Clicker-angst

I think I may have invented a new term : Clicker-angst.  I first noticed clicker-angst a couple of weeks ago, when Mrs EA was shooting the end that resulted in six golds. She was having severe difficulty in drawing past the clicker to get other release point, and had to come down from the set position a few times.  At the next evening shoot another, fairly experienced, archer was having similar difficulties and he decided to stop using his clicker for the rest of the round.

Having set up my clicker the previous Tuesday evening, I was looking forward to trying it in a scored round on Saturday.  This was to be a Short Metric, a round I had shot a couple of times before.  The last few times shooting a scored round I have managed to reduce my handicap, so I was hopeful of a reasonable score.  On the downside, the warm, sunny weather of the previous weekend had been replaced with wind and heavy rain showers, so full waterproofs were in order.  While I was on the short range, Mrs EA was shooting at 70m on the long range, in training for the Surrey County championships, which she had entered a few days earlier.

Although my shooting was not totally bad, I found that I was having similar clicker-angst problems that I described above. I seemed to be letting my front shoulder ride-up, which prevented me drawing the arrow past the clicker.  This seemed to upset my concentration somewhat, and affected my overall performance.  However, my score of 223 was still a PB for the round, but the handicap equivalent was a few points above my best.

As Mrs EA was still busy on the long range, I approached coach Andy to ask his advice about my clicker setting and what may be wrong with my technique.  Not one to duck a challenge, Andy spent the next 30 minutes with me, carefully analysing my stance, shot set-up and drawing style, making some really useful recommendations.  The main problem was, as I expected, that my front shoulder was coming up and Andy tried a number of ways to improve this.  One issue that became clear was that I can not lock down my front arm without rotating my upper body towards the target, so Andy suggested that I pre-draw a short way, locking my front arm and shoulder before raising the bow fully, and then rotating my back shoulder to complete the draw.  The final few millimetres before release should be gained by putting a little extra pressure on the back shoulder.  Another aspect Andy picked up was my basic stance, which should be:

- right-angles to target

- feet shoulder-width apart

- weight slightly forward over balls of feet

- tummy in, bum in

On Sunday morning I spent a couple of hours on the practice range, in an attempt to consolidate the previous day's advice and to improve my consistency.  This was harder than it sounds, as minor differences in any part of the shot set-up resulted in the arrow not going past the clicker, or the clicker going off prematurely.  Clicker-angst! At one point I just walked away for 10 minutes rest, which had a positive effect - the next three arrows were the best I had shot all morning, and they just felt right! Before I started I set myself the goal of getting all six arrows in the gold or red (at 30m), but in the end I was pleased to put three arrows in that zone a couple of times.  I think I will be better prepared to use the clicker on my next round.