Saturday, August 6, 2011

Those who can, shoot...

Was musing over this earlier this week. Lots of high-profile tournaments lately, including the USA Nationals as well as the World Cup (watch today on ESPN 3). Noticing that the coaches don't shoot, at least not in competition in the public eye and not next to their students.  They got into this sport at some point as archers first, I'm assuming.  Why don't they shoot now?

Time, for one. If you shoot recurve, you need to shoot as often as possible to keep your skills up to par. Recurve systems, you find there are too many nuances. Your left shoulder is over here and needs to be ...just here. Strength matters, sure.

But during competition, if you are coaching top level archers as as well as shooting AND having an off day (they are only human ya know) their credibility suffers. Especially if you coach kids or possibly just immature adults.

If you teach (and shoot) I'd love to hear your side. Betting there are many more compound coaches/teachers that compete than recurve. 

For a current inside look at the World Cup from the coach's perspective, check out Doug Ludwig's WC notes on FB or the Points to the Cross website. Exciting stuff.

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