Lewis, Daniel Per. 1 AP Eng.

Nice Shot! (Informative)

Daniel Lewis was always interested in the old wooden bow hanging in the garage. After a conversation with his uncle, an archer and ex-hunter, Daniel learned that the wooden bow had belonged to his great grandmother, who was also an avid archer in her day. This inspired him to give archery a shot, and thus Daniel released his first arrow in the summer of 2011. Within a month from starting archery, Daniel was recruited into Easton Sport Foundations Junior Olympic Archery Development program, where he was introduced to modern Olympic tournament style archery. Being coached by Don Rabska, an archery instructor that had helped train generations of Olympians, Daniel learned and adopted the shooting method used by world class archers. Daniel practices at the archery range on average of three days per week, and is currently preparing for the California State Outdoor tournament, which is to be held in the summer of 2012. The bow and arrow is a pair of tools that man has used for millennia, crafted as early as 50,000 BC. Though initially used as hunting tools, the bow and arrow evolved from a method of providing sustenance into a weapon, first used as such around 6,000 BC. Advancements in technology would improve the bow and arrows range and velocity, and quickly developed into a staple in the armies of many early civilizations, and continued to be commonly used as a weapon of war until soon after 1520 AD, when the musket was invented. It would be after the development of the musket that archery would develop into a sport, and inanimate objects would be used as targets, instead of people. Target archery would be introduced in Olympic Games in 1900, and continues to be a Summer Olympics event to the present day (Graeme). However, archery can be considered a rarer sport today, and thus common misconceptions about the sport often go uncorrected. People often believe shooting an arrow to be relatively simple, just hooking the bow string, pulling the arrow back towards the head with the arm, then releasing their fingers. However, this is quite far from the truth, and in fact, modern Olympic-

Lewis, Daniel Per. 1 AP Eng.

style archers are trained to follow a precise shot process in order to maximize the kinetic energy and precision of each arrow, all without ever using the arm muscles to pull the bow. The modern tournament archery set-up, or bow configuration, consists of a typically twenty-five inch long metal riser, the section that is grasped by the archer, with two twentytwo and a half inch long wooden or carbon limbs, which are attached onto the two vertical ends of the riser. In addition, a set of iron sights are attached approximately four inches above the arrow rest (where the arrow is placed on the bow) onto the riser, as well as a stabilizer, consisting of a series of round metal weights attached to a two-and-a-half foot long stiff circular carbon rod, which is screwed onto the bow about five inches below the arrow rest, preventing the bow from shaking excessively when drawn. This entire set-up is now ready for stringing, and the archer proceeds to bend back the two limbs and hook an eighth-inch diameter synthetic bowstring onto the two ends of the bow. The archer hooks onto the string with three fingers and pulls it back about four inches, and then releases it, in order to ensure that the bow limbs have settled into position that will make the bowstring the most taut, and puts down the bow. He proceeds to don his quiver, tightening the belt around his waist, with the quiver resting by his right hip, and slides into his quiver a half-dozen arrows. Our archer is now ready to shoot. At any modern shooting range in the United States, a whistle system is implemented in order to ensure safe proceedings when shooting and retrieving arrows. Three consecutive whistles indicate that archers are free to step up to the targets to retrieve their arrows and then return to the shooting line. After all archers are safely behind the shooting line, two consecutive whistles are blown, signaling to all archers to approach the shooting line. Our archer grabs his bow by the handle with his left hand and slides on a finger sling around his left index finger and thumb, essentially barring the bow from being dropped if the archer releases his grip. He walks

Lewis, Daniel Per. 1 AP Eng.

up to the shooting line and places his feet so that the line marked out on the floor is right between them. He proceeds to angle his left foot fifteen degrees outwards towards the target and takes a half-step forward with his right foot. This open stance ensures that he will have a stable base, which will help prevent his body from swaying forward and back while drawing and shooting the bow. Our archer takes a deep breath, and as he exhales he feels his center of gravity sink down into his hips, which helps him establish the most stable platform his body can provide for the shot process. He allows his mind to reach out into his body, and makes sure that every muscle, every tendon, every bone is settled and ready to execute the shot process. Over all the sounds of the range, he hears a single whistle, giving the all-clear to shoot. Now, our archer is ready to draw his bow. He reaches to his waist and from his quiver he takes out a finger tab, which is slid over the right, middle, and ring fingers of his right hand, to protect his fingers while drawing the bow. After fitting the finger tab onto his hand, he again reaches to his waist , and this time, draws out a single arrow from his quiver, and carefully threads it onto bow, and through the clicker, a metal tab on the bow which clicks when the arrow has been drawn a past a certain point. He nocks the end of the arrow to the bowstring, right under the nockhead, a small metal ring wrapped around the middle of the bowstring, in order to provide the archer with a consistent nocking point for each shot. He raises the bow from an idle position to his waist, with his left arm outstretched downwards, angled about fifty degrees below horizontal, and his right hand hooking the bowstring, one finger above the arrows nock and two below, resting against his hip. He pulls his right shoulder back slightly, in order to activate the shoulder unit that will be pulling the arrow back as he draws, completing the first step of the shot process. He proceeds to set up, raising the bow hand to eye level, and begins to pull his right shoulder unit, not his arm,

Lewis, Daniel Per. 1 AP Eng.

back towards his spine, as his left arm continues to reach the bow out towards the target. The next step is to draw the arrow back completely, still using only his shoulder and back muscles, until the hand he uses to draw the string is right under his neck. He presses his hand into his neck, so that his index fingers knucklebone makes full contact with his chin, used as an anchoring point, so that each arrow is released from the same point. Although he has come to full draw length, our archer knows that he has not completed the shot process just yet, and though the arrow remains stationary, he continues the motion of pulling his shoulder blade, known as the scapula, further back without stopping at any point, in order to preserve the momentum of his motion, like how when one is forced to push a car, he does not stop the car once it is in motion, but continues to push it forward, and as the car continues to gain momentum, it becomes significantly easier to push. Similarly, the archer notices how it becomes less straining to counter the thirty-pound draw weight of the bow when a transfer of the burden occurs, as the skeletal structure comes into alignment, and the muscles strain is given to the bones. This alignment is critical, as the bow arm, the shoulders and back, and the pulling arm must form one single line, in the same way that a rifleman must line up the target, the front iron sight, and the rear iron sight in order to align the barrel of the gun with the target. As the archer reaches this alignment, he notices how his body is no longer quivering with straining effort, and takes this time to aim through his sights at the forty centimeter target about twenty meters away. It is critical that he keeps both eyes open, because at this point, even the slightest movement, like that of closing one eye, can affect the flight of the arrow. Meanwhile, he has pulled the arrow as far as his shoulder can pull, and the clicker on the bow clicks against the bow, signaling to the archer that it is the right time to release the arrow.

Lewis, Daniel Per. 1 AP Eng.

The archer allows the fingers hooked on the bowstring to simply relax, as opposed to intentionally flexing the fingers to an open position, and as bowstring flies forward, his entire shoulder unit snaps back towards his spine, due to the sudden lack of resistance. He proceeds to maintain his form, even as the arrow leaves the bow, and only lets down the bow after hearing the sound of impact of the arrow hitting the target, to prevent any fluctuation in the arrows flight pattern due to physical movements occurring upon release. The archer has just successfully executed a single proper shot. Typically, a Federation of International Target Archers (FITA) approved tournament consists of one hundred and twenty scored shots over the span of two days. This proves to be both a physically and mentally tiring task, as for many competitors, fatigue for both mind and body hit before they have even shot half of the arrows. Tournament archery is not as simple as it may appear, because most of the physical movement required to execute a perfect shot occurs within the archers body, as opposed to outward motions exhibited in most other sports. It is thus understandable why misconceptions about the difficulty of training and discipline required to shoot an arrow properly may take place in the minds of those inexperienced with archery, but in truth, tournament archery requires a great deal of physical conditioning, practice, and meditation in order to perform that one nice shot.

Lewis, Daniel Per. 1 AP Eng.

Works Cited Graeme, Jeffrey. Archery History: A Shot in Time. centenaryarchers.com. Centenary Archers Club Inc., 1999. February 15, 2012