Training Notes: The Freeze

It is well trod ground to say that archery is both a mental and physical game; with the mental often superseding the physical in importance. In fact, looking at many internationally ranked archers; it becomes obvious that peak physical fitness was neither their intent nor the final outcome. (And as a tangent, there is the consistent, somewhat tongue in cheek argument that "heavy" archers actually have an advantage due to their lower center of gravity and resistance to wind. Though the basic physics would be reasonable I suppose... but I digress).

One of the greatest mental enemies an archer has is target panic (a psychological condition characterized by shot execution difficulties). It can come out of no where and can be absolutely devastating. Most archers experience it as a premature, often violent, release of the arrow but can also refer to a delayed release.

I've experienced my fair share of target panic; I refer you to my experience with my Hoyt Carbon Matrix that clicked mid draw, my Scott Black Hole release that clicked and my clicker that... well... clicked. Can you tell I have problems with things that click? Most relevant is my clicker since long ago I got rid of my other clicking gear. It took a while to confirm it but over the past two practice sessions I was able to confirm that my difficulties with delayed release was actually target panic. I can't get rid of my clicker, it is a fact of life in Olympic recurve, so finding myself in a corner I actually have to cure my target panic this time rather than run from it.

Once again thanks to Tom Dorigatti, I now am armed with an exercise to cure myself of this affliction. Initially I thought I could overcome the problem with ridiculous amounts of blank bale shooting but this is not enough. I was partially correct though, Tom suggested I shoot blank bale and a target face side by side. So here's how it works. Three shots are taken at full distance on a blank bale, where this is no target panic. Then immediate shoot a target face, looking for the same execution and form experience with the blank bale shots. If this is achieved shoot a second arrow into the target face, if not pull your arrows and restart from the blank bale. The basic premise is you are training the brain to regard the target face the same way it perceives the blank bale (where we typically experience the strongest form).

Using no scientific basis whatsoever, I think it's working. Previous symptoms were delays in release (up to 8 seconds of expansion), progressively tighter first finger pressure, early onset of fatigue and a sense of being at full expansion despite being far from the clicker's edge. After two and a half hours of this exercise these symptoms were almost completely gone. A few shots experienced a slight delay but nothing like before.     

By no means do I think I'm completely cured, so I'll be continuing with this exercise for a while but it is encouraging to see quick results.