From the League Secretary's Scorecard

Tip of the Month:

For many of us, practicing means shooting as many arrows as we can for as long as we can.  We've heard that "practice makes perfect".  We've also heard "perfect practice makes perfect".  I sort of wondered how does one practice "perfectly" when the point of practice was to attain perfection when I talked with Lanny Bassham on the phone a while ago.  Lanny Bassham is a World and Olympic Champion and Gold Medalist in High Power Rifle Shooting.  Lanny is now giving seminars on the mental aspects of shooting sports. 

My tip this month deals with three different ways (or Levels) to practice perfectly.  Mr. Bassham explained some important principals relating to shooting.  One of them was that whenever you are shooting good, continue shooting good.  Whenever you are not shooting good, discontinue shooting.  Another was the Principal of Reinforcement:  Whatever you think about, write about, talk about; you increase the probability of that thing occurring.  Sort of like the power of positive thinking.  Basically, this means not to dwell on bad shots and not to waste time worrying and complaining about something you did (or think you did) wrong; it will only make it worse.  I found out I was violating this principal when I explained a method of practice I was using. 

I would shoot arrows at whatever distance I was practicing at until I shot one where I didn't want it to go.  Then I would retrieve and start over.  My goal was to shoot all the arrows I had before I had to go get them.  Lanny said this was great as long as I never missed and would be great for wearing out my muscles.  Then he said most of us shoot too much.  He quickly added that he didn't say we practice too much, just that we shoot too much.  Then he explained his program of perfect practice.  It comes in three flavors and you select the program that is best for you on any given day of practice.  Level 1 of the program is LIVE shooting.  In the LIVE shooting program you do just the opposite of what I was doing.  You reinforce only the good shots.  In Level 1, shoot an arrow.  If it goes where you want it, go get it and start over.  In this way, you make that one arrow count. 

Level 2 of the program is where you immediately default if that one arrow didn't go where you wanted.  Shoot another arrow.  Continue to shoot arrows until you get one to go where you wanted.  This is called GROUP shooting.  With group shooting, you don't reinforce one bad shot.  Group shooting can also be used to improve your average scores in leagues and tournaments.  For a 300 round, by shooting groups of six or eight arrows and only scoring the best five, you will improve your shooting and confidence. 

If you run out of arrows in Level 2 before you get an arrow to go where you wanted, default to LEVEL 3 of the program.  Level 3 is where Lanny dry fires.  We determined that shooting with your eyes closed is about as close as we can get in archery.  In level 3, we simply want to get the feel of a shot without any distraction of aiming, recoil, or scoring.  There is no negative reinforcement in level 3 because we are not shooting for any type of score.  Take the target down, stand about ten to fifteen yards from the bale and draw, point at the target without really aiming, close your eyes and feel the shot.  While you are doing this visualize the arrow going into the ten-ring.