Jan 19, 2006
Hi !
In this newsletter:
A Perfect Opportunity
BEST Methodology
How Safe Is Target Archery?
Lost Subscribers
My Parents Don't Understand Archery.
When It's Good To Be Tight At A Tournament
Shooting Up Close
This Issue
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Jan 19, 2006 Hi !
In this newsletter: |
| A Perfect Opportunity |
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In the next two months, most states will be having their indoor championships, but a lot of JOAD coaches fail to guide their archers to compete, to participate, TO HAVE FUN, in the best tournament for a young archer to start competing with - the indoor event. I feel certain that every JOAD coach should encourage their archers to go to tournaments. period. The indoor event is the logical place to begin a competitive career. Archers that compete do not get bored and are much more likely to stay in JOAD and archery.Now, why is the Indoor State Championship a good place to start? I'm glad you asked that! The vast majority of JOAD archers already practice weekly at 18 meters, the very same distance that the state indoor championships are shot at. Most JOAD archers are already used to shooting SIXTY arrows (or close to it) during their class as well. And, of course, most JOADs have their weekly meetings indoors, year round. They might even be already scoring their arrows, just as they would in the tournament. In short, the JOAD archer CAN easily attend a state championship, feel very much at home with what they are used to doing, and compete successfully, if only their coaches (and parents) encourage them to. And if you are a JOAD archer you don't have to wait for your coach to make the suggestion, you can ask your coach or parents to support you and get your friends to compete as well. Carpooling is a good idea and that's where teammates and friends come in - here in A for example, it's not unusual for Cameron County JOAD to send 6, 8 or 14 archers on a SEVEN hour drive one-way, to participate! They do it because it is worth it, because it is that much FUN. Most of you won't have nearly that far to go for what will be a unique, unusual, and FUN event.It's fun to get together with your crew, all wearing your JOAD Club shirts, and go into someone else's gym or range to show how good you can be! The best thing about shooting in the state championship is that it makes a good warm up for the NATIONAL JOAD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS which are held all over the US, at many locations, one likely to be near to most archers, beginning at the end of February and continuing into the middle of March. Don't wait for that event to start but rather use the state event as a practice! So here is the game plan: Go to the state event (or any other local indoor tournament), learn what it is all about and try to shoot your best score in this new and exciting place. Go back home and practice and improve. Then, when you are ready, take your bow to the National venue that is nearest to you, and try to shoot a new personal best in competition. Just like the state championships, the nationals are the SAME DISTANCE, and the same number of arrows are shot. In short, it's all the same, but with a whole bunch of new archer friends to see, watch, and meet. To find all the locations for the national indoor events, check the USA Archery website, or the latest issue of USA Archery magazine. It has all the info, the registration forms, and a calendar of events that includes every State Championship that has been registered.Talk to your JOAD Coach, and ask her or him to help get your JOAD to the state meet. It's a natural start to competitions, and a great way to HAVE FUN! And when you have fun, you'll keep shooting!
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| BEST Methodology |
The BEST (Biomechanically Efficient Shooting Technique) is now being taught by the NArchival Archery in level III and IV certification courses, and indeed even in some Level II courses. In a few short words, the BEST way or method is an emphasis on using the human body's structure in the best way possible to deliver an arrow where you want it. It is the new USA Archery method. Simply changing the emphasis on the way we use bones as well as muscles will insure the most efficient and effective execution for ALL archers, especially our younger archers. And yes, this advanced technique is appropriate for JOAD beginners if taught by coaches certified in the BEST method. In fact, I feel certain many of our future Olympians will come from the ranks of BEST-enhanced JOAD archers, and that retention of archers in the sport will increase as a result of BEST. In other words, if you find that you continue to get better as an archer, you will continue to have fun and enjoy flinging arrows.Does it work? Yes. Definitely. The most successful group of archers today, the Koreans, use many of the aspects of the BEST technique. More importantly, elite American archers such as Guy Krueger and Lindsey Carmichael (disclaimer: daughter of author) have been working for more than a year with Don Rabska to incorporate BEST. Guy just won the US Open and is shooting more consistently now than ever before. Lindsey shot a FITA score of 1250 on her way to a silver at the 2005 A Shootout, and a 1249 at the Arizona Cup a few weeks after, both much higher scores than ever before. This method can and does work, for compound as well as recurve. Be on the lookout for seminars or courses offered by those certified in the BEST method (i.e., NArchival Archery level III and IV coaches) and take advantage of them! Guy Krueger is traveling to various parts of the country to provide seminars, and these are a very good way to get started- go if you can. Lancaster Archery still has a few copies of "Total Archery" by KiSik Lee, which is the most complete reference for the BEST method so far. It's not listed, you need to call them - 1.800.829.7408 in the U.S.Kisik Lee, by the way, is the new NATIONAL HEAD COACH for USA Archery! In addition to reading his book, Total Archery, you can also learn about him by reading the information on his website.(Note: MS IE works best - the site does not support Mozilla/Netscape browsers very well) There are some interesting thing on it. HIGHLY Recommended reading, especially the FAQ on Total Archery section. And yes, the commitment of the US to this method is strong and definite. Please be sure to refer to their website, which has man valuable assetts to help with your acqusition of the BEST Skills.  To continue the topic of BEST Methods, I have been updating a page on the Archival Archery website called HSV - High-Speed Videos. A separate link can be found at the top of the Photographs Index page. The idea is to SHOW archers that are using good biomechanical technique. One of the most important contributors is Miika Aulio of Finland, who took some astonishingly useful videos on the Dekalia field in Athens during the Olympics. These are all video clips that you can save onto your computer and play again and again, studying the archers' techniques. Of particular note is the 27 megabyte size video (AVI) file of Park, Sung Hyun - it is a superb "in the round" movie that appears to be one execution, like a clip from the MATRIX, filmed by 7 or 8 cameras simultaneously, of Park making a single execution in near perfect BEST form. The surprise is that each is a separate shot execution, and that she was so consistent that you cannot detect even the smallest variation in her motions. HINT: Right click on this link, and choose to save it to your computer - it's big and takes a few minutes to download, even with broadband. My thanks to all the authors who have granted me permission to post these on the Archival Archery site.There is more than one reason we are calling it "the BEST Method" - you will like it! |
| How Safe Is Target Archery? |
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Very. Very very. Very very very safe. Safer than football, basketball, soccer, and baseball. How do we know? Through a published article at archerysearch.com, for one, that draws on accepted databases of injury in sports and other activities.One knowledgeable archer and coach said, "That's the best article on the subject of archery safety I have ever seen."...and I have to agree. This acrobat article really does it well and its title says it well: Is Archery A Safe Sport? Yes! I don't know how they were able to get access to something that I tried for a year to get (and failed miserably), but the data is really useful. The article spells it out - And you should then go get a copy of Kari Granville's excellent paper as well. Kari is a vital part of the rejuvenated Arizona State SunDevil Archery Club, |
| Lost Subscribers |
Have you missed it? Many people are losing their subscriptions to the newsletter because they have changed their email addresses and not let us know. Also each issue, I see a number of returned newsletters because the user has set up a spam blocking scheme that doesn't recognize the Archival Archery as "friendly". Be sure to let us know when you change your email address. And be sure that joadsubscribe@archivalarchery.org is in your permitted email domain.
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| My Parents Don't Understand Archery. |
There are two great places your parents can go for information on archery.
 There is an FAQ (frequently asked questions) document of around 25 pages on the JOAD.org page - It is specifically designed for JOAD archers and their parents. It is a good overall starting point. And for more advanced topics, there is the Archer's Reference.Years ago Murray Elliott of Balbardie Archers in central Scotland created a compilation of the best parts of wisdomly writings from a variety of sources. He has a knack for graphic design, and has enhanced several aspects of the parts.There are FIVE language versions now available at this location.
The Archer's Reference has something for just about everyone. Check it out! |
| When It's Good To Be Tight At A Tournament |
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when you shoot in a tournament, it is good to be as relaxed as when you are practicing. The wrong time to discover something is loose/missing/broken on your arrow delivery system is when you start to shoot on the line at a tournament. So Bob Pian, Tourney Director, judge, and archery dad, writes in with a few observations from his experience on why it's good to be "tight" at a tournament: Check all the bolts and fasteners on your bow, your chest protector, and your finger tab (Especially!) for tightness before each and every tournament day by inserting an allen wrench and checking. As I watch from the judge's seat, it’s sad to watch as an archer shoots while: Finger tab ledge slips down, altering the aiming point drastically. The stabilizer falls off. Finger tab or release falls apart. The ILF (international limb fitting) screws and spring fly apart. Riser limb pocket adjustment bolts loosen. Sight-mounted clicker’s rod fall out. The arrow rest or arrow wire slips out. Compound bow scopes and apertures loosen and rotates. Sight bar scale pointer slips down. Sight block and sight bars fall off. (This is kinda major in impact) Bottom Line: Don't let it happen to you. Bob Pian |
| Shooting Up Close |
Limited space for shooting? I've never seen such a nifty use for the MS Powerpoint program. You can load it, then print targets to shoot at. But these targets are "special". The program asks you to tell it how far you are shooting and how large your arrow diameter is, and then it downsizes the standard Vega and NFAA targets accordingly. So if you want to practice, but it is only 9 feet down your hallway to the target butt instead of 18 meters, you can print a target that appears to be the same size. That is, you see in your aperture a target that is identical in size as though you were at 18 meters. And be sure to ask your JOAD coach about the value of practicing with a totally blank bale, up close. Leaving the target off of the bale allows you to focus on your execution, your form, and to forget about "aiming". Even the most elite archers use blank bale routinely. Read more at this link . |
| This Issue |
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By Jim Krueger: This issue was written by Ron Carmichael, and he is looking for help. We are still soliciting volunteers for the JOAD X-Files - from editor to writer, we need parents and JOAD archers to contribute to the ongoing X Files effort. |
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