Madison Evans, March – Early in the season, my coach, who is also my Dad, gave me the advice that many of us likely hear – slow down, breathe and take your time. I was certain I was doing that. When you are standing on the line in a tournament, time seems to stop. When my Dad told me that I wasn’t taking the time to aim, my sometimes stubborn personality didn’t quite believe him. And then I saw a video of myself shooting at a tournament.
While I am a little embarrassed to share the video so publicly, I think giving you a glimpse into my mistakes will help us all learn about the importance of watching videos of yourself shooting. But, let’s all agree to never speak of this poor form again, haha.
My draw, anchor, aim, shot set up, and release all occur within seconds which I know is not enough time. And, my reaction afterwards says it all. You can see the devastation hit me after I realize where the arrow landed on the target. I clenched my fists, my body sank and I rested my head on my bow, fighting back tears. Even though I was disappointed about my score, reliving that moment by watching the video changed me in a good way.
After that video, my focus was solely on slowing down and taking my time through the critical steps of draw, anchor, aim, shot setup and release. I started to see my scores improve in practice. I asked my dad to video me again.
I scored a 10 on that shot.
Watching the two videos back-to-back helps me understand exactly what I was doing wrong. I was able to easily identify exactly what I needed to do to improve my form quickly. In fact, I shot my personal best score at my last tournament when I was making sure to take my time.
