In this newsletter: |
| 26th Archival Archery Annual JOAD Indoor Championship Online Registration Opened This tournament will be in the same location as last year - College Station, at G Rollie White Stadium on the A&M Campus. The tournament will be held on Jan 18-19, a Friday evening (6pm) and Saturday morning and afternoon. Each JOAD archer should pick ONE shooting time, as soon as possible. This is being hosted by the Aggie Archery club and Brazos Valley JOAD/4H club. For full tournament information, map link, and online registration information, please use this link.Information and online registration for the State Indoor Senior Championship will be posted soon. It will be held at the University of A' Anna Hiss Gym (same as last year as well) on February 15-17. Keep an eye on the main Archival Archery page in the gold box at the top for the link. |
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| Archery Focus Magazine Subscription! (XMAS HINT!) One of the best magazines in the US, nay, dare I say, THE WORLD!, is Archery Focus Magazine.  A very reasonable $32 dollars will let you provide your favorite archer with the "gift that keeps on giving" throughout the year, or for a discounted amount of $54, it will keep showing up in the mailbox for TWO YEARS! You can subscribe right now, online, by going to the AF website. You can also do so by snail-mail at: Archery Focus Magazine 3712 North Broadway #285 Chicago, IL 60613 |
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| Massachusetts Free Indoor Archery Tournament Timer - Mass FIATT State archery associations are one of the most vital resources for archers in the US. The State Archery Association of MA (SAAM) has a member that is giving to the archery community what I think is a wonderfully effective tool for conducting archery tournaments. His name is Richard Hart and he's got a knack for solving problems and creating software tools for unique tasks.  His gift to us all (yes, Victoria, there IS a Santa Claus!) is a windows-based timer that performs timing functions that usually have to be done by hand, drives multiple computer displays/TV monitors, giving countdowns for all the portions of an archery event:
 This software package is easy to install and remove, can run on a laptop and does not require a "super fast" processor, and will even talk to you and the archers if you hook in a set of PC speakers or a PA system (via line out). To read more about the software and to get your own copy of this program, please follow this link... |
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| Christmas Gift Idea For Your Young Archer (or Parent of) There is a new book from one of the US' best ever female archers, Denise Parker. It is available in paperback, and the link below takes you to the online bookstore Amazon. Other book sources should also have this. I have not read it yet because it is under the Christmas Tree awaiting the 25th, but feel certain there is something to be learned by reading it. Such books regarding archery are very few and far between. Around $20. A very good idea for a gift for yourself or your favorite archer!Denise Parker: A Teenage Archer's Quest for Olympic Glory (Paperback)
I have added a review of the book at the documents page of the website - here is the link |
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| Quintessential Archery Quintessential Productions produces training and other materials for getting started in target archery.. Definition - "Quintessential" : representing the perfect example of a class or quality An Olympian Archer, Ruth Rowe, has developed a line of tools and gear that are aimed to support the implementation of BEST for all archers both novice and intermediate. Ruth is also a Regional High Performance BEST coach and an NArchival Archery Level IV coach. One sore point I have in attempting to teach college students is that even at a typical 20 to 25 pounds, bows are too hard to draw to allow the student to keep the BEST form that they can display when using a surgical tubing loop (aka "bungy bow". Ruth recognized this problem and has put together bow setups that are only 10 pounds in draw weight. She also has bungys, straps for string bow training, books, and dvds. One book deals with bow maintenance and tuning. She offers both a "training bow" and a "shootable bow", the latter is a complete bow which can be used for both learning technique and shooting. Light mass weight and light draw weight means the bow is balanced. * Rolan Riser For under $200, and she offers a quantity discount for groups and clubs. You can read all about her many offerings on her website. I think that coaches will find her gear to be very useful in teaching their archers. |
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| Massachusetts Cyclic Archery Training Timer - aka MASSCATT One very good technique for teaching intermediate to excellent archers to execute a good shot cycle is to use a timer so that the archer can establish a fundamental internal clocking mechanism. It helps them to maintain a continual motion, for example. National Coach Kisik Lee has told me the typical shot cycle should be approximately 7 seconds. Hold longer than that and oxygen debt will cause muscle fatigue as the archer stalls out, less will prevent proper execution of the components of the KSL shot cycle, especially the transfer! So one training routine is to use a countdown timer for the archer, that cycles over and over from say, 10 seconds down. The archer has just enough time to methodically remove arrow from quiver, nock it properly, and initiate the shot cycle and complete it before the clock expires. Obviously this kind of training will help prepare the archer for stressful situations, but it does much more to establish a basic foundation for moving through the components of the KSL Shot Cycle. Brief sessions with this are useful for even the basic intermediate archer, to establish a more subconscious pattern of shooting in a timely manner. A precaution please: the archer must not view this timer routine as anything other than a way to establish a rhythm to the KSL Shot cycle. I am suggesting that the coach must watch carefully to insure the archer does not start focusing on the clock to the exclusion of proper form and technique and it's important that archer does not fail to adhere to the KSL BEST form due to distraction. As with the Tournament Timer software already mentioned in this newsletter, the author asks that if you find it useful you consider making a donation to his state's non-profit association to help them out. Contact |
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| Muscular Idea There is a great website for identifying and viewing muscles of the human body, and how they work. Best Coach Dr. Eric Schindler tipped me off to the URL, and it is really fascinating. Every coach will find it useful for helping to visualize certain motions and forms, particularly when trying to understand the BEST method. Use this link and be sure to bookmark the site! |
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| DOS Assistant - Archery Timer Software & Digital Displays Tim Humphrey has created several useful tools for the Archival Archery - in the past he built a set of wireless loudspeakers for the outdoor events, and now a hardware-based system call the Director Of Shooting Assistant for allowing the DOS at an outdoor tournament (or indoor for that matter) to have a single-button control of the shooting timing for the event.  I saw the digital displays in action at the UT Sunbird Outdoor Tournament that was held a few weeks back (in DECEMBER, yikes) and the displays were clear and easy to see even with the sun shining directly on the face of them from it's southerly location in the winter sky. I have to say that the temps for the event were in the EIGHTIES! with mild winds.... But back to the DOS Assistant package. To read more about them, Tim has created a complete document which is available as an acrobat file at this location. |
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| A Seasonal Thought This will be the 64th issue of the Archival Archery Newsletter, I think probably the last of 2007. May you have a happy new year, a merry Christmas, a happy holiday, a truly joyous season of family and friends. Thanks for helping to keep archery alive and well in 2008!  Ron, Gina, and Lindsey Carmichael |
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