Looking for help and suggestions for my son.

[Pierre Lucas]

My son and I have jumped back in to traditional archery with both feet.  He is just starting and is 13 years and I had shot for about 25yrs when I was his age.  We have shot compound for about 3 years and got bored, sold everything and now can not stop shooting our recurves.  He is an accomplished marksman and was the 2006 IBS 1000yd JR National Champion.  He is getting very fustrated at this point because he can not find an anchor point.  Hard to describe.  I thought the bow was too heavy but he can pull 58# back to his ear and hold but with his 45# bow when he nocks an arrow to shoot he can only pull it to the front of nose... Without an arrow it doesn't seem to be a problem for him to anchor on the corner of his mouth with his middle finger.  He draws 24" to the corner of his mouth.  He is shooting split fingers..We have tried standing next to the target eyes closed and it seems he can anchor and release.  He has also been working out pulling the heavy bow and holding it.  We try to shoot everyday and he does not want to develope any bad habits and is working to develope good form and a good release.  He is getting better but we are trying to increase the learning curve.  Any positive suggestions are greatly appreciated....Thanks and God Bless,  Pierre and Jean-Pierre

[Wile E. Coyote]

When you say he can pull 58# back to his ear and hold I assume you mean his compound? If so then he is not holding the equivalent of his 45# traditional bow at full draw and may be overbowed. When you say he can only pull to the front of his nose do you mean he can't physically get it back further or he releases when he gets there? If he can't physically get it back any further his problem is he is overbowed and you are better off getting a lower poundage bow and work up to the heavier bow rather than just exercise and continue to try the heavier  bow. If he is releasing before  
getting to his anchor but can physically handle the weight then he has a premature release and should practice drawing and holding on target then letting down multiple times then completing the shot.

Good Luck.

[Pierre Lucas]

Wayne, The 58# is a trad bow recurve not a compound, that's way I feel he's not overbowed.  He draws to his nose but for some reason stops there and releases, but when he does not draw with an arrow he can pull past that point and hold no problem.. Thanks,  Pierre

[Diamond Paul]

My guess would be that without the arrow, he is able to hold the string much more securely and rip it back, allowing him to pull more weight than he is actually capable of shooting.  When he holds with an arrow, he has considerably less strength at the ends of his fingers, and so can't actually shoot the weight he can pull when able to grab the string with a full grip.  I can pull 20 more pounds than I shoot If I don't have to actually shoot it.  That's just my guess, I could be wrong.  If you have a very light bow, try it and see if he is suddenly able to reach anchor; you'll know then.  Paul.

[SHOOTO8S]

With his 45# bow does he have COMPLETE control over when he releases the arrow? if not it sounds like your son has the beginning of target panic.

[Hattrick]

Pierre, heres a bit of an aggressive approach that might help. Means you have a high tech backround from compounds an are switching to recurves, try replacing his string nock with a kisser button you may have to customize the kisser button a tad depending on the kind you get and then, anchor the kisser button to the corner of his mouth. which is probably what your son is a custom to from shooting compunds. and hopefully after time the corner of his mouth will mentally become his anchor point. then maybe you can take off the kisser button and have his finger as the anchoring point.it`s a little differnt butsomtimes that`s what you need with kids. hope this idea works if you try it lemme know how you make out. I have 2 daughters that shoot. I've been bow hunting with my 13 year old daughter since she was 3. She has always shoten a recurve but my youngest shoots a compound. The biggest thing is make it enjoyable for them. My greastest hunting experience has been with my oldest daughter. Good Luck.

Hattrick

[bowdude]

My son had / has the exact same problem.  Put an arrow on the string and the draw weight doubles.    He knows now and understands it is in his head.  What really made it sink in was the day I explained putters fear or whatever the golfers call it.  Where they can do everything in the game but get on the green with the putter and they can not get themselves to move the club and putt the ball.  It's the same thing and I have read by trainers that it is basically the fear of missing at the utmost scale.  Good luck.  I read thatsometimes having them switch right to left or vice versa can over come it.  He has gotten better with age.  One day years back I also pointed out to him when he was shooting his sling shot he was going through almost the exact same mechanics with no problems.

[Pierre Lucas]

Thanks everyone for your ideas and suggestions.  I do believe it is more of the mental aspect that we are trying to corrrect than the physical.  When he does do everything right he is very accurate.  Last night we tried again closing his eyes and releasing and he had very little problems anchoring on the corner of his mouth and releasing.  The other excerise we did was to draw past his anchor point and hold the arrow and not release.  This seeemed to start to retrain his muscle memory the most.  I think all these ideas are going to help resolve his anchor problem.....Thanks and God Bless,  Pierre

[tecum-tha]

The good old target panic; try either Instinctive Archery Insights(book) or google: pushrelease and check the DVD. He should be back on track soon....
Roland

[Firstlight]

Best book out there in my opinion as mentioned in prior post, by Jay Kidwell- Instinctive arcery insights (revised)  (all about target panic)

[Pierre Lucas]

Got some videos recently and we watched them.  Most importantly I video taped him shooting which seemed to help alot as he could see exactly how he was shooting.. He is definitely on track now and shooting better than ever.  Thanks for all the help and suggestions.  God Bless, Pierre