Archery- New Distances

At the start of DP2 I had the goal of shooting at the 30m  distance by December, in pursuit of this I trained at archery weekly and began strength exercises focusing on my upper body such as push-ups, side laterals, bicep curls etc. I had identified my strength as an area where I would need to develop, so as to help my control of the bow. while I could comfortably hold my 38 pound draw strength bow for the amount of time I took to aim at 10 or 18 meters, I needed to aim for longer at 30m. Control became even more uncomfortable the longer I shot. I persevered through this and overtime my ability to hold my bow drawn for periods of time improved, and my ability to control my shots at longer distances with it.

While I can now shoot within 30m and regularly hit the target, my shots are as yet relatively inconsistent, usually landing within the outer blue line. Going forward I aim to correct this through practice, focusing specifically on minor technical inconsistencies in my draw. This includes an occasional habit of drawing to my cheek instead of my nose, while such a minor difference would not be significant at the 10m distance or overly significant at the 18m difference, it becomes notable at the 30m distance. The aim of archery is only secondarily hitting the bullseye, primarily it is perfect consistency in technique as once consistency is achieved, you can aim wherever you want and predict the shot. Moving to 30m has thus revealed flaws in my technique that I had not previously seen as important, with practice and support from my supervisor I aim to correct my habits overtime. Currently my only goal within Archery is to begin shooting consistently within the red circle at 30m, 30m is precisely where someone of my age range should be shooting and so I do not aim to move to a higher distance as yet.