My First Year in Archery

Martyn Phillips
Archers of Raunds

Well, my first year in archery has finally drawn to a close and it’s been quite a ride.

My interest in archery is all down to Lauren, my teenage daughter. After being hassled to get out and do something rather than sitting watching the tv and Facebooking (is that a word yet?) all of the time, she decided that archery was going to be her sport and we began looking for a local club.

We checked out a couple and following a bumpy start, we found Archers of Raunds (AOR), contacted the club and found ourselves VERY warmly welcomed at our first beginner’s session. Yes, both of us, as I did not realise that parents are encouraged to learn at the same time as their kids - something that i am now very grateful for.  One of things that swayed us in favour of AOR, was not just the attention from the chairman and coaches, but the interest in us as beginners by the other club members. Not once did we feel isolated on the sidelines or wanting for that extra bit of help or guidance.

Following the usual safety briefing and being taken through the parts of a Recurve bow and how it all fits together, we moved to the shooting line, nocked an arrow and hey presto (from memory) I put one into the curtain. My main coach for these beginners’ sessions was to be Roy and to say that he was patient and understanding would be an understatement. Encouragement was abundant and I was soon finding the large target face, just 20 yards away and left the initial session pleased. Over the next few weeks I progressed and worked on the discipline and procedure that Roy had taught me, working with Tony and Lesley (two of the other club coaches) at times. Throughout these sessions the tuition was focused, progressive and most of all fun.

I might be just a little biased, but if you live in the East Northants area and want to have a go at archery, then contact AOR – you won’t be disappointed.

All too quickly the beginner’s course was complete and, along with several others, Lauren and I were presented with our certificates and a club membership welcome pack. Without any hesitation, I signed Lauren and I up for full membership and continued the hire of the club wooden bows, our GNAS memberships were settled and we found ourselves part of a growing club of archers.

The following Friday saw us moving off of the beginner’s bosses and sharing with the other club members. Friday night is beginners and tuning night, so the sessions remained relaxed and things progressed at a leisurely pace. Although Roy and the other coaches were now working with a new set of beginners, they remained interested in our progress and, along with other club member’s help, I was quickly very comfortable shooting with my fellow club colleagues.

I’d been shooting indoors throughout my beginner’s course and it was not long before we all moved outside. The shooting remained the same, but the extra space was nice (although it’s not overly cramped indoors at AOR) and it was nice to get some fresh air at the end of a long week in the office. My ability and technique progressed, but I was still using the wooden club bow and each week I longing watched other archers with their Hoyts, Win & Win’s and other makes of shiny metal bows with all the ancillaries.

Lauren was first to progress to her own bow, a nice pink Mizar with Samick limbs, the result of a full morning over at Aim4Sport and masses of patience from Stan and his team as Lauren tried riser after riser. She was very pleased with her new kit and shot better for it. In my next posting I’ll let you into a little tip that will help you to keep your riser scratch free – Yep, she scratched hers to bits within three ends, before one of the other club members worked out what she was doing.

Throughout the early summer I continued to shoot with the club’s wooden bow. Although everyone was advising me to make the investment in my own, I’d tried the Hoyt GMX when Lauren was buying her bow and I’d fallen in love with it. However, they are not cheap and once Lauren’s kit was paid for, I set about saving for my own. Finally, a few days after my birthday in July, I headed back over to Sandy to hit the credit card and I walked away with my prized Hoyt Fusion GMX and a huge smile on my face. I could not wait until the following Friday and to try out my new kit.

The difference in shooting a club wooden bow and your own kit is enormous and the advice that I had been given about making the investment was not unfounded. My confidence took a leap, with my technique and scores with it. I was still scoring in the mid to high 300’s on a large target face at 30 ad 40 yards and then the same on a Portsmouth face, but everything was moving in the right direction.

My first competition was a closed Portsmouth and, whilst I can’t recall the score, I came away with a silver medal for a handicap adjusted score. My shooting partner Andy (who also attended the beginner’s session when I did), pipped me to the gold, but at least I finished the year with one medal. I then shot my first away competition at Targetcraft in December, another indoor Portsmouth, but had a torrid time and I was only able to post 402. At least I had broken the 400, so that was the consolation that I took away from the event.

Towards the end of 2010 I developed a really bad problem with my left shoulder (I shoot right handed). It was crucifying my technique and also my scores and it was leaving me with a very painful arm half way through a two hour shooting session. I even dropped from shooting 6 arrows to just 3 per end to give my arm a rest, but it was troubling and I very nearly gave up archery altogether.

However, Bradley Denny (one of AORs most promising Juniors) took an interest in me and, over an hour one evening, he identified the issue and taught me the drop and lock shoulder technique. Within two weeks of putting into practice his advice, I was back to shooting my normal scores and leaving without a horrendous shoulder ache. A big relief and a massive thank you to Bradley.

Christmas and New Year saw a break from shooting for a couple of weeks, but I was soon back into my Friday evenings shooting at the practice session. Following some encouragement, Lauren and I began to attend the Sunday session - AOR shoot on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday whilst outdoors, dropping the Thursday session when we go inside. Sunday is all about shooting different full rounds and I began to record my scores in my iPhone using the iArcher application.

I’ve continued to shoot Friday and Sunday since Christmas and I usually manage to score around the 450 mark for a Portsmouth. I entered the clubs next closed competition, another indoor Portsmouth, and I was pleased to post a personal best in the first session (even though I’d managed to put my limbs on upside down :@) and then 481 to make a second personal best in the third session.

I closed out my first year of shooting with the purchase of a nice set of Easton X10 stabilisers and a properly balanced bow (again all courtesy of Aim4Sport). Stan gave me access to every stabilizer system in the shop and the new shooting range to test them all - Something that I was very grateful for.

I then shot at The Jolly Archers Open Portsmouth in February scoring 472. Not a medal winning score, but relatively pleasing for my progress thus far, maybe early 2011 will see the 500 broken and then I’ll look for 550.

So I finished my first year as a member of a wonderfully friendly club, made some new friends, spent a small fortune on some great kit, I have a few competitions under my belt and some personal bests have been set. I even came away with one silver medal for my efforts, although Lauren blitzed that by winning a Junior Portsmouth trophy, a gold for Junior Team and a handful if other medals for both home and way performances.

All in all, a very pleasing, productive and rewarding first year with Archers of Raunds.