Jillian McClanahan May – Recovering after shooting a bad arrow at competition is always hard but a necessary skill to improve as an archer. It happened to me at nationals last weekend. Everything was looking good and I had been shooting 9s and 10…Until something happened, and I shot a five. A five! I had never shot a five at a competition ever! I was very frustrated to say the least.
I knew I had to take a minute to recuperate. I put my bow on my toe, closed my eyes and took three deep breaths before continuing to shoot my last few arrows.
So that is my advice, always take a deep breath if necessary to make your next arrow fly a little straighter! Do whatever you need to do! If you have something that calms you down then do it! You can say a small prayer, or even hum a song. Not loudly of course, because you don’t wanna bother other archers around you. Trust me, it is very frustrating to have the person behind you singing really loud while you’re trying to shoot. One of my teammates does this very regularly at practice. While it’s hilarious, it makes it hard to concentrate while someone really loudly belts 80s songs so definitely don’t do this at competitions.
Having encouraging teammates and coaches around at competitions while you shoot is also very beneficial! My coach was extremely helpful at my last competition with reassuring me that one bad arrow doesn’t take away the value of all the other arrows. Because as a perfectionist, I was inside my own head and it’s very helpful to have someone reassure you it’s alright. I’m very grateful for her.
Another piece of advice that keeps me calm and gets me back on track after a bad arrow, is keeping score as I shoot. A lot of my teammates keep track of their score, and everyone has their own way of doing it, but I have always had my dad help me. My dad sits in the chairs as close to the shooting area that is allowed. He has his calculator on his phone and as I score I come back and recite my numbers to him so he can calculate for me and I don’t have to stress about remembering it while I’m shooting. It is also very calming to have my dad give me a reality check and be like, “ You’re being dramatic suck it up.” And while that might sound harsh, sometimes it is good to get a reality check and remember that archery is meant to be fun not upsetting!
Jillian McClanahan is a 2023 student contributor.
