Fatigue - Target Panic - or

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Joe(thebow)M
Master Bowman

Posts: 635
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Location: Nebraska

Posted: Sat May 17, 2008 4:10 pm Post subject: Fatigue - Target Panic - or - Bow Panic?

Today while shooting my "Wooden Arrow" League Score, I experienced something I never have before, and I believe it was a combination of fatigue, target panic, and of all things - "bow panic"... I say "bow panic" as I was moving along with my Ends, the first 3 Ends nothing to write home about but figured as I went on with my require shooting (6 arrows an End - 14 Ends for 84 arrows) my scores would improve and it started to at End #4 and I had a pretty good run until End #10 when I started to think about a bow I built a few weeks ago breaking on me yesterday morning before I went to work. Thought I'd get a little 30 minute practice in that morning, and the bow broke after my 4th shot... Anyway, back to today... As I said I started to think about that bow I broke while shooting End #10, then it happened. At End numbers 11, 12, 13, and 14, I just fell apart - (34, 30, 39, & 25)... I felt like I just wore out and couldn't pull the #35 @ 28 Maple selfbow back to where I normally do, and then to compound matters I just wasn't sure when to release (loose) my arrow??? I was really struggling and I recall thinking about that bow I broke yesterday morning, and try as I might I just couldn't get that out of my head... Here's what my Ends Scored and you can see the slow start and the point at which I started coming on then - bam - the bottom dropped out,,, 01 - 37x 02 - 35 03 - 36 04 - 46 05 - 41 06 - 39x 07 - 43x 08 - 40 09 - 44 10 - 40 Where I recall starting to think about the broken bow 11 - 34 12 - 30 13 - 39 And I really struggled here to get 6 shots off 14 - 25 **Just didn't feel like I wanted to shoot another arrow after #6 was loosed... This ever happen to anyone else around here? I went back out an hour later and did a 20 shot "Wand" shoot for the TMA monthly shoot that didn't seem to bother me to much, but that thought was still there about the bow that broke yesterday morning... _________________ Joe(thebow)M

Club: White River Brigade
Bow: #38 to #55 @ 28" English Longbow
Sight: None
Arrows: feather fletched wood
Accesories:

Liam
Admin

UK East Mids Area Rep (NFAS)

Posts: 6620
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Posted: Mon May 19, 2008 8:56 am Post subject:

I'll move this into General Archery for more of a response Joe(thebow) _________________ Why not?

Club: Long Eaton Field Archers
Bow: Karel Osage Orange Hungarian Reflex Bow 50lb @ 28"
Sight: Not Brilliant
Arrows: Sitka Spruce 11/32's @ 31"
Accesories: 2 Funny gloves with not enough fingers on them

Steve B
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The Original Archers Rest Webmaster & Co-Admin
Australasia Area Rep (ABA - IFAA)
Posts: 4141
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Location: Victoria, Australia

Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 12:53 am Post subject:

Joe(thebow)M wrote:

and I believe it was a combination of
fatigue, target panic, and of all things - "bow panic"

Based on what you have said, I think all you had was a very bad case of "mind not on the job" you were trying to ponder about how the bow broke or you were thinking that us should not have as you had done everything correct. Either way I personally think you were unable to focus properly on your shot sequence and hence it all turned "pear shaped"

My advice for further shooting is consider your frame of mind, think back to when you have shot well, you were in a great frame of mind, think about when you have shot ordinary, I bet you had a few things on your mind, being able to focus is all important in Archery it is very much a mind game --- just MHO Joe(the bow)M

Club: Phoenix Field Archers of Sale. Victoria , Australia
Bow: Bowtech Commander
Sight: Copper John Ants
Arrows: Gold Tip Pro's
Accesories: Carter Just-B-Cuz

geoffretired
Junior Poster

Posts: 64
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Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 7:23 am Post subject:

Many archers suffer from thinking about the wrong thing at the wrong time. Some of those think of negative ideas such as, "will the clicker go late; again??" Your distraction is a different subject but seems to be a similar difficulty. I would suggest having something more positive and relevant and more important to keep you on track. When I had a form of target panic, my mind was always on the problem I had, knowing it was going to happen on the shot I was making. Part of my cure was to have something different and more important to occupy my focus. In my case it was being patient with the trigger of the release.In your case that won't be relevant but perhaps something about knowing when to release. If you think back to how the release was on the good days, find an ingredient that can be recalled for use on you future shots. Use the focus on that to prevent the other thoughts breaking through. You may have to practise this routine several times to get the focus running on the new item. That is better than letting the other stuff take over your shootine.

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Joe(thebow)M
Master Bowman

Posts: 635
No Commercial Interest
Location: Nebraska

Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 9:03 pm Post subject:

Thank you for the good advice my friends. Yes, I was having a terrible time with my concentration that day. Since then I have shot a couple times, about 20 arrows each time and I seem to have overcome it somewhat. I think putting on my yellow shooting glasses helped. kind of like a security blanket. Imagine, a man my age... Though I'm sure no one is exempt from such things as this, be it archery or some other sport we take part in. I might add that the bow I broke did not come anywhere near my face at all, but in my minds eye I do feel I was worried about my eyes, and what if??? Again my thanks. _________________ Joe(thebow)M

Club: White River Brigade
Bow: #38 to #55 @ 28" English Longbow
Sight: None
Arrows: feather fletched wood
Accesories: