February 6, 2007

from A.S. of England:

"Dear Coach,
 
I am a club archer and appreciate that my level of archery is way below those you normally teach and like many archers I get to shoot once or twice a week yet I still put in some asonable scores (around 550 25M indoors and 1150 FITA).
 
I find that before a tournament I am able to do some warm up exercises and try to get myself in to the right frame of mind with some visionary exercises, but for most competitions in the UK we only get to shoot six sighters before scoring takes place yet despite the body warm up with a stretch band, I am finding that I sometimes need the first 6-18 arrows to get in to my proper shooting routine which translates in to quite a few lost points (and possibly my 1200 star).
 
Tournaments tend to start in the morning and family commitments mean I drive to the shoot the same day getting there about an hour before the start. Can you recommend some exercises I can do easily behind the shooting line to get me better prepared? Best regards."

The bow shoulder is set down as low as possible at set up and on expansion is moved to the center of the spine, whilst the drawing side scapula is also set up as low as possible and on expansion will move down and to the center of the spine. Have a good look at photos numbers 30, page 54 and photo number 31 on page 55, which clearly show the movement of the scapulae. Photos number 55, page 105 show that both scapulae come in towards the spine on release.