Start by stretching towards the ceiling.
I started out by learning the types of bows:
- Long Bow
- Recurve Bow
- Compound Bow
- Crossbow
I was handed a recurve bow. I stared at it and realised I’ve never actually tried shooting a real arrow with a real bow.
The first few things I did in my 2 hour lesson was learning my positioning, how to hold the bow and other necessary rules and regulations.
The rule that you need to know that you should always obey is:
NEVER DRY FIRE.
In case you don’t know what that means…… Dry fire is when you pull the string of the bow when there is no arrow. Two things will happen when you do this, your bow limbs break in half and second, the limbs will fling backwards and it will most likely hit your face. So, remember NEVER DRY FIRE.
Before shooting out an arrow, I tied a side quiver (which is the small bag where you place your arrows) to my waist.
I held my stance, put my arrow in, lifted my bow up, pulled the arrow back just until the point my fingers (holding the arrow) touched my face, took one breath in and made my shot. It landed downwards, hitting nothing. I tried it a second time and I hit two centi meters from the bullseye. I repeated and repeated until I finally got the hang of it. My coach was right there beside me helping whenever I did a mistake or when my positioning was wrong.
Soon enough, my coach brought out a score sheet and started counting my arrow shots and points. Each game consisted of six arrows.
The first round I shot, I scored 18 points.
Then 21. Then 35. Then 39x. Wa-wa-wait, let me explain what it means when you get an x beside you point. So, when you are shooting at the target, there are different points for different places that you’ve shot at. The numbering goes from 10 in the middle and when going outwards to the other rings gets lower and lower. At the bullseye or ten, there are 2 rings. When you shoot the first ring or inner ring of the 10, you add an x to the number on your scoresheet or just x.
After a 15 minute break, a did a second game where I got a total of 254 points from the six rounds.
As I shot my last arrow towards my target, I felt like Katniss Everydeen. I used the technique given to me by my coach and used my concentrate and blocked everyone around me (not in fb, in real life) for a few seconds which I suggest you should do.
Also, you should keep in mind, when you are competing with others, you aren’t going to be judged by how quickly you shoot. So, when practicing you should take a deep breath and rest for a couple a counts.
Yours truly,
L.O.A.S.H
Life of a Secret Homeschooler | A.K.A | L.O.A.S.H 