Habits and Emotions Whilst Shooting

With our editor out of action currently, Coach Ruis is back with us looking at emotion and its place in archery. Take it away coach ... 

You’ve been told over and over, that you “train consciously so as to be able to perform unconsciously.” In other words, you form shooting habits stitched together with a shot sequence/shot routine. And what are you supposed to be thinking about while shooting?

Nothing.

But on another level I don’t want my students to be shooting robotically. I want them passionately engaged with their performance. Nasty conundrum, that.
It gets more interesting when a bit of science gets stirred in. Studies show that habits are almost never accompanied by emotion. If any emotion is involved it invariably is due to the subconscious habit allowing the conscious mind to wander and the emotion is attached to those conscious thoughts. So, shit, as they say in the movies.

Will the waterfall put you off?
What waterfall?

We actively control our conscious thinking so it doesn’t interfere with the subconscious execution of shots. So, we do not want to encourage conscious thinking while shooting … but … there is nothing wrong with thinking consciously between ends, or if you are adept, between shots. I encourage students to take in the natural beauty if shooting outdoors, feeling that beauty, or if indoors, feeling wonderful because you get to do this, shoot arrows, even if it is raining.

A little appreciation goes a long way.

When coaching beginners to shoot “instinctively”, that is without any aiming system, I ask them to consider their arrow’s landing in target center to be their heart’s desire. That conscious thought is enough instruction to get the arrows to land there. And if they have learned to shoot somewhat consistently, all their arrows will land there. I have seen students in their second lesson shoot tight groups in their target’s center that way.

There is a role for emotion in shooting, but I suggest it must be directed and cultivated to be woven into your shot routine … and between shots … and between ends. Enjoy!

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Steve Ruis is the author of many books on coaching archery and maintains a blog for archery coaches at archerycoach.wordpress.com. (its free and well worth a visit) He is the former editor of Archery Focus magazine.