Robert Hamilton II, March – A fellow NASP® student contributor called archery good stress. And she was right, archery is stressful. It’s a team sport. You are with friends. But you are also standing on that line on our own. You get an individual score. You want your score counted as one of the twelve for your team, and you want to do well on your own. So, it is natural to feel the pressure as it’s your turn to shoot. So here are some helpful tips I have found to get rid of the nerves before you get to your flight time and to ease the tension while you are shooting.
- Make sure you have everything you need the night before the tournament. Is your jersey clean? Is your bow ready to go? Do you have a new set of arrows or two in the case? If you shoot with a glove or tab, is it in the case?
- Do not drink sodas or other sugary drinks. You are wired enough. You don’t need extra energy.
- Try to burn off some of your extra energy. If your flight time is a little later, go do something you enjoy before your flight time. Exercise, play in the yard, or in my case ride your gokart through the field for 30 minutes as fast as it will go.
- Calm your brain. Don’t sit and think about archery or how you want to shoot or how you shot yesterday at practice.
- If I have a later flight time, I have started going to Amherst Arms, my local archery shop, and shooting a full round early in the morning. I can work any kinks out of my round and still have fresh arms for my flight. It also helps me that early in the morning there are a group of older gentlemen there that are very supportive and encouraging. One gentleman who shares my first name, Robert, always asks if I am going to shoot good or really good. The next time I see him he will always ask how I did.
- When you get to the tournament venue, don’t sit. Walk around. Find your team. Check out the vendors.
- Stretch before you shoot. And stretch after each round if you need to. My calf muscles will actually ache after a full round.
- Take your time as you go through your round. Remember you have 2 minutes to shoot 5 arrows.
- Remember one bad arrow is one bad arrow. Don’t let that one be the start of getting nervous and frustrated and rushing every shot.
- Seek out the support of your team and be a support to them. Have a few laughs. Talk about something other than what is going on right now.
- I have mentioned gum in each of my blogs. Chew gum if you need to. Just don’t be chewing when you release your shot.
- Don’t let your target mate impact your focus. I shot with a 4th grader last weekend. I think it was his first tournament. He had a lot of bounces, canted his bow into my space quite a few times. So, I waited. While he shot five arrows, I shot one. And then I shot my other 4 after he had left the line.
- We all shoot archery to have fun and be part of a school team. The trophies, medals and high scores are just extra benefits.
So, is archery good stress? Yes! It is stress in a safe place where you have friends, family and coaches to help you deal with
