Archery

Introduction

Archery is the art, sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows. In the past, archery has been used for hunting and combat. Today, it is mainly a competitive sport and recreational activity. There are many types of bows and styles of arrows. The three main types of bows are the recurve, compound and traditional bow.

Task

Learn the basic technique to properly shoot a bow and arrow using a traditional bow.

Process

Materials needed: bow, arrows, target

We need to learn 4 basic techniques. Read the intructions and watch the video below.

Step 1: Stance

- Put the tip of your toes against an imaginary straight line towards the centre of the target
- Put your feet on both sides of the shooting line
- Put your feet about shoulder’s width apart. Your shoulders should be directly over the balls of your feet

Step 2: Arrow nocking and holding the arrow

- Hold the string with your index finger above the nock (the little slit at the bottom of the arrow) and middle and ring finger under the nock – the string should be hooked in between your fingers.
- Bow hand placement:
  - The pressure of the bow should be even in your hand
  - Relax your fingers. The back of your hand should make an angle of 45 degrees

Step 3: Pulling the string and charging power to the arrow

- Bring the bow arm up to the height of your forehead.
- Push both shoulders down as low as possible
- Draw the string along the bow arm in a straight line to your chin
- Stand straight up and relaxed
- The string should touch the middle of the chin and the tip of the nose
- The index finger is placed under the chin
- Aiming:
  - Aiming is done with the dominant eye. Shut the other eye
  - Keep the sight at the target
  - Keep the string a little right of the sight

Step 4: The Release – Perfecting the art of letting go of the arrow

- Keep pulling on the back while relaxing the fingers of the draw hand
- A relaxed bow hand will automatically move backwards, relax the bow hand
  - The draw hand should be relaxed and near or behind your ear
  - Keep aiming until after the arrow hits the target

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXEdY9k1gPc

Hoyt Archery. 6 June 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXEdY9k1gPc