Archery Tips For The Novice There are more and more individuals taking up sports all the

time, but one of th e sports that is gaining most from this increase in interest in keeping fit is a rchery. There are numerous factors for this: a desire to spend more time outside ; an urge to get back in touch with nature; a need to be or stay fit and, especi ally for men, a desire to hit a target. Feminists might react to that last category, but it is just the case that boys t hrow stones more than girls. They like hand-eye co-ordination games more than gi rls; they hunt more than girls and always have done, for whatever reason. There are two things that the greenhorn archer, male and female, have to get to grips with straight from the outset. These are: a) to keep the draw string at fu ll tension until release and 2) to always release the arrow in the same manner. Both of these needs lead to consistency. Consistency is crucial so that you can judge what you are doing well and what yo u are doing badly and also whether your apparatus is any good or not. Without co nsistency there are too many variables to make valid judgments. Let's take a clo ser look at these two basic pointers. If you are not robust enough to use your bow, if you are tired or if you lose co ncentration, you may let the arrow 'creep' forwards, which will mean that it doe s not fly with the full force of the bow. If you are used to shooting at 'full force', creep will make the arrow fall shor t. Upper-arm strength and concentration are the best safeguards against creep. T he same is the case of not being able to pull the arrow to its maximum. One way for the novice to concentrate on holding the arrow at full draw and to c ontrol creep, is to hold the arrow to your cheek. If you hold your draw hand in constant contact with your face, you will be soon aware if you are losing 'it'. Releasing the arrow is just as vital, but the release is frequently harder for t he greenhorn archer to master, because strength of arm can be gotten by weight t raining, but release is only perfected by concentration and practice. The easiest manner to describe the release is loosening the grip slowly in the j oints of the drawing fingers. It is the equivalent of squeezing the trigger of a gun gently - the opposite in fact, but still gently. The tension in the string will whip the arrow out of your grip automatically. The beginner often y or even jerk the tter to toughen up or by embarking on ters do. You could gets sore fingers and so attempts to release the arrow quickl fingers out of the way so as to prevent 'rope burn'. It is be the fingers little by little by beginning with a lighter bow a finger-toughening drill much like guitarists or karate figh also buy a release device.

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