn’t even have a target face on your target. The main focus should be on your shooting form, not on scoring high points. I’ve seen it so many times, when a total beginner is given a bow and a few arrows to shoot at a target without proper preparation (even I started archery as such).

But why does this happen? For the simple reason that people expect to hold a bow in their hands when they decided they want to practice archery. Who has the time to pull for several sessions a rubber band to build strength and create a proper shooting form? Who has the time to go through the moves an archer goes to before, during and after shooting an arrow, but without a bow and an arrow? Only people who are dedicated to the sport and really want to become good archers.

If you last those few weeks (and even months) of initial preparation, then the moment when you pick up your bow and start shooting your first arrows will feel more natural than if you had just started shooting during your first archery session. But a good start does not mean that you’ll become a good archer. Soon enough, you will realize that to shoot at farther distances, you need a higher drawing power on your bow. This can be easily adjusted if you have the proper equipment, but pulling a high poundage bow requires both technique and body strength.

And both your technique and body strength require time to build, loads of practice and the following of a series of small steps to increase accuracy. This cannot be achieved in one or two months. Sometimes not even half a year is enough. Most coaches would not let you shoot at a farther distance without having achieved a good score at a closer distance. And on many occasions, archers end up going back to the 5-meter blank target in order to tune their shooting form.

Without consciously dedicating yourself both body and spirit you will never achieve much in archery. But the question is how do we maintain this level of dedication high enough to see you training several times a week without getting bored with what you do? I guess there’s no answer that can fit all archers that fall into this category. I can add a list of benefits of archery, but the bottom line is that you’ll have to discover the reason why you want to pursue archery by yourself.

No one can force you go to the archery field for your daily training and without personal dedication, regardless of your friend’s or family’s wishes, you will not be able to succeed. Dedication in archery raises in importance once you’ve passed the basic training period, by which time you would probably have figured it out if archery is for you or not. If it’s for you, then allocating a slot in your weekly schedule for archery practice will be all up to yoau, but if you decide archery is not something you’d like to pursue further, then maybe it’s not a bad idea to try some other sport or activity.