John Dudley
Target panic
DON’T PANIC!
Coaching methods FITA BAP
John Dudley tackles target panic in competitive shooting
Target panic is
an evil monster
that makes
many archers
unsuccessful
S
ince I started shooting competitive target archery, I have found
a common problem among us
archers. Target panic is an evil
monster that has made many archers
unsuccessful, and it is the reason many
people step away from archery altogether. Most archers have a ‘don’t-want-tomiss’ attitude, so we get anxious with
the trigger as the sight is coming into the
scoring area of our target.
This anxiety is the root of all forms
of target panic, including punching the
trigger, flinching, collapsing, freezing beneath the target or, in extreme cases, not
being able to put the pin near the target
at all. When all this is happening it may
seem next to impossible to put the finger
on the trigger and slowly squeeze until
the release fires. The reality is that if you
want to progress to a high level of accuracy, you will need to have the same
discipline as a competitive rifle shooter
and learn to make a surprise shot.
The calliper-style release aid is among
the most popular for beginners. I started
with a calliper release when I was 10 years
old. I enjoyed the comfort and feel of my
wrist strap release but eventually had to
get away from it because of a severe case
of target panic. I realised that if I wanted
to achieve goals as a highly competitive
archer, I wouldn’t be able to do it punching my release. I went through countless
days of trying to overcome target panic
and eventually did so with a hand-held
hinge-style release aid. Usually, all the
new-style releases are made in hand-held
models rather than with wrist straps.
Last year, I wrote an article about
the Carter Evolution release aid that is
activated by increased pressure from pulling. That hand-held release went on to
become one of the best-selling target releases in history. This is because it makes
the shooter execute a shot, not just ‘fire’
a shot. This year, Carter has made a new
version of that product designed solely
around the wrist-strap shooter, called
the Back Strap. After working with wrist-
strap shooters all over the world for the
past four months, I am in a good position
to write about how the Back Strap has
helped them overcome target panic without changing their style of shooting.
There are so many people out there
who love a calliper-style release and really enjoy shooting them yet are unable
to do it with discipline. I believe wrist
straps have notably less torque on the
string than hand-held releases, and a
wrist strap can be more accurate than a
hand-held back tension release as long as
it is activated properly, giving the shooter
a surprise shot.
The surprise shot
www.archery.org
for more info
In my experience as a competitor and
coach, above-average archers are those
who master the surprise shot. I believe
the surprise shot is the one thing that
every archer should invest in long before
anything else.
When we look at the world’s best
archers, we find that 90% of them have
this surprise shot. They have found a way
to overcome target panic and can consistently go through the same motions without anxiety or fear. Some may argue that a
few great archers shot good scores without a surprise shot. I won’t disagree with
that! Some great shooters were punchers
and battled target panic. However, there
are only a handful of these and most of
the time their success is short-lived.
Before I can help you learn the proper shooting form to acquire this surprise
14 BOW INTERNATIONAL
14-16 Duddloiy_rev2.indd 14
30/1/08 12:38:39
John Dudley
Target panic
shot, you must first learn to let go of what
your sight pin is doing. It has been proven
by Olympic-style recurve shooters that if
you are active in pulling through the shot,
then the arrow tends to find the centre
of the target regardless of what you see
through the scope.
How the mind aims
When a sight pin floats around, I believe
it is due to two things. Firstly, we aren’t
machines, so muscles will cause movement. Secondly you are holding an aiming
device on the spot you want to hit, thus
covering it up. Think of it like this: if I told
you to throw a rock and hit a soda can
on the ground, would you be able to do
it if you couldn’t see the can? Would you
be able to do it blindfolded? Or would
you want to peek so that you had a feel
for where the can was? The same is true
when you are aiming. You have told your
mind you want to hit the bulls’ eye, yet
you are covering it up with a sight pin.
This is why most of us see movement
through our scopes.
I believe the subconscious mind
moves the pin off the spot for fractions
of a second so that it can be reminded
that the spot it has been told to hit is still
there.
When you drive a car, do you hold
the steering wheel perfectly still to drive
in a straight line? No, you look down the
road and let your subconscious mind float
the steering wheel left and right so that
the car tracks down the road, adjusting
for bumps or wind or curves. You need to
think of your sight pin in the same way
as the steering wheel and learn to let it
float naturally.
Overcoming target panic is more easily done if you get your head around the
fact that your pin will most likely move.
Don’t let it be chaotic and bounce all
over the place, just let it do its thing and
keep it around the general area it needs
to be in. Many people spend a lot of time
trying to make a bow sit steady, but then
they are not able to put their finger to
the trigger and be patient enough for
proper shot execution to happen once it
is steady.
Have you ever noticed how steady
you can hold the bow if your finger isn’t
on the trigger? If you can relate to this
then you have some sort of target panic.
I believe it is because the finger tips are
incredibly sensitive, and for the vast majority of shooters those finger tips aren’t
willing to feel that increase in trigger
pressure without relaying an anticipation
signal to the brain. It’s that signal that
gets us in trouble. That is what causes
target panic and why it is so important to
know how to have a surprise shot. This
is also why there is so much hype about
shooting back tension for archery.
Many years ago, compound archers
started using their back muscles to help
the release aid surprisingly execute without them having to fire the release off using the finger tip. Countless numbers of
world champions and world records have
been made because the shooter uses
back tension. I find it a thing of beauty
when I see a person perfect in form letting the bow aim and using smooth back
tension.
Earlier I talked about the Olympicstyle shooter. Olympic shooters all come
to full draw, anchor, settle amongst the
target, then use back tension to continually pull the bow, causing the tip of the
arrow to move back past a device called
a clicker. Once the arrow tip clears the
clicker, it clicks against the riser and that
noise is a signal to relax the fingers, thus
sending the arrow in flight at the exact
same shot execution every time. This
basic technique is one that we need to
learn when practising to overcome the
dreaded target panic. Back tension is a
proven method for the most consistent
and repeatable surprise shots.
Photo A: Raise
your arms straight
up to shoulder
height
Photo B: Try
moving your
rear elbow
back…
Photo C:
…go on,
right back
The motion
The part of back tension that most people find confusing is the motion. I have
worked with people who have tried all
sorts of things to perform what they
think is back tension, making it more
complicated than it is. Usually what they
When you drive a car,
do you hold the steering
wheel perfectly still
to drive in a straight
line? No, you let your
subconscious mind float
the steering wheel left
and right. Think of your
sight pin in the same way
Photo
D: The
rhomboid
muscles
BOW INTERNATIONAL 15
14-16 Duddloiy_rev2.indd 15
30/1/08 12:38:44
John Dudley
Target panic
Coaching methods FITA BAP
are doing isn’t even right. Realistically,
the pulling motion is very simple and
uses a very small group of muscles. Try
the following exercise:
Start out by standing up with your
arms to your side, and then raise your
arms straight out up to shoulder height
with your thumbs pointing up (see Photo
A). Bend your release hand elbow so
that the release hand comes towards the
body and your finger tips touch the centre of your chest. Once in this position,
try moving your rear elbow back, causing
the fingers to slide about 2-3" along the
chest. Repeat this exercise a few times
(see photos B and C). You should feel a
muscle in the back getting tight between
the spine and rear shoulder blade. Do it a
few more times now, thinking about the
muscles you are using to move that rear
elbow and slide the fingers.
This muscle group is called the rhomboid muscles. Its purpose is to retract the
scapula, pulling it towards the spine (see
Photo D). When you are doing this exercise it will be easy to feel this specific
muscle group getting tighter.
The enforcement
If you are shooting a standard wrist strap
calliper release aid then you may find it
really difficult to use this motion. That
is because until now there hasn’t been
a wrist-strap-style release designed for
learning true back tension without having to squeeze the index finger on the
trigger simultaneously. The new Back
Strap is unlike other wrist strap releases
because it will only activate from pulling
and not from finger movement.
This release works by holding the
trigger down as you pull back. (The trigger is your safety so you will need to hold
the trigger in anytime you draw or relax
the bow.) Then, once you get into your
valley at max-draw and anchor in, let
your index finger off the trigger (which
disengages the safety) and begin the
back tension motion, thinking of the rear
elbow moving back using the rhomboid
muscles. This release will execute during
your pull and give you a surprise shot.
You will find that with a surprise shot
the bow arm will go forward and the release hand comes backwards. This is what
is considered proper follow-through and
is a very important part of good shooting.
Proper follow-through is due to a simple
law that every action has an equal and
opposite reaction. Shooters that don’t
have a proper follow-through are ones
who are anticipating this action and reacting before it naturally happens.
A student’s good shots
with a Back Strap
You may ask “what if my shot doesn’t go
off every time?” If you go through your
motion and the shot doesn’t fire then
you need to let down. Sometimes the
best shots are the ones that never fire.
Part of being a great shooter is knowing
your good shots and having the mental
strength to cancel a shot if it doesn’t feel
like it will be good. Again, on this release
the trigger is the safety! Let the bow
down, take a deep breath and start over
again. Forcing a bad shot is much worse
then waiting to make a good one.
Taking what we know
into the field
Part of being a great
shooter is knowing your
good shots and having the
mental strength to cancel a
shot that doesn’t feel good
Target panic cured
Here is a step-by-step method to making
a back tension shot with the Back Strap
in the field. First, draw the bow to the
maximum length with your finger holding down the trigger (safety). Once you
reach full draw, focus on finding your
anchor point, which should be consistent and repeatable. Next, move your
head into position so that you can see
through the peep sight, centre your pin
in the peep and acquire the target. Focus
on the target centre and centre your pin
to that position. Now, take your finger off
the trigger and allow your pin to move
about on the spot while you go through
your pulling motion. Let your conscious
mind think of the motion in your back and
feel the rhomboid muscle building pressure as you move your elbow back. The
pin is floating and the back is working…
The shot will fire unexpectedly and your
bow arm should continue to the target
as your release hand moves away from
the target.
If you have a serious case of target
panic, you will be better off trying all of
this first on a blank bail. Do not be afraid
to shoot without a target for a period of
time, to get used to the feel of this technique. Once you are comfortable with it
then stay close to the target so it looks
really big in the scope. It may seem silly,
but you need to build confidence so that
you can hold your pin in the scoring rings
while performing a proper shot.
When you are able to do that sequence, you will have made a huge step
in becoming a great archer. Now is a
good time of season for many of us and it
is the best time to learn new things and
start new habits. It is known that something new takes about 21 days to become
a habit. I would encourage you to make
the choice to get better now and learn a
surprise shot so that you can take it into
the field with you this upcoming season.
www.dudleyarchery.info
16 BOW INTERNATIONAL
14-16 Duddloiy_rev2.indd 16
30/1/08 12:38:54