Alayna Musson, March – Simple steps like listening to the whistles and not putting your knees on the ground are just simple rules to follow at a tournament, rules we all HAVE TO follow. But some rules are just not included. They aren’t necessarily rules, but they are ways to be nice and friendly to people. These rules could also help you with improving things yourself. Some things you should consider are:
- Get to know a little about the person you are shooting with: Just ask the person you’re shooting with simple questions like “What grade are you in?” or “How long have you been shooting in NASP?”. Also, make small conversations, it might calm your nerves a bit just being able to get to know them, and make you even more comfortable.
- Double-check the scores before writing them down: When scoring your partner’s arrows, before you put the scores on the scorecard, double-check with them by stating what they got, so when they do agree with you, it might save a few mistakes on the scorecard.
- Stay behind to pull arrows last: If you are the first partner to pull arrows, stay behind till the other person pulls their arrows so you can double-check that the target won’t end up being crooked the next round (also remember that if it is crooked you can’t go back to fix it once you do pass the quivers).
- Be quiet behind the line while you’re not shooting: Although some coaches, at practice, tell others to be quiet behind the line, it’s not really a rule. But you should always be quite behind the line so the archers on the line can focus. (If any parents/adults are reading this it is also very helpful to the archers on the line if the audience is quiet, again it’s not in the rules but it’ll help the archers focus more and shoot better)
- Thank the person you’re shooting with: At the end of the tournament thank the person you shot with for shooting with you. You can also compliment them for shooting well. If you do this often enough people might do it back to you, it might give you a boost of confidence.
- Always keep positive thoughts: Keeping positive thoughts can help you enhance/improve your scores. With just a simple smile on your face to calm you down. It would also keep a positive environment for the other archers around (again, it might give you a boost of confidence).
These are just a handful of things you should keep in mind when shooting, these are things that are not a part of the tournament rules. These things can help improve your and/or other archers’ scores, social-ness, and help you keep a positive thought process.
