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Aiming
Aiming is Highly Overrated
16 May, 2005
by Charles Land |
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“Aiming is Highly Overrated….”
For anyone who may not be familiar with the name Dave Cousins, he is a professional archer with Hoyt USA. He either holds or has held numerous records and titles in FITA, FITA Field, NFAA, World Archery Festival in Las Vegas, the 3-D in Redding, California, etc. (I think you get the picture) and is one of the finest and most knowledgeable bow technicians that I have ever met. He was very personable but very firm in his opinion as to how things should be done. It is safe to say that being one of the world’s premier archers at the age of twenty-seven does not happen by accident. Being gifted will only take you so far because it also takes hard work and dedication to achieve to this level. As he said to us, he feels fortunate to have a job where he can dedicate his entire time to his sport.
There were 2 or 3 of us sitting around one day when, for reasons of my own, I asked him to explain how he develops his aiming process. He just looked at me and said, “Aiming is highly overrated . . . aiming is just a waste of time . . . time that could be better spent doing things that are more important.” After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I naturally asked him to explain such a statement.
I will try to blend in and clarify, by example, his rationality for this statement.
It is just like driving a car, the very first time that you get behind the wheel and take it out on the road, you probably will aim it. You are tense; you are overcautious and, as well as a few other minor flaws, tend to aim the vehicle. After all, you need to know where you are going, right! So, after you just about wipe out a few parked cars, pedestrians and what have you, you start to learn to look, to become more relaxed and to just steer the car. This ultimately results in a far better, more enjoyable ride, with far less stress. Now, with practice, all of the things that you need to know and pay attention too, start to become much easier and automatic. Tension causes you to aim . . . aiming causes you to over-steer, and to over-compensate for your mistakes. Tension causes you to jump on the brakes, turn on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signals and to focus so hard on the road that you missed the sign that said ‘School Zone.’
Archery is just the same. It is true, whether you shoot a recurve or a compound bow, after your alignment process is completed and you are comfortable that everything is ready, you must then train yourself to just let yourself look at the target. When you consciously aim your pin, dot or circle at the target, this is when you start to over-correct. When you start to see the pin falling out the bottom of the gold, or shooting out the top or sides, or even freezing, you are under tension. I can’t count the number of times that I have heard someone gasp or !*#@!!* After a shot.
Dianne just shot a FITA ll at Abbotsford this weekend and, after it was completed, I asked her how she shot. “When I just looked at the target and let everything come together, I did very well. When I found myself consciously aiming, that is when I got into trouble. Just like Dave said, I found myself fighting with my dot.”
I have only touched on this subject very lightly, but I hope that it is enough to help make you think about the reality of your own shot. Does anything sound familiar and is there room for positive change.
It is nice to be able to sit down with someone like Dave and get to know how they approach their game. Sometimes, you just may learn something that, basically, flies in the face as to how we have been taught to think and perform. New technology and methodology in teaching and understanding is available to us and it is my hope that we will be able to make this information available, in far greater detail, to everyone who wants it.
Charles Land
Master Coach |
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