Working with a new shooter

[Slimpikins]

This topic may be better suited in the shooter's form forum, and if so please feel free to remove. I was unsure how many ventured over there to check it out, so I decided to post this question here.

I am teaching my girlfriend to shoot and she has the old string slap problem ever so often. She is not over-bowed and she can shoot 20 arrows or so, and 1 out of that 20 she will hit her arm right at the elbow; the kind that catches you right above the armguard and pinches up a nice fat piece of meat. I think she has too tight of a grip with her bow hand which causes a little torque and we have worked on that. I was wondering what has worked for you all when teaching someone who hits their arm. I want to try and nip the problem in the bud before she gets shy. Thank you all in advance for any advice.

[moebow]

Jamie,

This is common and good on you for seeking an early fix.  

First, make sure she is gripping the bow correctly.  Do a search here for a thread named "grip question".  I posted some pictures for a recommended bow grip hand set up.

Second, teach her to roll the elbow inward so the boney point of the elbow is pointing back and NOT down.  This "rolling" is done with the arm and NOT the shoulder.  The shoulder stays down and back -- JUST the arm rolls NOT the shoulder!!!!

One way to learn that is to have her place her hand on an outside corner of a wall.  This holds the hand in place and allows learning the feel of just turning the arm bones and NOT the shoulder

These two things working together move the forearm, from the elbow to the wrist, away from the string AND put the arm in a much stronger position.

Hope this helps.

Arne

[hart2hart]

Have her extend her bow arm in the "Stop"sign/position..then turn just her hand to 10:00 position(1:00 if lefty.
Another is put her hand flat to chest,then extend forearm and turn hand as above.
None originally mine but thought they were good.
Really loose joint may mean long guard.
Mike

[McDave]

In the classes I teach, I find that this is a frequent problem with women.  A lot of women, when they extend their arms all the way, will hyperextend.  In other words, rather than their arms being fully extended in a straight line, their arms bend back the wrong way a little bit.  This throws the inside bottom of the elbow right into the path of the string.  In addition to what Arne said, if you find that your girlfriend has this problem (it's easy to see if she does), then make sure that the doesn't lock out her arm in the fully hyperextended position.  Have her stop extending her arm before she gets to the locked out position.  Unfortunately, a normal arm guard won't help, because the part of the arm that gets hit is above the part that any normal armguard protects.

[Slimpikins]

I appreciate the responses. I looked at exactly what you mentioned McDave. Her elbow appears to be clear before she releases the string but ever so often it will catch her just below the elbow where the armguard doesn't cover. I think it may have something to do with the way her wrist is positioned, and when she releases the string the bow torques causing her to hit her arm. Nonetheless, I am going to have her work on the arm position as hart2hart mentioned. I like the hand to chest thing. Thanks again!

[hart2hart]

On the hand thing,Slim..might have her hold a marble or small ball(as in jacks)with her little finger/ring finger to encourage that hand angle.
Hope this helps.
Mike