Shooting Focus

[Mark]

Just to help kick things along in here -

Shot focus

I would like to hear some opinions on how various shooters focus on their shooting.

Do you divorce yourself from the shooting process and allow form to take over in a relaxed fashion ?? Does this allow you to avoid the distractions around you as you are aware of things around you but relaxed enough that they are not an issue??

or

Do you fully focus on each part of the shooting process and fully focus your attention on the shot, form etc ?? Does this open you to distractions such as an unexpected movement, sound etc that happens around you ??

or

Is it a combination/variation on either theme ??

Mark

[baldmountain]

I've only been shooting for a few months so take what I say with a grain of salt. I think I know what I should be doing but I don't have the disipline yet.

During practice sessions I try and change or fix one thing at a time. I say try because I think too much and tend to work on several things at once. I really should focus on one issue but I just can't seem to do it yet.

When shooting for score, (at league or a tournament), I try and leave my brain at home and shoot what ever game I brought. It helps if I let someone else keep score and if I don't peek to see how I'm doing. While taking a shot I try and focus on the center of the target and nothing else. If something feels wrong, I try not to think about it, let down and restart.

I say try because I usually say to myself, "Well, the bow's drawn, and it doesn't feel that bad, and the target is lining up, kind of. Take the shot." Then I drop an arrow and curse becasue I know better.

Now to actually answer the question. I focus on the X. As long as I focus on the X I'm OK. My brain usually gets in the way and I start thinking about my form, how I'm doing, how others are doing, the arrow I dropped two arrows back, etc. It's all down hill from there until I can get my focus back on the X.

[andy]

Do you divorce yourself from the shooting process and allow form to take over in a relaxed fashion?

I've not really shot that well with compound yet, but when I shot recurve I basically let my form take over. Just focus on the 10 ring & it seemed to go there, even on the shots that didn't feel particularly good.

The harder I try sometimes the worst it gets, it's nice to be able to have enough confidence in your form so the scores sort out themselves.

I also think that if you're shooting well and then have a dip in the round, don't worry about it. It will usually sort it's self out. When you start to analyse it, that's when it starts going wrong.

[Guest]

Hi Guys,
the shot focus? When you are at anchor and make the concious decision to go through with the shot, all your concious mind should be doing is focusing on the middle of what you want to hit. The mind can only focus on one concious thought at a time. The sub concious can be trained to do multiple things at a time, it just takes practise. So the subconcious should be activated to go through with the shot, whilst the concious mind focuses totally on the middle of the target. This works both in the hunting world and target world of archery.

[The One]

Personally, I try and focus on some keywords, such as long, line, extend, etc. This isn't exactly focussing on an aspect of form, rather than focussing on the word itself, and allowing my subconscious to carry out the shot. Rather than thinking about my form, I actually feel aspects that I'm focussing on.

[DrRalph]

Fozzie,

Not too sure about that, too much emphasis on aiming to the exclusion of process and form for my liking. As a recurver, where the actual target rings are not resolved most of the time anyway, this over-emphasis on detailed aiming seems pointless. I like to focus my awareness on the feelings I get from my supposedly subconcious setup/draw/load/anchor process. Then, if all is well, I am close to the target anyway, I center up on get on the 10 zone and let my mind to the 'lining up circles' thing and (try) to hold steady while the click-release-follow though happens. My own fitness and poor back muscle use sometimes mucks this up, but it is improving.

Aiming is one part of a bigger picture, but no one part is completely dominant, and I find this sharp division into conscious/subconscious stuff pretty artificial and simplistic -- black-and-white if you will, dividing the archer's tasks rather than trying to integrate them.

my 2c

[clever_guy]

"I would like to hear some opinions on how various shooters focus on their shooting."

Go to www.archery.org and read through the article "The Archer