helping my wife shoot

[Duncan80236]

Took her out to shoot the other day and had a few questions.

Right handed left eyed, and she doesn't see as well out of her right eye?  She doesn't want to shoot left handed event though the bow is ambidextrous.

I have heard that if shooting instinctive being crossed up is not a problem.  

I told her for now to not worry about aiming at all just to focus on her form.  We were shooting at a haystack from 12 yards.  with a 20-25lb fiberglass recurve from the 70's.  After a few initial crazy shots we got her bow hand grip sorted out. Her release is actually pretty decent for this being the 3rd time even holding a bow.  

Good results, she actually grouped! She shot 4 or 5 arrows in a row in a group the size of a softball.  I asked her if the arrows were going where she was looking and she showed me where she was looking.  Her arrows were hitting about 16" higher than that point.  I said "perfect we can work with that."  She just kept shooting blank bale for a bit until tired.  Then we quit.  I was impressed because she didn't shoot too far to the left or right the whole time just high and low.  

So my question is when (which will be a while) we get to aiming after she feels more comfortable with her form; how do I advise her to aim as she needs a different method that what I use?

And what is the best way to practice the form clock alignment so your arm shoulder and bow are aligned correctly?  Shooting with your back to a wall?

[moebow]

Duncan,

Teaching archery is the subject of MANY books -- kind of hard to summarize it all here.

As far as aiming, we have a lot of luck with placing a small aiming point on the target below the bull's eye then moving it until the student hits.  Basically, teaching a gap aiming process in the beginning.  Don't be in too big of a hurry to get to the "aiming" part.

For form, I would not recommend standing against a wall for a beginner.  Teach them the "tall T" or archer's "T" (same thing); help them find the vertical stance (posture) and basic arm position at full draw.  You can correct common errors like leaning back away from the target, rolling the bow shoulder up, arching the back, and ducking the head down or back.

I feel this is easier and "more user friendly" for a beginner than using walls and posts to reinforce positions.

Good luck with it and I hope your wife enjoys the process and the sport.

Arne

[McDave]

I take it from your post that your wife is left eye dominant.  It makes life so much easier if you can just look at the target and have your arrow go where you're looking, without having to squint or make other accommodations for not having your dominant eye over the arrow.  Of course, your arrow won't go where you're looking until you learn how to shoot, but that's true for all of us.

I shoot ambidextrously, not well, but comfortably. The reason I don't shoot left handed as well as right handed is that I'm right eye dominant.  But as far as learning to draw the bow to anchor left handed, hold, and shoot, there was about two weeks worth of awkwardness, and then it felt fine.  I've been in classes where the instructor recommended a student switch to left handed because of left eye dominance and the student successfully made the transition by the end of the class.  It's not the same as writing: we are not pre-programmed to pull the bow one way or the other.  It's more like carrying a suitcase: we carry it with one hand until that hand gets tired and then switch to the other hand.

If your wife is truly left eye dominant, I recommend that she switch to a left handed bow.  After an initial period of awkwardness, she will enjoy archery more than she did before.

[Duncan80236]

Thanks for the info guys.  We tried shooting lefty but her left shoulder has some problems from a surgery a long ago.  Ill look up some articles on the archer's T for ideas.

[TSP]

Congrats to your wife, it's nice that she was willing to join you in learning about archery.  Maybe do something special for her, or at least let her know how much you appreciate her efforts.    

[Bladepeek]

I agree completely with McDave. I'm 74 years old, strongly right handed and find it nearly impossible to swing a shotgun smoothly left handed. So I shoot right handed with a shotgun and rifle. Pistol I can shoot better left handed, but can do OK with either hand because I can align my left eye right over the sights with no trouble.

It took me less than a week to feel comfortable shooting a bow left handed. The only difficulty was in nocking the arrow - that took a little longer to feel natural. If someone is just beginning to shoot a bow, they have to learn proper alignment and form and that won't feel right until practiced many times. It's no different doing it from the left side or right side.

I coach youth shotgunners and if I am teaching a beginner, I always determine which eye is dominant and start them shooting from that side.

As McDave said, it just simplifies everything so much if you are just looking over the arrow with your master eye and don't have to squint or close the other eye.