Asher S. April – Shooting archery can have many different benefits – both physical and mental benefits to be specific. These benefits are so much more than just what your score is at the end of each tournament or at the end of each round. If you get a low score, that doesn’t mean it didn’t help you get better at breathing calmly or focusing or that it didn’t help you get stronger when pulling back the bow. It is much, much more than that, and people sometimes don’t always realize the true benefits of it while they are shooting or at the end of a tournament. What it really means that you just have to learn from your mistakes, focus on all the fundamentals and try again the next time at practice or the next tournament.
Some different ways that shooting archery can give your body physical benefits are by helping to burn calories and strengthen arm muscles while pulling the bow and holding still and steady. It improves hand-eye coordination so you can shoot better and better in the next tournament or in the next practice. It can boost your energy and power in your muscles. For some people, it can ease pain by increasing your muscle usage. There are many ways that shooting archery can help you grow physically, but there are also ways archery can help you to be mentally healthy while shooting.
Some different ways shooting archery benefits archers mentally are by having meditation effects, specifically, calming your mind and helping you to focus on feeling relaxed. It helps people to focus on positive processes and outcomes and things they can control, like aiming and following the arrow tip. Getting into habits and setting goals and the ability to celebrate success, even if you don’t win the whole tournament, is another way it can help you. It can also help you and others set individual goals for each other and for yourself. Another great thing about archery is that it is a sport that people of all ages can participate in and can enjoy for many years.
To make the most of these benefits however, you need to make sure you have regular consistent archery activities. These can be active shooting and practicing, or stretching and strengthening the muscles that are used in archery. Also, practice mental clarity and focus to prepare your mind in ways that work best for you and share them with your teammates. By consistently preparing in all of these ways, your archery score will follow with great success in your next tournament. I hope you experience the mental and physical benefits of archery in your next tournament or practice.
Asher S. is a 2023 student contributor.
