March2007Newsletter

Following is a continuing series of training tips on the BEST method, written by Coach Jim White . He is a Regional High Performance Coach, Level 4 NAA Coach,and Chairman of the Georgia Archery Team.

The series will be initially directed to those that have already become fairly proficient at shooting, and are looking to adopt the BEST method.

Training series will follow with "basic" tips for those getting starting in the sport.

USA Archery National Head Coach Kisik Lee developed the BEST Method for competitive archery while coaching the Korean National Team. The Korean Team has won most of gold medals at the Olympic Games as well as setting World and Olympic records in the process. Without a doubt, this method has proven to be the pinnacle in recurve archery form for high level competition.

As a result, the National Archery Association has hired Coach Lee to train the USA Team using the BEST Method with the intention of winning at the international and Olympic levels. Coach Lee has identified coaches around the country as candidates to teach his method at the grass roots level in order to create a pool of archers to draw from in creating the US Team. As High Performance Coaches, we have trained on multiple occasions with Coach Lee and also had the opportunity to work with elite level and Olympic level archers at the Olympic Training Centers in Chula Vista CA and Colorado Springs, CO.

In 2006, the Georgia Archery Association, started the Georgia Archery Team Program designed to help Georgia archers improve their skills and reach a higher level of competition. Recently, USA Archery announced its “Champs Program”. This program does the same thing only on a national scale. You can learn more about these programs on the GAA web site at www.gaarchery.org and the USA Archery web site at www.usarchery.org .

I’ve been asked to comment on the BEST Method and to write tips on how to best (no pun intended) put it to use in your efforts to improve your shooting skill. I will explain each part of the Method and then I will try to give you some insight on how to make it work for you. Let me be very clear about a couple of things when you begin to use this method. It is easy to understand, but it is not easy do at first! If you don’t do it the right way in the beginning, you will find it almost impossible to do at all! Furthermore, you can actually hurt yourself if you try to shortcut the process, so don’t!

Now that you have learned where all the body parts are supposed to fit into the BEST Method, let’s begin to put them together to start the shot sequence. In this session, we’ll explore the parts of the shot setup that will put you in the best biomechanical body position to execute a strong, stable shot again and again.

Once again, I have copied text and pictures from Coach Lee’s book, “Total Archery” to describe the technique. I’ll add my comments along the way too.

The archery shot is not simply a matter of mechanics. The mindset of the archer should also be as consistent as the shooting form. The right mindset promotes top performance. As you develop your shooting form, create the habit of establishing a mental program or mindset that is the same for practice and competition. The right mindset is process oriented rather than result oriented. Separate practice sessions utilizing relaxation exercises and controlled breathing will train the body to recognize and repeat the feeling of relaxation. When the time comes to compete, you will know how to calm your body. Placing a point of initiation in the shot sequence for getting your mindset will help you to shoot more consistently.

Tip: A good place to initiate your mindset is when you walk to the shooting line. Typically, in NAA competitions, you have 20 seconds from the call to the line before you begin shooting your first arrow. This is the time to clear your mind of external distractions and start your shot sequence checklist. You must learn to focus completely on the process of each shot and synchronize your mind and body to work together to insure each part of the sequence is performed the same on each shot. Remember, the mind tells the body what to do on each shot. If the mind strays from the process, the arrows will stray from the gold!

The next step in the process is the pre-draw . In this stage the archer checks the position and pressure in the bow hand and the string hand . The direction, distribution and amount of pressure on the bow hand must be consistent and “natural.” It is recommended that the finger pressure on the draw hand at full draw be as follows:

Check to see that the pressure on the foot is 60 – 70% on balls of feet. Avoid putting the weight on the heels of the foot.

The hip position is very critical for complete body stability. Tilt the pelvis forward at the bottom to flatten the back and keep the center of gravity of the body in line with the foot position. Avoid arching the back or having the buttocks stick out.

This is where a video camera can be a tremendous help. It’s difficult to know if you are in the proper position unless you have someone to verify it or you film yourself. Take a look at the following photos to see the difference in form position.

Check for maximum stability. This requires lowering the body’s center of gravity as much as possible. The c enter (or core) of the body is located about 3 inches below the navel and about 2 inches to the inside. All power, force and control radiates from this central spot. Athletes should practice locating the core of the body and tightening the abdominal muscles to concentrate this core feeling. Pretend that there is a ball about the size of a orange inside your abdomen and pretend to squeeze it with your gut muscles (the key muscle involved is the transverse abdominus). In time, practice will strengthen your abdominal muscles and help you to find your core at the shooting line. The goal of the proper technique is to lower the body’s center of gravity (chi) to increase stability. The power in the “core” is equal to power needed to lift an object. Your body’s power comes from the “core”.

Chest compression, or keeping the ribs down, is the next step in the set-up or pre-draw portion of the shot. The archer should drop the rib cage straight down without allowing the shoulders to slump. This position helps to flatten the back and to strengthen the torso. Lowering the ribs prevents an archer from arching their back and lifting chest. The benefits of chest compression include increased chest/string clearance, greater shoulder stability, and a lower C.O.G.). It is important not to allow the shoulders to hunch!

Tip: Before raising the bow arm to the setup position, take a deep breath and exhale while shrugging your shoulders. This will allow you to relax and the shoulders and rib cage will naturally drop into the proper position. Then raise the bow without letting the chest and shoulders to come up with the bow.

Several motions need to be accomplished during the drawing phase of the shot. Before drawing, rotate the body slightly towards the target to allow the drawing shoulder (scapula) to be down and capable of a full range of motion. Raise the bow and draw arms together. When raising the arms to draw, only raise the arms and bow. Do not raise the shoulders. Practice this motion without a bow until you can comfortably separate the motion of the arms in the shoulder socket with the muscles that control the position of the scapula in the back.

The draw hand starts its backward motion at approximately eye level. The bow arm may be raised slightly higher than the line of the target during the draw to facilitate setting the shoulder in the down position.

Tip: Set your sight aperture above the gold as you begin the draw. Take in a deep breath as you draw. Upon reaching the anchor point, slowly release about half of the breath and you’ll find the sight drops right down into the gold and sits very still for a couple of seconds. We’ll get into the timing of the release in the next session.

Think of drawing as “opening the bow” rather than just pulling on the string. By rotating the body around the position of the bow shoulder, the distribution of force will be balanced 50:50 between the bow side and draw side of the body. The draw should be accomplished with a minimum of wasted energy or movement. As you draw, integrate breathing control to promote relaxation.

Coach Lee says, “don’t be careful when drawing”. What he means by this is not to creep back to your face with the string when drawing. Make it a decisive movement. It’s a rather quick move from the starting point to the anchor point. He maintains that the longer it takes to get to the anchor position, the more tension you build in your body, which is not good. By all means, don’t just yank it back, but make it a quick, controlled and smooth movement.

At full draw, twist at the waist to align shoulders past target to the right for right hand archers.

The shoulder blades should be aligned towards the bow hand creating a line to the right of the target for a right hand archer. Placing the shoulder blades with the line moving to the left is inefficient and will cause muscle fatigue and inconsistent shots.

Remember to keep your hips in alignment with your toes! Just turn the upper body only!

Anchoring occurs when the scapula come to their final position along the back . The anchor point is the “touch point” for the drawing hand along the jaw line of the face (bone structure is solid). Additional touch points on the face include the chin, lips and nose. As each face is different, each archer should explore to find the best anchor point for them. The guiding principal is to adjust the equipment to the archer and not the archer to the equipment. In some cases a longer or shorter bow length may be required to achieve the correct string alignment.

Achieving anchor does not mean that everything stops moving. The movement slows down and becomes internal (invisible) rather than external (visible). It is very important to keep head and eyes steady and consistent throughout the draw and anchor. Archers and coaches should be especially vigilant to see that the head does not move as the string is drawn to the face. If head motion is detected, the archer and coach should explore alternative draw hand paths to anchor that will allow the archer to keep the head still. Also, acquiring a head position for the shot that allows the head to be in a more relaxed position facing the target, so that the archer does not have to look from the corner of the eye, helps in making the shot position stronger and more stabile.

Tip: Pretend your anchor position on your face is the eye of a needle and you are trying to “thread the needle”. You certainly wouldn’t move the needle when trying to thread it, only the thread (string). Set you head in the proper position before you start the draw, don’t move it, then “thread the needle” easily every time!

The drawing arm elbow should be kept level with or only slightly above the line of the arrow or it will be difficult, if not impossible, to activate the correct muscles for completing the shot. It is very important to check the alignment of the draw arm with the arrow and bow hand. Avoid triangulation in either the vertical or horizontal plane as it weakens the shot and increases instability. A solid, bone-to-bone connection between the drawing hand (tab ledge) and the touch point on the face ensures a consistent nock to eye relationship.

O.K., we now have you in a good, stable position with your body and proper alignment of the scapulae. We’ve gotten you to draw the string to your face and reach your anchor point in preparation to fling an arrow towards the target. However, there are still lots to do before you let’er rip. In the next session, we’ll cover the execution of the shot. In the meantime, think about what you’ve read here and then PRACTICE IT!

As always, if you have questions or comments, email me at KACArcher@aol.com

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The Execution of the Shot

In my last posting, I left you at the anchor position with instructions to practice getting to this position with your stretch band over and over. I hope you had the opportunity to spend some time on this. Getting to this point in the sequence is important because it sets up the final execution on the shot. Now let’s examine the final steps:

The execution of the shot is divided into four steps: the t ransfer of force from the arms to the back, the loading of the back muscles and final positioning of the scapula and holding the energy of the bow; Aiming and expansion of the body by moving the bow arm scapula towards the target; Releasing the shot as a natural part of the follow-thorough.

Transfer, Loading and Holding

As the draw is being completed and the anchor point is being reached, a small amount of time is required for the draw load to be transferred onto the back muscles (lower trapezius). This is called the “holding” position. During the transfer to the holding position, focus on keeping the draw arm scapula down and moving the draw arm scapula towards the spine. There will be little external evidence of this transfer of power. Archers and coaches should check to see that the draw arm is straight and in line with the arrow and that the shoulder is down.

Tip: Once again here’s where a camera can be invaluable for the archer to see the correct position.

The execution phase of the shot is an “internal” activity that the archer can feel, but outside observers will not see. A coach who places his/her hand on the archers back near the lower trapezius (always with the archer’s permission) will feel tension, but may not always feel movement.

The draw side scapula moves down and towards the target.

Remember, too, that although the bow arm remains fully extended as if “reaching” toward the target, the archer does not “push” the bow arm forward. There is a very small amount of expansion needed to finish the shot. Often this final expansion can be achieved by holding/maintaining the necessary tension in the correct region of the back while feeling a sense of “relaxation” in the shoulders.

The bow arm shoulder is extended towards the target forming the acromial notch (arrow).

Remember that holding stage is not a step or a stopping point. It is part of a continuous process that allows the correct muscles to engage before aiming and expansion. Recurve archers should check their arrow position relative to the clicker during the final part of draw to anchor. By looking down at the arrow point, the archer can see when the clicker arm starts to move down the taper of the arrow point. A quick glance will tell the archer when the clicker is about to go off. It is recommended that clicker be set within 2 mm of the arrow point at the holding position.

Tip: It’s important to get the clicker set exactly in the right position in order to be able to use just the right amount of expansion to activate it. Work with a coach to get this right. It will probably take many more tries to find the correct setting than you think. Don’t rush through this part. Having confidence in the setting will prevent a lot of anguish. (Don’t ask me how I know this!)

Aiming and Expansion

Successful archers “feel” their shots more than aim them. The aiming and expansion phase of the shot sequence should be a very short interval of time and should be subconscious rather than conscious. The a iming must only start after the transfer and holding phase is reached. Beginning to aim too early will distract the archer from the feel of the shot and reduce consistency.

Aiming is a brief moment lasting not more than 1-3 seconds . Aiming is done subconsciously as the archer allows the pin to float around the center of the target. During the aiming phase the archer should de-emphasize aiming and focus on the internal process of the shot. Remain relaxed and let the sight move a bit rather than tighten up in an attempt to hold it still. Your brain will center the sight picture on the release.

The expansion and subsequent release must be initiated from the lower trapezius, not from pushing or pulling. The archer should feel the bow arm scapula move towards the target in a 2-3mm expansion of the draw. It is an internal movement of opening (relaxing) the chest and moving the bow arm scapula. At the same time, maintain or slightly increase the tension in the muscles that move the draw side scapula toward the spine.

The timing of the aiming and expansion needs to be very consistent. If you vary the time from one shot to the next, your brain doesn’t allow your body to make the same shot every time because of the build up of tension in your muscles from holding too long. It’s like your brain says, “I’m confused, I thought you wanted to shoot this arrow around 2-3 seconds, but now you are waiting 5-8 seconds. What should I do?” Your brain may like variety in lots of things, but it likes consistency when you are trying to repeat a movement exactly the same every time.

Release

The release is a natural byproduct of the follow through. During the release it is important to minimize t ension in any place other than in the muscles that cause expansion. The bow arm should be strong and unmoving during the release and follow through process. As expansion activates the clicker, the release shortly follows. The natural recoil of the body causes expansion to continue and become visible again. Archers should sense or feel the clicker rather than listening for it to go off. An archer’s total mental focus must be on the muscles executing the expansion, not on the mechanics of the equipment.

Tip: From the moment of reaching the anchor point until the arrow is away, this must be your only thought… absolutely nothing else . I’m convinced this is the real secret of shooting consistently good groups. Almost always when a shot goes bad, it’s the result of losing back tension right before the release. Get this right and you will quickly see a huge improvement in your shooting. I would spend more time on this piece of the shot sequence than anything else.

Release the string by totally relaxing the drawing hand fingers and allowing the string to push the fingers aside. This is the phenomenon of letting the string go, rather than letting go of the string. Because the string fingers are relaxed, once the string clears, the fingers will return to a naturally curled, relaxed position, much like they were before the release. The path of the draw hand will follow closely along the neck. When done properly, a natural backward recoil action will occur.

Follow Through

The follow-through is the natural result of proper execution and the release of the bow pressure as restrained by the back muscles. Follow-through is simply a byproduct of good shooting technique. The response to the release of the shot will be the bow moving forward out of the bow hand (until stopped by the sling) and toward the target. The bow arm is held up stable and strong. The bow hand should be completely relaxed and fall downward naturally. The draw side scapula will move toward the spine and the drawing hand will recoil backwards and tend to go behind the neck. If the body alignment is correct, everything should initially move in the same plane or straight line towards or straight away from the target. The follow-through should be a natural reaction, not a cosmetic or exaggerated one. Archers and coaches can look at the follow-through as an indicator of how correctly the shot was executed.

The Recovery

Relaxation and Feedback are the natural regenerative steps in repeating the shot sequence during an end. Once the shot is over and the arrow is in the target, it is time for relaxation and reflection on that shot. Archers should concentrate on how the shot felt and not on the specific results of the arrow placement. When a shot goes well, the archer will know it and when it doesn’t the archer will know where to improve. Relaxation is a brief amount of time and helps to prepare the archer for the next shot. Remember that relaxation is the key to long term consistency and accuracy. Relaxation is both fluid and dynamic. True power comes from relaxation, not tension. As the archer reflects on the previous shot they should dwell on, or reinforce, good shots and ignore (not reinforce) the bad shots. After the relaxation period, the shot sequence repeats itself.

Some additional thoughts: USA Archery is developing a DVD on the BEST method and it will be made available in the near future. Archers and coaches may want to pick up a copy of Total Archery by Kisik Lee. It is another good resource for explaining and supporting the BEST method.

The CDC is working on upgrades/revisions to the USA Archery Instructor/Coach Education System, and the accompanying manuals and materials, to accommodate the teaching of the BEST method principles in all certification courses. The National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) materials will also incorporate the basic principles outlined above and is being endorsed by all the major U.S. archery organizations.

USA Archery adheres to the concept of having a standardized system of training archers, instructors and coaches and advocates a unified approach to employing such a system, so that there will be greater continuity among instructors/coaches along with less confusion and more success for the athletes.

VERY IMPORTANT! – The BEST method principles are best taught/learned, at first, with the use of training aids, such as a “string bow” or other rigid band (A ¾” wide luggage strap works very well. It’s adjustable, doesn’t stretch and fits comfortably into the fingers). Any archer trying to learn new technique can better accomplish the task when the stress/load of the bow is removed or greatly reduced and when the target faced is enlarged or removed. As the archer progresses and becomes more comfortable with these techniques, the load or degree of difficulty can gradually be increased, eventually to the full level that will be employed when shooting at a target face for score at competition distances.

The End Product of Good Form & Execution is a well-performed shot that the archer can easily repeat and that the archer feels confident in being able to perform under all conditions with positive results.

Take a look at these two photographs of archers from different eras. Notice how their shooting form is remarkably similar. Good shooting form is timeless. However shooting form is not, by itself, a quick and easy solution to achieving better scores and competitive success. There is no substitute for hard work. A good training plan that incorporates regular feedback from a good coach, good physical conditioning, proper nutrition and hydration and a comprehensive mental focus system are critical to success. The effective application of good biomechanics to your shot will help you to get the most out of your archery experience. You have to supply the desire and the effort to do what is necessary to obtain your goals.

The BEST Method has proven to be the most consistent an teach the BEST Method efficient way for a recurve archer to get an arrow into the ten ring. One by one, the top archers in the world are incorporating this method into their competitive shooting in an effort to push the scoring to all time highs. I have talked to top archers who weren’t so sure when they first heard about it, but after giving it a fair try, now support it wholeheartedly. I believe this is the way for new archers to begin and I believe this is also a better way for those who have been at it for a while and are looking for a better path to success.

So, find yourself a coach who has had the training to teach the BEST Method and get started today. I promise that if you put in the effort, you won’t be disappointed in the results.

BEST Regards,

Jim White – RHP Coach – Level IV